iMac + time capsule question

[noobinator]

I'm selling my iMac which is backed up daily to my time capsule. I have over 10,000 photos and videos on my iMac.

How will I access these photos/videos once I sell my iMac? Can I browse my old iMac on my time capsule after I sell the iMac? Or is the backup in a file that only will restore to my iMac?

Where are these photos/videos stored on my iMac if I use Lightroom? Maybe I should just save the folders separately on my time capsule and delete my backup once I sell the iMac.

 

[Weaselboy]

I'm selling my iMac which is backed up daily to my time capsule. I have over 10,000 photos and videos on my iMac.

How will I access these photos/videos once I sell my iMac? Can I browse my old iMac on my time capsule after I sell the iMac? Or is the backup in a file that only will restore to my iMac?

Where are these photos/videos stored on my iMac if I use Lightroom? Maybe I should just save the folders separately on my time capsule and delete my backup once I sell the iMac.

Assuming you have another Mac to do it with, yes you can browse the sparse bundle in the TC that the backup is stored in, but it is not very user friendly. The problem is Lightroom, like iPhoto, stores your photos in a database that is also not easily browsable.

You Lightroom database should be in your user Pictures folder under a Lightroom folder. If it was me I would keep the Time Capsule backup of the database so you can restore back to Lightroom if you want. But if you want access to photos in the interim without Lightroom, I would export all the photos from Lightroom in a flat folder format and store them separately.

If you try to later access individual photos inside a Lightroom database while inside a TC sparse bundle, you are going to have a bad time and risk corrupting the Lightroom database.

 

[rkaufmann87]

I'm selling my iMac which is backed up daily to my time capsule. I have over 10,000 photos and videos on my iMac.

How will I access these photos/videos once I sell my iMac? Can I browse my old iMac on my time capsule after I sell the iMac? Or is the backup in a file that only will restore to my iMac?

Where are these photos/videos stored on my iMac if I use Lightroom? Maybe I should just save the folders separately on my time capsule and delete my backup once I sell the iMac.

If you replace the iMac with another Mac simply use Setup Assistant to migrate all your data, apps, settings, etc to the new machine. When you start a new Mac for the first time it will automatically launch Setup Assistant, at one point it will ask if you are migrating from another Mac, choose yes, connect your TC via Ethernet to your new Mac and then select from Time Machine Backup and let it do it's work. This is EXTREMELY easy to do and the most efficient method of migrating.

 

[hfg]

I'm selling my iMac which is backed up daily to my time capsule. I have over 10,000 photos and videos on my iMac.

How will I access these photos/videos once I sell my iMac? Can I browse my old iMac on my time capsule after I sell the iMac? Or is the backup in a file that only will restore to my iMac?

Where are these photos/videos stored on my iMac if I use Lightroom? Maybe I should just save the folders separately on my time capsule and delete my backup once I sell the iMac.

Please make a separate backup of your photo library before you sell your iMac.

Currently, your photos reside on your iMac and on your TC backup ... thus 2 copies. When you wipe and sell your iMac, your only copy of your photos will be on the disk in the TC ... you will have no backup!

Assuming you replace your iMac and reload your photos, you can then use this extra backup disk to keep a 3rd copy of your precious photos safe and offline.

 

[noobinator]

To add a bit. I am going to be buying a MacBook Air to replace my imac.

So it sounds like I will be able to use the migration assistant to have my new air look like my old imac and this have access to all my photos and videos in Lightroom.

The only thing that worries me is what the above poster mentioned. The gap between selling my imac and migrating to the air I will not have a backup of my photos and videos.

 

[Weaselboy]

To add a bit. I am going to be buying a MacBook Air to replace my imac.

So it sounds like I will be able to use the migration assistant to have my new air look like my old imac and this have access to all my photos and videos in Lightroom.

The only thing that worries me is what the above poster mentioned. The gap between selling my imac and migrating to the air I will not have a backup of my photos and videos.

Ahh... that clarifies things a bit. Yes, if you have a good Time Machine backup on the TC, that can be used as the source for the Migration Assistant on the new machine. Make sure you do the migration during the initial setup of the machine. Do not try to setup and account then do the migration as that can make a duplicate mess.

Just so all you eggs are not in one basket with the TC there, what you might want to do it just go out and get a cheap USB3 external drive and use that to make a second Time Machine backup of the iMac before you let it go. This way of somehow the TC dies, you are covered.

Then when you get the new machine, just use the new drive as the source for migration as that will be much faster than from the TC. After migration you will restart and your old account and all data and apps etc will be there just like before.

 

[FreemanW]

I would suggest, in addition to your Time Capsule, that you invest in a USB 3.0 external hdd and Carbon Copy Cloner. That (IMHO) is the way to go with backup redundancy and ease of backup browsing.

If the cost is not prohibitive, you will be very happy with the outcome.

