A friendly reminder to backup...

Joined
Mar 9, 2004
Messages
9,065
Reaction score
331
Points
83
Location
Munich
Your Mac's Specs
Aluminium Macbook 2.4 Ghz 4GB RAM, SSD 24" Samsung Display, iPhone 4, iPad 2
Hey everyone!

A while ago, I implemented a backup routine using an external USB 2.0 harddrive...
As time went on, my backups became less frequent and with my ever expanding music library space constraints and library managment kind of put a stop to them.

2 days ago my iBook's harddrive started making strange noises and next thing you know it won't boot up anymore.

I took it to the technicians at the place I work (mac retailer) and they hooked me up with a new 80GB internal hdd.
They tried to get some of the data off the old drive, but without specialized tools nothing could be retreived.

I've spent the day reclaiming my data off my .mac iDisk, my old backup files and my iPod and it's been quite tedious....
Starting today I'm just going to clone my entire drive and be done with it.

This iBook is 1yr and 2 months old - so hardly susceptible to aging-related hardware failure.
Remember - it could happen anytime at all and a lot of data is not just useful, it's personal too. (Think photos, files, letters, emails etc...)


So back up ppl!
 
Joined
Mar 16, 2005
Messages
290
Reaction score
3
Points
18
Location
New Jersey
Your Mac's Specs
Dual 1.8GHz Power Mac G5; 1GB SDRAM; 160GB Serial ATA; 20 inch Cinema Display
This is probably a silly question... But how would you go about backing up a whole system onto a DVD or such? usually I back up my music and some important files and my photography work. But is it necessary to back up a whole system or just those important files? Some people say to back up the whole system, but I don't really see a need to back it up except those import files I mentioned. I also keep a list of programs Ive down loaded so if that dreadful time comes, I'll remember what I had.

Sorry, was just wondering.
 
Joined
Aug 15, 2005
Messages
154
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Your Mac's Specs
20" iMac core2Duo 2.4Ghz 4GB ram
Yeah, its pretty much useless to back up the entire system. Just back up the important files and reinstall everything else.
 
OP
Aptmunich
Joined
Mar 9, 2004
Messages
9,065
Reaction score
331
Points
83
Location
Munich
Your Mac's Specs
Aluminium Macbook 2.4 Ghz 4GB RAM, SSD 24" Samsung Display, iPhone 4, iPad 2
Well if you can afford the space, I'd personally go for a full system backup.
That way you'll be up and running again in no time without hassle.

Even now I'm still noticing things missing...
 
Joined
Oct 27, 2002
Messages
13,172
Reaction score
348
Points
83
Location
Cleveland, Ohio
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro | LED Cinema Display | iPhone 4 | iPad 2
I personally make a bootable backup of my entire system on an external FireWire drive. It makes restores very easy, but it also means I technically have another exact copy of my system so if I ever needed to get my iMac repaired I could use my iBook and boot off my FireWire drive and it's like working on my iMac again.
 
Joined
Oct 25, 2004
Messages
201
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
Toronto, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
13.3" 2.26 GHz MBP, 2GB RAM, 640GB HD
That reinforces my need to get an external drive. It is a pain in the butt if you don't back up your stuff. My friend's external hard drive stopped working and he's peeved b/c he's lost basically 120 gigs of data. His problem was the fact he took his external hard drive with him everywhere. It's important to have a safe backup at home.
 
Joined
Feb 18, 2005
Messages
435
Reaction score
13
Points
18
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Your Mac's Specs
ibook G4 14in
ok, this maybe a stupid question but would i be able to store/burn all my music in mp3 format onto a dvd for storage? that is pretty much the only thing i would be worried about losing on my ibook.

if so, is it as simple as throwing a blank dvd in there and burning a data cd?
 
OP
Aptmunich
Joined
Mar 9, 2004
Messages
9,065
Reaction score
331
Points
83
Location
Munich
Your Mac's Specs
Aluminium Macbook 2.4 Ghz 4GB RAM, SSD 24" Samsung Display, iPhone 4, iPad 2
Basically yes.

In iTunes you can just create a playlist with all your music, set the burning options to data cd/dvd and hit burn.
 
Joined
Mar 16, 2005
Messages
290
Reaction score
3
Points
18
Location
New Jersey
Your Mac's Specs
Dual 1.8GHz Power Mac G5; 1GB SDRAM; 160GB Serial ATA; 20 inch Cinema Display
Computer.Geek said:
That reinforces my need to get an external drive. It is a pain in the butt if you don't back up your stuff. My friend's external hard drive stopped working and he's peeved b/c he's lost basically 120 gigs of data. His problem was the fact he took his external hard drive with him everywhere. It's important to have a safe backup at home.
I guess thats where having a DVD or some type of removable disk back up would be very useful. So having a back-up stored in a safe place and not just on an external drive is the best back-up to have. You never know when that external back-up may fail.
Aptmunich said:
Basically yes.

In iTunes you can just create a playlist with all your music, set the burning options to data cd/dvd and hit burn.
What about using that .xml list from iTunes?
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top