Time Machine backup without touchpad use

[Fierfek]

A friend of mine needs me to back up his Macbook Pro (2007) that does not have a working touchpad. External mice do not work, and Apple asked him to back everything up before taking it in again. How can I back up his files without taking the machine apart, and using only the keyboard with Time Machine?

Is there a way to use the arrows as a mouse?

 

[Nermal]

Can you use FireWire target disk mode?

 

[appleguy123]

What OS are you on? Why do external mice not work?

 

[Fierfek]

We're not sure why they're not working, but Apple wants to check it out after we do a backup. Either Leopard or Snow Leopard.

 

[appleguy123]

We're not sure why they're not working, but Apple wants to check it out after we do a backup. Either Leopard or Snow Leopard.

I would just tell Apple what you told us. I don't actually know if there is a way to back it up without the mouse.
You could probably get into the system prefs with a fn+ one of the function keys(it worked in SL, but it isn't working for me in Lion anymore).

 

[Fierfek]

Have been searching and it looks like mouse keys will work, if only I can figure out how to get into universal access and enable them.

 

[DewGuy1999]

I think your best bet would be to boot your friends Mac into Firewire Target Disk Mode while connected to another Mac and then use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone his hard drive to an external hard drive. No mouse or trackpad required.

 

[teleromeo]

+1 for Target mode and carbon copy cloner. You'll get a bootable disk so maybe you can boot from it and see if your problem persists.

 

[Nermal]

+1 for Target mode and carbon copy cloner. You'll get a bootable disk so maybe you can boot from it and see if your problem persists.

Holding Option at boot is an easier way. If the trackpad's not working in the Startup Manager then it's definitely a hardware problem.