Need a little help with backing up, sort of urgent

[pictures]

hi, my iMac's hard drive is failing, so I just picked up an external hard drive (500gb) and am getting ready to back up my OS and applications.

I've dl'd Carbon Copy Cloner and I'm ready to start, but I'm wondering if I should partition the new drive. I would also like to use the drive for short term storage and for transferring/working on files on multiple computers.

I'm not sure I can even ask the questions properly, so please bear with me... I think I'm having a little trouble understanding the way the partitioning and back ups work. Can I just make regular separate back ups of just data and/or just application changes/preference changes? Is that a reason to partition the drive?

Should I use CCC or Time Capsule for regular backups?

thanks in advance for any help.

 

[miles01110]

There is no such thing as a "regular backup" - backup how you want to. You can partition the drive and do a CCC (or TM) backup on one partition and use the other for short-term storage.

Can I just make regular separate back ups of just data and/or just application changes/preference changes?

What does "just data" mean? Isn't everything "data" ? TM by default and CCC by selecting the proper option will only backup the changes to any file that has been changed since the last backup, if that's what you mean. With CCC this means you have to do a full-disk backup first so it gets the baseline.

 

[pictures]

What does "just data" mean? Isn't everything "data" ?

Sorry, I phrased that wrong. By "just data", I meant photos, documents, etc., as opposed to OS and applications. I've got all that stuff backed up elsewhere for now.

anyway, that seems to answer my question, that the backup process backs up everything on the computer, is that correct?

 

[miles01110]

Sorry, I phrased that wrong. By "just data", I meant photos, documents, etc., as opposed to OS and applications. I've got all that stuff backed up elsewhere for now.

If all of your personal files are in folders you can select which ones you want to back up easily in CCC, but in TM you have to choose which folders to exclude making it a poor choice for backing up specific folders. It's much easier to just do everything.

anyway, that seems to answer my question, that the backup process backs up everything on the computer, is that correct?

Unless you exclude things, then yes. TM backups are not bootable, CCC backups are bootable.

 

[pictures]

thanks much. I think that pretty much answers it.