Forums
New posts
Articles
Product Reviews
Policies
FAQ
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Apps and Programs
External drive backup software?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="mac57" data-source="post: 231922" data-attributes="member: 17052"><p>There should be a MUCH easier way. </p><p></p><p>It sounds like your shiny new external drive is formatted for Windows, not Mac, hence the restrictions on file name characters. Attach the drive, start Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) and reformat the drive for Mac OS X. After this, you should be able to treat it just like any other Mac volume.</p><p></p><p>Now, that having been said, you don't need any backup software at all. All I do for backup of my personal data is open a Finder Window on my data and a Finder window on my external drive and just drag the one to the other. </p><p></p><p>For the most part, all you likely need to do is one drag and drop, that being your home account. For example, if you are user "blotzo", just point your Finder window to /Users and drag folder "blotzo" to your external hard drive. That should do it. If you have a lot of data or a slow external drive, this may take a while, but you have a new drive, so it should be fast from that perspective. I backup about 30 GB of data in about 1/2 hour. Who needs back up software?</p><p></p><p>A real benefit of this approach is that if you should fat finger a file on your main drive by mistake, you can just plug in your external and navigate right to where the file is and copy it back. No restore software to run, no cumbersome process. It is all right there, plainly visible.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="mac57, post: 231922, member: 17052"] There should be a MUCH easier way. It sounds like your shiny new external drive is formatted for Windows, not Mac, hence the restrictions on file name characters. Attach the drive, start Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) and reformat the drive for Mac OS X. After this, you should be able to treat it just like any other Mac volume. Now, that having been said, you don't need any backup software at all. All I do for backup of my personal data is open a Finder Window on my data and a Finder window on my external drive and just drag the one to the other. For the most part, all you likely need to do is one drag and drop, that being your home account. For example, if you are user "blotzo", just point your Finder window to /Users and drag folder "blotzo" to your external hard drive. That should do it. If you have a lot of data or a slow external drive, this may take a while, but you have a new drive, so it should be fast from that perspective. I backup about 30 GB of data in about 1/2 hour. Who needs back up software? A real benefit of this approach is that if you should fat finger a file on your main drive by mistake, you can just plug in your external and navigate right to where the file is and copy it back. No restore software to run, no cumbersome process. It is all right there, plainly visible. [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Apps and Programs
External drive backup software?
Top