Just received my first rmpb! What to do next?

[macfreak101]

Hey guys I just received my new rmbp 13 inch with 256ssd.
What are the things that I should first do with it?
Any softwares or applications to be installed?
Bootcamp?
Any Antivirus software?
Shall I create a partition incase the system crashes if so how to create one?

I'm very excited as its my first Mac.
Thanks for all the help

 

[glenthompson]

Get an external drive to use with Time Machine and establish a backup plan. If you look through the posts here you will see too many people asking how to recover data because they didn't backup for the past 6 months.

 

[poiihy]

Don't get antivirus for Mac
It's a waste of money and it's useless

You should always have a backup.
Other than that there's nothing you really need, just whatever you need.

You do not need to create a partition for a backup OS. If you OS does somehow break, you can boot into recovery HD. If your entire volume is broken, you can use Internet Recovery.

 

[macfreak101]

Get an external drive to use with Time Machine and establish a backup plan. If you look through the posts here you will see too many people asking how to recover data because they didn't backup for the past 6 months.

Is it like Windows if I create a partitiom and store stuff on the d drive while my os is on my c drive if something goes wrong only the c drive will crash? And doesn't the recovery mode help to restore stuff without backing it up?

Don't get antivirus for Mac
It's a waste of money and it's useless

You should always have a backup.
Other than that there's nothing you really need, just whatever you need.

What all does time machine back up? Is it the best back up option? What is your opinion about creating a partition?

 

[poiihy]

Is it like Windows if I create a partitiom and store stuff on the d drive while my os is on my c drive if something goes wrong only the c drive will crash? And doesn't the recovery mode help to restore stuff without backing it up?


What all does time machine back up? Is it the best back up option? What is your opinion about creating a partition?

Time Machine usually backs up everything, I think, but you can blacklist what you do not want to backup (like Applications folder)

You don't need to create a partiton for another OS. You can restore a time machine backup using the recovery OS.

As for partitions failing, it depends... If it is software-related (like if you screw up the OS (unlikely)), other partitions would work.
If it is hardware related (if the storage medium breaks or a cable comes off, which is extremely unlikely to happen under normal use), then all volumes would not work of course.

It is very unlikely to corrupt a volume making it not readable. Usually the worst you could do is damage the OS making it not bootable, however this can easily be fixed by reinstalling it from the recovery OS. Reinstalling the OS will reinstall the system but all your files and everything would stay the same. It is still recommended to backup.

 

[glenthompson]

Another item, if you're used to Windows get David Pogue's book "Switching to the Mac, Mavericks Edition". It covers how to go from the Windows way of doing things to the Mac way. In just a few hours you will be up to speed.

 

[macfreak101]

Time Machine usually backs up everything, I think, but you can blacklist what you do not want to backup (like Applications folder)

You don't need to create a partiton for another OS. You can restore a time machine backup using the recovery OS.

As for partitions failing, it depends... If it is software-related (like if you screw up the OS (unlikely)), other partitions would work.
If it is hardware related (if the storage medium breaks or a cable comes off, which is extremely unlikely to happen under normal use), then all volumes would not work of course.

It is very unlikely to corrupt a volume making it not readable. Usually the worst you could do is damage the OS making it not bootable, however this can easily be fixed by reinstalling it from the recovery OS. Reinstalling the OS will reinstall the system but all your files and everything would stay the same. It is still recommended to backup.

Sorry I didn't understand you're saying suppose if the os gets corrupted and I have to reinstall it through recovery mode it will reinstall it and all my files will still be there? So what's the point of a time machine back up then? Secondly will time machine back up my windows partition of bootcamp and how to transfer files from the Windows partition to the Mac os x partition?

Another item, if you're used to Windows get David Pogue's book "Switching to the Mac, Mavericks Edition". It covers how to go from the Windows way of doing things to the Mac way. In just a few hours you will be up to speed.

Surely will try that out, thanks
BTW do you suggest the apple care plan? Is it worth it?
Any tips for the battery and ssd how to use it so that the battery and ssd don't wear out quickly?

 

[Switchback666]

Speaking of time machine backups, i used to have parallel installed with windows 7 and i had to 'blacklist' in the backups because it will do the whole thing overtime backup started.

Did they fix that or is there a work around ?

 

[joe-h2o]

You can reinstall OS X without wiping the disk, so if the O goes wrong, you can do a repair install and carry on. This doesn't wipe out your data.

However, you can also do a total nuke and pave that wipes *everything* and start again from a blank disk - in this situation you would need your Time Machine backup to recover your files.

If your hard drive fails then you will definitely need your Time Machine backup. If your drive fails (and they sometimes do - it's just the nature of storage devices) and Apple replaces it, then when you get it back home you plug in your time machine disk and select "restore from backup" and all your files will come back just as you left them.

Buy a USB external hard drive and plug it in every so often (if it's always connected, Time Machine will keep regular backups, but if you only connect it once per week then that's when it will do the backup). The first time you run it, it will take a while to do, but after that it just looks at the changes since the last time you backed up, so it doesn't take ages every time).

Apple has some great videos for new Mac owners about some of the features that make using OS X really handy and Time Machine is definitely one of them. All you need is a normal USB external hard drive or if you want to be totally wireless, an Apple Time Capsule (although that is quite expensive and probably unnecessary).

You may want to start here, on Apple's site. Some of this might be obvious to you, and some of it might be new to you, but there's a lot of handy tips in here. Apple's how-to on Time Machine is here, and goes through the basics of using it and how it all works.

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Speaking of time machine backups, i used to have parallel installed with windows 7 and i had to 'blacklist' in the backups because it will do the whole thing overtime backup started.

Did they fix that or is there a work around ?

There's no work around - Time Machine works by looking at which files have changed between backups, and Parallels installs Windows into a disk image. when that disk image changes at all (like changing one file in Windows), then according to Time Machine, it has changed and must be backed up.

All that Time Machine can "see" is the disk image as one giant entity. It only does granular changes on the Mac partitions.

 

[Switchback666]

There's no work around - Time Machine works by looking at which files have changed between backups, and Parallels installs Windows into a disk image. when that disk image changes at all (like changing one file in Windows), then according to Time Machine, it has changed and must be backed up.

All that Time Machine can "see" is the disk image as one giant entity. It only does granular changes on the Mac partitions.

I see, it was big shame because i totally forgot about it when i got a new mac and restored to find my windows nowhere (i forgot i had it blacklisted).