Bootcamp and backup

[trlyka]

I have a friend coming tonight to install Windows 7 Ultimate.

He asked me if I needed 32 or 64 bit version. At the time I wasn't sure, but later read that 64 bit will work.

When I started Bootcamp, it says I should backup my hard drive. I have no idea how to do this. My ex usually did those kinds of things. If I can just back it up online, that would be easiest for now. Or I'll have to get an external hard drive to back it up that way.

Do I have to back it up? Or is it just a precaution? If I can back it up online, I appreciate any help on what to do.

Thanks

 

[simsaladimbamba]

As every drive, regardless of being an SSD or HDD, can fail, backing up is advised if you have important data, text documents or photos or music or videos or work files, that cannot be recreated with a reasonable amount of work.

If you only have text documents and other small files, not accumulating to more than 2 GB, DropBox is an option, as it is a local folder on your Mac and also backed up online, thus accessible via a browser from any computer connected to the internet.

If you have more than 2 GB due to photos or videos or music or any other kind of data, there are paid plans (DropBox again, but also others I cannot recite) to back up online.

But you could also get an external HDD (USB 2.0 HDD with 1 TB storage can be had for 70 USD or so) and use Time Machine* to backup all your data, from which you can even restore your Mac in case something goes wrong during the Boot Camp installation (and it often does judging by the threads here if one is not computer proficient enough).

Backup is not necessary though, if you know what you do and do not have important data and a simple reinstallation of the OS does suffice your needs.

I have one 500 GB HDD for my photographs (digital and analog) libraries and editing documents, one 500 GB HDD with my personal video footage in an editing friendly format.
Both 500 GB HDDs get backed up to one 1 TB HDD via CarbonCopyCloner.
And that 1 TB HDD gets backed up to another 1 TB HDD via CarbonCopyCloner.
Therefore I have three copies of my important data.

* Time Machine FAQ

 

[trlyka]

As every drive, regardless of being an SSD or HDD, can fail, backing up is advised if you have important data, text documents or photos or music or videos or work files, that cannot be recreated with a reasonable amount of work.

If you only have text documents and other small files, not accumulating to more than 2 GB, DropBox is an option, as it is a local folder on your Mac and also backed up online, thus accessible via a browser from any computer connected to the internet.

If you have more than 2 GB due to photos or videos or music or any other kind of data, there are paid plans (DropBox again, but also others I cannot recite) to back up online.

But you could also get an external HDD (USB 2.0 HDD with 1 TB storage can be had for 70 USD or so) and use Time Machine* to backup all your data, from which you can even restore your Mac in case something goes wrong during the Boot Camp installation (and it often does judging by the threads here if one is not computer proficient enough).

Backup is not necessary though, if you know what you do and do not have important data and a simple reinstallation of the OS does suffice your needs.

I have one 500 GB HDD for my photographs (digital and analog) libraries and editing documents, one 500 GB HDD with my personal video footage in an editing friendly format.
Both 500 GB HDDs get backed up to one 1 TB HDD via CarbonCopyCloner.
And that 1 TB HDD gets backed up to another 1 TB HDD via CarbonCopyCloner.
Therefore I have three copies of my important data.

* Time Machine FAQ

It says I have 648.63 GB free out of 749.3 GB so I have about 100 GB used. 70 of it falls under 'Other'. Movies and photos are 20GB combined. The rest is apps and audio.

I think I will use an external HD since the monthly rate for Dropbox is more then I want to spend.

The only external hard drives I currently have are for my TiVos, so I would need to get one. What about backing up to a CD for now? Would that work?

 

[trlyka]

We are going to skip doing the install tonight due to bad weather. I am looking on Amazon for a hard drive. The WD Passport is just under $90 for 1TB. I have a gift card for Amazon, so it will only cost me $40. I don't think I would need 2 TB. And if I ever did, I could always get another one.

Some of the WD hard drives say 'for Mac', but they all seem to be that same. I assume they are all compatible with Mac?

Can I partition the external hard drive? I have my old Dell hard drive that has all my old info on it. I'd like to move the information onto my Macbook or move it to the external so I can access and move what I want onto my Macbook.

 

[duervo]

I don't have any recent experience with any of the WD drives labeled as "for Mac" (most recent experience was about two years ago.) However, back then, I found that the only difference that I could see was the software that comes on the drive, and that it was already pre-formatted as HFS for OS X.

If you don't care about any software that the drive might come with, then you should be fine no matter which one you pick. If you don't get one that says it's "for Mac", worst case is that you will most likely have to use Disk Utility to re-partition or reformat it for Time Machine use.

Connect the new drive to the Mac, then go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility

Choose the new drive in Disk Utility and choose the "Erase" tab along the top, and then choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" as your desired format. Name the drive, and then click "Erase".​

BTW, if I remember right, the software it came with was a trial version of some sort of Cloud-based third-party backup solution. Was completely useless to me at the time (and would still be a waste for me today.)

 

[snaky69]

We are going to skip doing the install tonight due to bad weather. I am looking on Amazon for a hard drive. The WD Passport is just under $90 for 1TB. I have a gift card for Amazon, so it will only cost me $40. I don't think I would need 2 TB. And if I ever did, I could always get another one.

Some of the WD hard drives say 'for Mac', but they all seem to be that same. I assume they are all compatible with Mac?

Can I partition the external hard drive? I have my old Dell hard drive that has all my old info on it. I'd like to move the information onto my Macbook or move it to the external so I can access and move what I want onto my Macbook.

The "for mac" are usually more expensive, and the only real difference is that they come pre-formatted for mac use, which you can do by yourself in about 5 minutes.

You can partition an external the same way you could partition an internal drive, no worries there.