I am lending my iMac to someone...

[JDee]

Hi there,

I am going to be purchasing a MacBook this summer / in the next few weeks.

I already have an iMac (Late 08') 20" 2.4GHz model.

My cousin is willing to have a look at Macs and purchase mine if she likes it. I have told her that I would give a lend to her for it for a few weeks to get the hang of it and then she can tell me whether she wants to buy it.

What is the best way to go around backing up all my data? I don't have an external hard-drive - I want it so that it will be a fresh install for her so she can get the "full" mac experience

How can I do all of the things mentioned above?

Thanks guys.
Also - does the current high end MacBook perform better than the late 08' 2.4GHZ model? Anyone have any benchmarks?

 

[kornyboy]

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You could back it up to a CD. I'd buy an external HD though and do a full backup. You can always use it with your MacBook.

 

[sammich]

It's probably a good idea to guy an inexpensive external HDD for general storage and Time Machine backups. That way you get to keep a full copy of all your data to transfer when you get your new Macbook, and you get a backup drive to boot.

 

[jsw]

Your best bet for a backup is to get an external drive. They're reasonably priced, and, when you connect it, Time Machine will ask you if you want to use it, and if you click that you do, it'll handle it all automatically. Edit: as mentioned above, this will make moving to your new Mac easier as well.

If not, then use a set of DVDs (or a USB flash drive) to at least back up your Home Folder. We could provide details on that, but I highly recommend the backup drive instead.

Then, to do a fresh install, you'd just use the disks that came with your iMac. Put the first disk in and either (a) boot to it by holding down 'C' when starting your Mac, or (b) insert it, open it up on your Mac, double click the install icon, and it'll prompt you to reboot the Mac.

Once the install app has started, it'll be pretty straightforward to do the clean install.

 

[J&JPolangin]

...well both machines (iMac and MB) use a C2D 2.4 Ghz processor but the iMac has the same FSB but uses 800 Mhz RAM while the UMB uses DDR3 RAM or the whitebook uses 667/800 DDR2 RAM... not much difference...

Now the HDD on the other hand is a 7200RPM 3.5" HDD in the iMac vs a 5400 RPM 2.5" HDD in the MB/UMB... that will be the largest speed difference.

 

[the vj]

I would create a new user for her in the mean time. Once I get my new computer I would transfer everything from the iMac to the new one.

Or, you can do what everyone elses say about getting an external hard drive for back up wich is a must today. I have 3 2TB and 4 250GB, I work with video.

 

[ucfgrad93]

It's probably a good idea to guy an inexpensive external HDD for general storage and Time Machine backups. That way you get to keep a full copy of all your data to transfer when you get your new Macbook, and you get a backup drive to boot.

Agreed. Time Machine is great for this. My HD crashed on my iMac recently, and Time Machine was perfect for getting it back the way it was.