Backing up preferences

[Ayrehead]

Is there a way to make backups of preferences in the Mac? Such that I can back them up from time to time, then later restore just certain prefs with restoring the entire system?

For example, is it kosher to make a copy of a prefPane file then later copy it back to the original place?

Another question. Is it possible to copy my prefs to another user in the same Mac, so that both users have the same prefs?

Am running Mojave.

 

[Fishrrman]

If you copy a prefpane it WILL NOT "save your prefs".
They are generally stored in .plist files in the home/library/preferences folder.

The best way to save them so that they may be copied to "another Mac" would be to copy the entire home/library/preferences folder to a USB drive or flashdrive, then take it to the other Mac, then "manually move" the files into the target account on the other Mac.

IMPORTANT:
You will probably run into "permissions problems" UNLESS you take the following steps first:
a. connect drive and let its icon mount on the desktop
b. click ONE TIME on the drive icon to select it, then call up the "get info" box (type command-i) "eye"
c. at bottom of get info, click lock icon and enter your password
d. in sharing and permissions, put a checkmark into "ignore ownership on this volume"
e. close get info.

Actually, THE BEST WAY to ensure that your preferences are saved and available is to use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create a bootable cloned backup of your internal drive.
Both CCC and SD are FREE to download and try out for 30 days.

 

[Ayrehead]

I'm looking at the home/library/preferences directory and it has many .plist files. But it doesn't have some, such as for TextEdit, or mouse. Where might those be?