backing-up

[Rafael]

OS 10.4.9
Ibook G4
1.5 GB Ram

I know this isn't exactly a word topic, but I believe it was here that
someone mentioned their daily backing up procedure. On any given day,
I'm all over the applications, files, folders, internet, email etc.
My main back up is a 150 gb external HD. I also have a Lexor jump
drive, and 250mg zip drive. what I'd like to know is how I can back
up what I've worked on, preferrably more frequently than the end of
the day. To back up everything on the external HD, even at the end of
each day, is a long tedious process. I have a good method for
backing up a manuscript every 5 minutes or less as I'm writing it.
But a whole days activity on the computer is another thing.

Thanks, Rafael

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Rafael:

Backup "strategies" can be very simple or quite complex, depending on your
needs.

In Mac OS X, every file that you create or touch should be in your
User/Documents folder.

If it is, backup is brain-dead simple: At the end of the day, copy your
Documents folder and all of its subfolders to your external drive and walk
away. Job is done

Once you get a bit more data, make yourself a script that selects on file
Last Changed Date/Time. If the file on the external drive is older than the
file on the local drive, copy it, otherwise don't.

That will dramatically speed up your backup, assuming a normal user
workstation with only one user. There's only so much work you can do in a
day.

For anything more sophisticated, have a look at one of the purpose-built
backup utilities such as Retrospect. To use them, it pays to read the
manual until you fully understand the Grandfather-Father-Child system of
backup "Series".

Be careful with proprietary backup solutions such as Retrospect. They write
very "compact" backups. But they do it in a format that only they can read.
So you have to ensure that you ALWAYS retain a licensed, working version of
the Restore software.

That's why I don't use them: I just use a standard File COPY and Zip the
result. You can read it on anything.

Ideally, you should NEVER overwrite your current backup.

A system I use for mission-critical backups is Yearly-Monthly-Weekly-Daily.

1) Obtain a large pile of read-write CDs

2) Choose Five and label them "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday" etc.

3) On Monday, copy your entire Documents folder to the Monday disk, etc.

4) Take four more disks and label them "Week 1", "Week 2", "Week 3", "Week
4".

5) On Saturday, copy your entire Documents folder to the "Week 1" disk.

6) Take 12 more disks and label them "January", "February", "March" etc.

7) On Sunday, copy your entire Documents folder to this month's disk.

8) In January, take December's disk and label it "2007".

9) Add a new disk for December.

I use Write-Once media for the Yearly disks: they last longer.

A backup strategy like that is very, very safe. Just be aware that
Read/Write media will start to throw errors after a certain number of
writes. I would replace the daily disks within about ten years

Hope this helps

OS 10.4.9
Ibook G4
1.5 GB Ram

I know this isn't exactly a word topic, but I believe it was here that
someone mentioned their daily backing up procedure. On any given day,
I'm all over the applications, files, folders, internet, email etc.
My main back up is a 150 gb external HD. I also have a Lexor jump
drive, and 250mg zip drive. what I'd like to know is how I can back
up what I've worked on, preferrably more frequently than the end of
the day. To back up everything on the external HD, even at the end of
each day, is a long tedious process. I have a good method for
backing up a manuscript every 5 minutes or less as I'm writing it.
But a whole days activity on the computer is another thing.

Thanks, Rafael

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Elliott Roper]

OS 10.4.9
Ibook G4
1.5 GB Ram

I know this isn't exactly a word topic, but I believe it was here that
someone mentioned their daily backing up procedure. On any given day,
I'm all over the applications, files, folders, internet, email etc.
My main back up is a 150 gb external HD. I also have a Lexor jump
drive, and 250mg zip drive. what I'd like to know is how I can back
up what I've worked on, preferrably more frequently than the end of
the day. To back up everything on the external HD, even at the end of
each day, is a long tedious process. I have a good method for
backing up a manuscript every 5 minutes or less as I'm writing it.
But a whole days activity on the computer is another thing.

In addition to John's excellent advice, if you have a .mac account with
Apple, you will find that the Backup that gets enabled with it does
what you want very efficiently. You can set up one or more plans to
operate on different parts of your machine(s) at different intervals
and to different media if you wish. An hourly plan that covers your
~/Documents and ~/Library will take a few seconds to execute an
incremental. I'm pretty sure it won't back up files that are open for
write at the time of backup, so you'd still need a little discipline
with saving and naming work in progress. You can set it up so that you
get warning before the backup starts, which would be enough to save-as
your active work.

