Pre-Tiger Backups - Address Book, iCal and Mail

[NATO]

I don't know if this has been covered before in detail and I apologise if it has, but I'm looking for some definitive advice on how to backup the following so that I can re-instate it in Tiger:

1. Address Book
2. iCal Calendars
3. Mail

The way I see it, I want to wipe my disk clean and do a fresh install, but I want to be able to just copy across or import the above so that I retain my contacts, calendars and mail. Is this possible? Will the apps in Tiger be fundamentally different which will make this impossible?

Many Thanks for your replies.

 

[aswitcher]

I don't know if this has been covered before in detail and I apologise if it has, but I'm looking for some definitive advice on how to backup the following so that I can re-instate it in Tiger:

1. Address Book
2. iCal Calendars
3. Mail

The way I see it, I want to wipe my disk clean and do a fresh install, but I want to be able to just copy across or import the above so that I retain my contacts, calendars and mail. Is this possible? Will the apps in Tiger be fundamentally different which will make this impossible?

Many Thanks for your replies.

Yep its possible.

You need to use Finder to ID your "preferences" under your user account. In that are these + safari book marks and keychain (which I also recommend you backup).

You could copy all these and back them up to disc, or you could even copy the whole preferences directory.

I am no expert but I beleive this will then allow you to reinstall these after Tiger is installed by simple copying their contents to the new samely named directories.

 

[munkle]

I don't know if this has been covered before in detail and I apologise if it has, but I'm looking for some definitive advice on how to backup the following so that I can re-instate it in Tiger:

I think the surest way is to do the following:

1. Address Book

To back up Address Book, choose File/Back Up Database and choose a location to save the backup file. You should then be able to import all your contacts or choose File/Revert to Database Backup.

2. iCal Calendars

Export your individual calendars, File/Export, and then re-import into your new system. Unfortunately I think you have to do each calendar individually.

3. Mail

To save the contents of Mail, go to User Name/Library/Mail in Finder and back up that folder. You can then restore this mail folder by choosing File/Import Mailboxes.

The way I see it, I want to wipe my disk clean and do a fresh install, but I want to be able to just copy across or import the above so that I retain my contacts, calendars and mail. Is this possible? Will the apps in Tiger be fundamentally different which will make this impossible?

Many Thanks for your replies.

The apps in Tiger will be able to import your data from Panther just fine.

And if you want to make a backup of your Safari bookmarks check out,
Safari Bookmark Exporter. I would also recommend making a full backup of your system, SuperDuper will allow you to do that and for free

 

[munkle]

Yep its possible.

You need to use Finder to ID your "preferences" under your user account. In that are these + safari book marks and keychain (which I also recommend you backup).

You could copy all these and back them up to disc, or you could even copy the whole preferences directory.

I am no expert but I beleive this will then allow you to reinstall these after Tiger is installed by simple copying their contents to the new samely named directories.

I think this method would backup your preferences but not necessarily your content, as they are often stored in a different place.

 

[aswitcher]

I think this method would backup your preferences but not necessarily your content, as they are often stored in a different place.

Yes your entirely correct - you also need your Library! Thats where you find the mail etc

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

2. iCal Calendars

Export your individual calendars, File/Export, and then re-import into your new system. Unfortunately I think you have to do each calendar individually.

The iCal calendars are located in ~/Library/Calendars (where ~ is your home folder), and you can just save those and place them in your new Calendars folder

(Note that calendars you subscribe to will, for some insane reason, become ordinary calendars... The calendar will appear in iCal when it's placed in the Calendars folder, or you import it otherwise, but no longer as a subscribed one and no longer able to sync with its source...)

 

[NATO]

Great replies everyone! I'm ready for Tiger now (bring it on ) I didn't realise Address Book and iCal had options to export the data, so that's a great relief... Mail is the odd-one-out, strange there isn't an export option like M$ Outlook has, but at leasts its an easy folder to find.

I think I'll take your advice munkle and back up the system.... I've just bought an External HDD, so it'd be good to have a full system backup just in case. Do you have to create a seperate partition, or can you do a backup even if you have already put some files on the drive?

 

[munkle]

Great replies everyone! I'm ready for Tiger now (bring it on ) I didn't realise Address Book and iCal had options to export the data, so that's a great relief... Mail is the odd-one-out, strange there isn't an export option like M$ Outlook has, but at leasts its an easy folder to find.

I think I'll take your advice munkle and back up the system.... I've just bought an External HDD, so it'd be good to have a full system backup just in case. Do you have to create a seperate partition, or can you do a backup even if you have already put some files on the drive?

There's no need to create a separate partition really and to create another partition you'd have to delete the entire drive (unless you want to use some third party tool).

But planning ahead, you might want to partition the drive anyway and have a separate partition for making backups of your Tiger HD. Just a thought. a recent thread on the merits of partitioning your external HD

 

[NATO]

Thanks again for the advice munkle. I have divided my 250GB (233.8GB Effective) External Drive into 3 Partitions :

110.4GB Misc Drive
92.5 GB Backup Drive
30.5 GB Scratch Drive

I'm took your advice and used SuperDuper to create a bootable clone of my internal drive. I've then got the Misc Drive to copy over any other files I don't want to keep permanently on my system drive, and the scratch disk for any editing that I do.

I'm really glad I got this all done, I wouldn't have known where to start!

 

[TigerPRO]

My List

Here's a comprehensive list that I compiled a while back. Of course this is in addtion to any personal files I backup from my home folder...

iCal Calendars
iChat Conversations
Address Book Cards
Mail Account Data
iTunes Playlist File
Safari Bookmarks

MSN Conversation
Firefox Bookmarks
Camino Bookmarks

 

[lssmit02]

Use Apple Backup?

Doesn't Apple's Backup program do all of those things (if you have a .mac account of course)? I guess I was thinking of backing up those files, plus iTunes and iPhoto files, to a firewire drive, doing a clean install, and then restoring to the drive with the clean 10.4 install on it. Is there a reason not to do it this way?

 

[Cybbe]

I experienced some problems trying to backup the mail-directory and then importing it after i had installed Tiger. In the end i didn't bother to work out how to import old mail properly (my main account is an IMAP so it wasnt really crucial), but just as a little warning on backing up mail, it may not work out as you intend (although it could of course just be me).

The iCal and Adress Book backups did of course work as a charm. Had no problems with the iTunes or iPhoto-files either (just copied them and replaced the new directories with the old), but Spotlight wouldnt read iPhoto meta-data untill i had "edited" all of my pictures (mark all pictures, added a keyword to all my pictures, quit iPhoto, now Spotlight would read the metadata and i could enter iPhoto and remove the keyword). Again, this could just be me, but someone else might encounter this problem.

 

[TigerPRO]

Doesn't Apple's Backup program do all of those things (if you have a .mac account of course)? I guess I was thinking of backing up those files, plus iTunes and iPhoto files, to a firewire drive, doing a clean install, and then restoring to the drive with the clean 10.4 install on it. Is there a reason not to do it this way?

I don't think so. That's what I did when Panther came out. Although I would warn you of a couple things. First, if you've bought music on the iTunes music sotre, be sure to "deauthoirze" iTunes before you install Tiger. And one time my iTunes library went spastic, so create an XML library backup file just in case. Otherwise a clean install is the way to go.