 

[rambo47]

I would suggest, in addition to your Time Capsule, that you invest in a USB 3.0 external hdd and Carbon Copy Cloner. That (IMHO) is the way to go with backup redundancy and ease of backup browsing.

If the cost is not prohibitive, you will be very happy with the outcome.

Excellent idea. I use Time Capsule for backups of my iMac over my home network and I also have a Lacie external hdd I use to occasionally backup my Home folder separately. It's just drag & drop for the individual folders but it makes me sleep better.

 

[hfg]

I would suggest, in addition to your Time Capsule, that you invest in a USB 3.0 external hdd and Carbon Copy Cloner. That (IMHO) is the way to go with backup redundancy and ease of backup browsing.

If the cost is not prohibitive, you will be very happy with the outcome.

I do a similar backup where I let TimeMachine do a hourly historical backup to an external NAS storage, and CCC does a daily clone backup to an attached bootable drive. Since both backups only transfer incremental changes, they only take minutes to run after the initial full backup. Both are fully automated and scheduled so I don't have to remember to start anything.

Having a current bootable clone and the long-term historical TimeMachine file history gives me 3 copies of my files ... and great peace of mind.

 

[h9826790]

Agree that you should make another backup before you sell your iMac. Only rely on a single backup without the original files in hand is not a good idea for any important data.

 

[noobinator]

I ordered a 1TB external usb 3.0 HD. I'll back up using the app/program mentioned before I sell my iMac.

 

[noobinator]

I got my HD, i went into the disk utility and formatted to 1 partition and then created a new image of my iMac HD. Is this the proper procedure I was supposed to do or ?

 

[Weaselboy]

I got my HD, i went into the disk utility and formatted to 1 partition and then created a new image of my iMac HD. Is this the proper procedure I was supposed to do or ?

If you used the restore tab in Disk Util to copy the iMac to the external like this, yes that would be a complete clone of the iMac's drive.

 

[noobinator]

I sort of followed the steps below but I didn't boot up do it from there. I just went into disk utility when I was in OSX. I don't understand the steps below why I'd reboot and hold down C key and all that? Did I mess up?


Connect an external hard drive (FireWire or USB) that has sufficient free space to hold at least one copy of the contents of your Macintosh HD.
Start from your Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 Install DVD. (Insert the disc, then restart and hold the C key.)
Select your language. Do not start an installation.
Choose Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
Select the disk you wish to back up (your source disk, such as Macintosh HD) in the source pane on the left.
Click "Verify Disk" to check the hard disk for issues. If an issue is found, click "Repair Disk" to repair.
Click the "New Image" button in the toolbar.
Give your image a useful name such as "04-15-2009 Macintosh HD backup". A date in the name makes it easy to tell when the backup was made.

Note: For additional security, you can encrypt the backup disk image. From the "Encryption:" pop-up menu, select either 128-bit or 256-bit AES encryption. When prompted enter a password for the encryption: Use the password assistant to help you make a good password, or see this link for information about how to choose a good password.

Be sure the Save destination is a location on your external hard disk, then click "Save" to continue.
Enter your admin name and password if prompted. The imaging process will begin. The time it takes to complete the imaging process depends on factors such as the amount of data on your Macintosh HD. Approximately 1 GB per minute will be imaged, depending on various factors.
When the imaging process is complete, select the newly created disk image in the device pane. Then, choose Images > Scan Image for Restore... from the menu bar, and let the scan complete.
Quit Disk Utility (press Command-Q). Then press Command-Q to quit the Mac OS X installer; you will be prompted to restart.

 

[Weaselboy]

I sort of followed the steps below but I didn't boot up do it from there. I just went into disk utility when I was in OSX. I don't understand the steps below why I'd reboot and hold down C key and all that? Did I mess up?

What you did was not the same as a clone, but the end result is similar and still contains all your data. What you did was make a "disk image" and that puts the whole drive contents inside of a DMG file. If you look at your external now you will see one DMG file called whatever you named it. If you double click that DMG it will open and you will be able to see and retrieve all your files if you want. Test it out just to be sure it works.

If your files are all there, you can just leave it and go with this solution as a second backup of your files.

The restore tab would have made a clone to the external that you could boot from and all your files would be there. I don't think you need this ability, so the DMG route you used will be fine either way.

 

[noobinator]

What you did was not the same as a clone, but the end result is similar and still contains all your data. What you did was make a "disk image" and that puts the whole drive contents inside of a DMG file. If you look at your external now you will see one DMG file called whatever you named it. If you double click that DMG it will open and you will be able to see and retrieve all your files if you want. Test it out just to be sure it works.

If your files are all there, you can just leave it and go with this solution as a second backup of your files.

The restore tab would have made a clone to the external that you could boot from and all your files would be there. I don't think you need this ability, so the DMG route you used will be fine either way.

Thanks so much!