I don't think that .mac is worth it just for backup. Indeed it is
pretty expensive for not much benefit. I can't remember how I got
suckered into it.

As soon as Leopard comes out, I'll be into the 'Time Machine' like a
flash. It looks like the right way to do backup on small systems.

 

[Rafael]

In addition to John's excellent advice, if you have a .mac account with
Apple, you will find that the Backup that gets enabled with it does
what you want very efficiently. You can set up one or more plans to
operate on different parts of your machine(s) at different intervals
and to different media if you wish. An hourly plan that covers your
~/Documents and ~/Library will take a few seconds to execute an
incremental. I'm pretty sure it won't back up files that are open for
write at the time of backup, so you'd still need a little discipline
with saving and naming work in progress. You can set it up so that you
get warning before the backup starts, which would be enough to save-as
your active work.

I don't think that .mac is worth it just for backup. Indeed it is
pretty expensive for not much benefit. I can't remember how I got
suckered into it.

As soon as Leopard comes out, I'll be into the 'Time Machine' like a
flash. It looks like the right way to do backup on small systems.

Thanks John & Elliiot. I'll be back once I've applied your
directions. Rafael

 

[little_creature]

Hello crew,
WOW, impressed by simply clever idea again. I will threat students with it.
I have on candidate who really needs it.

I just want to add a tiny bit to file management. I got used to write the
date of modification/save into file like 070703filename.doc
So then I know whatis the latest version. Also if you use any file manager
it will sort the files easily.
Of course I know that last saved info is stored in the file but what if you
one the file, do not make any change and then save it? It will have the
latest date but will it realy be the latest one? So I like to have things
save.

A useful thing that I also established is some temporary folder where I
store all the thing I received or download abd do not consider to need them
- kind of temporary folder called *mess*. I know I do not need things in
there but if i possibly change my mind I will find all stuff there.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Little Creature:

Yeah: Tell the students for "maximum credit" they need to convince you that
they are storing their backup AWAY from the computer.

I take my home backup to the office, and my office backup home. I store my
home backups in the laundry/bathroom (least likely part of the house to burn
down, and one place your average junkie thief will not think to look...

Because these are "students" we are talking about, and they deserve to have
a life of misery so they pay their dues, you might invite them to do a
little "contingency planning".

Consultants like me manage to make "Business Continuity Planning" or
"Contingency Planning" bigger than Ben Hurr (and nearly as expensive as the
movie...). But it's really very simple: systematic paranoia.

What are the "Risks" we are trying to protect against? What are the
"Impacts" those threats would have if they happened? What can we do to
"Mitigate" each threat? What is the "Cost" of each mitigation?

Add up all the impacts, subtract the mitigations and keep going until the
cost of mitigation outweighs the cost of the impact Add up your
unmitigated risk impacts: that's your Residual Risk, go buy an insurance
policy for that amount. At the very least you will save yourself a fortune
in insurance

In the case of most home office/small office computers, the threats are:

1) User stupidity
2) Theft
3) Fire/Flood/Earthquake
4) Software failure
5) Hardware failure
6) Theft

Everything except Theft is easy to deal with using the backup strategy I
outlined yesterday. All of those other threats end up as a single impact:
"The data is gone". Restore the backup, and the data is back, no worries.
The peak residual risk is that you get to re-do a whole day's work.

When talking to students or new users, it is important to stress the
difference between a computer file and a paper file. If you get a flood and
some of your paper files go under water, you will still be able to read
"some" of the file. They need to really understand that a computer file is
not like that: you can either read ALL of it, or NONE of it. There is no
such thing as "partial" loss of a computer file

Theft is far more serious. Now, the data is NOT "gone", it's just that
someone else has it. And you don't know who. And you don't know what they
are going to do with it.

Invite your students to prepare a one-page summary of the "Impact" that
theft of their data would have, and some strategies for minimising it. Mark
them "wrong" if they talk about the loss of the computer: that's not the
issue. You can always buy another computer. The issue is that someone else
has your data: what could they do with it, and how can you prevent that?

Roughly 80 per cent of businesses that start up go broke within five years.
But if we were to teach university students just the basics of Business
Continuity Planing, I suggest that only half that number would fail. And
you can teach the basics in an hour

As to a Mess folder, the idea has attractive possibilities. But I like your
original idea "Don't empty the Trash until the system complains it's running
out of disk space"

Cheers

Hello crew,
WOW, impressed by simply clever idea again. I will threat students with it.
I have on candidate who really needs it.

