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Freeware/Shareware apps that act like Backup?

karichelle

karichelle

macrumors member
Original poster
May 26, 2006
72
0
Ohio
I am currently waiting (impatiently...heh) for my iMac to ship, so right now I'm making plans and preparations for when I do receive it, to transfer files over. I plan to move my iPhoto library and iTunes library over to the iMac permanently so I can free up the hard drive space on my iBook which has a much smaller hard drive. When I migrated from my iMac G3 to my iBook, I was a .Mac member and I used Backup to put the files on my iPod and transfer them over. However, I no longer have a .Mac membership and I really can't afford to pay for it in addition to the computer itself.

I really liked Backup though and the fact that it easily restored my iPhoto files and everything else I moved to where they needed to be with no hassles. But are there any freeware or shareware apps out there that behave like Backup? I saw the threads about backup programs and I haven't downloaded any yet, but it seems like they are all based on backing up a particular folder or set of folders, either on demand or automatically. I'm trying not to do that though, as I really don't want to lose my pictures due to a file structure snafu, since I will be coming from iLife '04 and don't know what may be different for library organizational purposes. So I figured I'd just let Backup do its thing and take care of it, since that seemed to work before (although I wasn't switching iLife versions at the same time).

Anyone have any recommendations on what to do? Thanks in advance :)
 
i wouldn't recomend backup to store large amounts of data becuase 1) its slow cuase its over the net, and 2) you don't get that much space. I would recomend getting a firewire cable and using the migration assistant and then reparing your premissions. This will properly copy apps, music, photos, and whatever to the new mac.
 
yellow said:
What will you be backing up onto? External HD?
Click to expand...

I will be backing it up to my iPod as I did with my iMac to iBook migration three years ago.

I'm not going to be backing up to the Internet at all...so that's not a worry. ;) When I used Backup 3 years ago it would copy to my iPod with no problems...is that not an option now?
 
If your data is as critical to you as you seem to imply, I would encourage you to find an alternate destination for your backups.. other than an iPod.
 
yellow said:
If your data is as critical to you as you seem to imply, I would encourage you to find an alternate destination for your backups.. other than an iPod.
Click to expand...

All this is for is to move it from the iBook to the iMac. I don't use my iPod for backups. I use CDs instead but right now my entire iPhoto library is too large for a CD, the version of iPhoto I have does not offer the option to use multiple CDs like iTunes does when burning a data CD, and the iBook does not have a SuperDrive. I'm trying to get the whole library on one thing so I don't run into problems getting it switched over from one machine to another..

I've been Googling Apple's migration tool and from what I've found so far, it seems it doesn't let you pick and choose what within a user's account you want to migrate. I don't want to move my entire user folder--just the iPhoto library and the iTunes library.
 
Ah.. your reference to Backup (the app) confused me.

Regardless, if you get a firewire cable, you can put you iBook in target mode, hook the cable to it and your iMac, and have it appear on the iMac like an external hard drive, which you can then drag & drop whatever you want.

Assuming of course your iBook has firewire..
 
karichelle said:
All this is for is to move it from the iBook to the iMac. I don't use my iPod for backups. I use CDs instead but right now my entire iPhoto library is too large for a CD, the version of iPhoto I have does not offer the option to use multiple CDs like iTunes does when burning a data CD, and the iBook does not have a SuperDrive. I'm trying to get the whole library on one thing so I don't run into problems getting it switched over from one machine to another..

I've been Googling Apple's migration tool and from what I've found so far, it seems it doesn't let you pick and choose what within a user's account you want to migrate. I don't want to move my entire user folder--just the iPhoto library and the iTunes library.
Click to expand...

If the concern is whether Apple's migration assistant will hose your iPhoto and iTunes libraries in the transfer process, then why not just make a copy those libraries, zip 'em up and place them outside of the library folder on your iBook? Your iBook effectively becomes your backup drive should something go wrong in migration process, and the migration assistant will ignore your iTunes and iPhoto library copies.

FWIW, I've never heard of any problems concerning Apple's migration assistant. On the contrary, it appears to do it's mojo quite well from what I hear, although I've never used it so far. I don't know what options it gives you about transferring your stuff over, but I would be pretty surprised if it didn't give you at least categorical choices, i.e., pictures, movies, music, and so on, if you don't want to move everything.

Insofar as the question about a Backup equivalent, there is iBackup which is free and allows you to specify what you want to backup, but I don't think it supports backing up to CD/DVD. It wants another drive location to park your stuff at.
 
I'm partial to Carbon Copy Cloner myself, and the price is right. Migration assistant lets you specify some things (apps, users, etc.) but not specifics within the user folder. iPhoto and iTunes you can just copy to a Firewire drive in the finder. The folders reside in the Photos and Music folders respectively in your home folder.
 
Does the migration assistant let you pick and choose which apps to move over? Or just the entire Apps folder?

Also, one of my biggest concerns with this is the fact that I'm going from Panther to Tiger and from iLife '04 to either '05 or '06 (it's a refurb so I'm not sure which I'll get). If I just copy the iPhoto library folder and the iTunes library to my iPod as data and then just copy them into the same location on the iMac, I'm concerned that the new version of the OS + new version of the program will cause things to get screwed up. :(

If I just drop the library folder into its right location, will iPhoto/iTunes pick up on this and build the "library" based on this? Especially since I'm changing OS versions and also iLife versions?

I knew that Backup did this before and kept it all straight and created the new libraries, but I'm unsure as to whether or not things will happen right if I do it manually. :\
 
karichelle said:
Does the migration assistant let you pick and choose which apps to move over? Or just the entire Apps folder?
Click to expand...

Entire thing. And it's pretty solid at moving from one machine to another. Your iMac should look just like your iBook when finished.

karichelle said:
Also, one of my biggest concerns with this is the fact that I'm going from Panther to Tiger and from iLife '04 to either '05 or '06 (it's a refurb so I'm not sure which I'll get). If I just copy the iPhoto library folder and the iTunes library to my iPod as data and then just copy them into the same location on the iMac, I'm concerned that the new version of the OS + new version of the program will cause things to get screwed up.
Click to expand...

I think you're needlessly worrying. What if it DOES screw up (it won't), you still have the originals on your iBook to start over with.

When a new version of iLife is introduced, it updates existing libraries automagically. So, as I said before, if you target mode your iBook, drag your "old" ~/Music and ~/Pictures to your home directory on your new iMac, when you first open iTunes it should work right out of the gate, and iPhoto will update your ~/Pictures/iPhotowhatever automatically.

Again, problem.. fall back on the originals on the iBook.

Still worried, copy the originals in the same way to your iMac and put them on a DVD, or copy them both into a disk image and store that on your iMac.
 
AFAIK iTunes and iPhoto will re-build the libraries to update them to whatever version they are. Shouldn't be a problem to just port the Pictures and Music folders over wholesale. Just do it before you open the apps.

[edit]^^ like he said
 
Yeah I figured as much on the "needlessly worrying" part... ;) :p

I'll give it a shot and see what it does I guess. :) I'm going to clean all the garbage out of my user folder on the iBook too so if I decide to move the whole thing, I can, without taking all the garbage with me. ;) I would like to keep my Apps and not have to re-enter all of my registration codes...that really sucked when moving to the iBook. So hopefully Setup Assistant takes care of all of that too.
 
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