I just want to add a tiny bit to file management. I got used to write the
date of modification/save into file like 070703filename.doc
So then I know whatis the latest version. Also if you use any file manager
it will sort the files easily.
Of course I know that last saved info is stored in the file but what if you
one the file, do not make any change and then save it? It will have the
latest date but will it realy be the latest one? So I like to have things
save.

A useful thing that I also established is some temporary folder where I
store all the thing I received or download abd do not consider to need them
- kind of temporary folder called *mess*. I know I do not need things in
there but if i possibly change my mind I will find all stuff there.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

A useful thing that I also established is some temporary folder where I
store all the thing I received or download abd do not consider to need them
- kind of temporary folder called *mess*. I know I do not need things in
there but if i possibly change my mind I will find all stuff there.

Couldn't agree more -- in fact, I maintain several such folders at all times
and send *nothing* to the Trash unless it's a conscious foregone conclusion
that the item is to be eradicated. Once a temporary folder has served its
purpose the content is distributed to the appropriate "permanent" locations
and the entire temporary folder gets Trashed & the Trash gets emptied.

I've honestly never researched it on the Mac - because of the habits
described above it hasn't been an issue for me - but on Windows the
equivalent Recycle Bin has a default capacity of 10% of the HD. Many users
are totally ignorant of that & will continue to stuff the Recycle Bin
[encouraged to do so by that very name] thinking that the discards will
always be available. Eventually they lose stuff that they never intended to
delete in the first place

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Rafael Montserrat]

OS 10.4.10
Ibook G4
1.5 GB Ram
Word 2004

John,

When you say below:

In Mac OS X, every file that you create or touch should be in your
User/Documents folder.

How is it then that all these other Files(?) are in my User folder, some of
which were placed there originally by OS X, and others such as Safari, I
placed there when I Export(ed) Bookmarks. And some others like Pictures.
Aren't Pictures 'Files I have created or touched, etc. for the other
non-'Documens' folders and files?

'Documents-has "Microsoft User Data"' is there because of an incompleted
(on my part) issue that Diane Ross is helping me with.

MARINet Web Catalog.webarchive is a saved copy of my local library history
of the books I've taken out.

Address Book.abbu
Contacts Export.txt
Desktop
Documents
Documents-has "Microsoft User Data"
Library
LibraryMacLibrary
Main Identity.rge
MARINet Web Catalog.webarchive
Movies
mp3s Audio
Music
Pictures
Public
Safari Bookmarks.html

I stopped using Retrospect Express about 10 years ago, and I've got about 50
Zip Discs I can't access, even with the old program I still have. I''m not
awfully concerned about that.

I have to read up on what a script is.

You say " I just use a standard File COPY and Zip the

result."

Do you mean you compress everything?

Thanks,

Rafael


On 7/2/07 12:59 AM, in article C2AEED8D.4DBF%[email protected], "John McGhie"

 

[Rafael Montserrat]

Hi little_creature ,

What do you mean by
"but what if you /one/ the file"

what does 'abd' mean?

Thanks, Rafael


Hello crew,
WOW, impressed by simply clever idea again. I will threat students with it.
I have on candidate who really needs it.

I just want to add a tiny bit to file management. I got used to write the
date of modification/save into file like 070703filename.doc
So then I know whatis the latest version. Also if you use any file manager
it will sort the files easily.
Of course I know that last saved info is stored in the file but what if you
one the file, do not make any change and then save it? It will have the
latest date but will it realy be the latest one? So I like to have things
save.

A useful thing that I also established is some temporary folder where I
store all the thing I received or download abd do not consider to need them
- kind of temporary folder called *mess*. I know I do not need things in
there but if i possibly change my mind I will find all stuff there.

 

[Rafael Montserrat]

Since Save To got to be tedious and time consuming looking for the right
folders, I recently created a folder called 'Quick Saves' that I just pop
stuff into for later sorting (I hope) into proper locations. I have an
alias of 'Quick Saves' in the side bar at the top so it's easy. That's the
same thing that you call 'mess' right?



On 7/4/07 6:36 AM, in article C2B11A9A.26F4E%[email protected],

A useful thing that I also established is some temporary folder where I
store all the thing I received or download abd do not consider to need them
- kind of temporary folder called *mess*. I know I do not need things in
there but if i possibly change my mind I will find all stuff there.

Couldn't agree more -- in fact, I maintain several such folders at all times
and send *nothing* to the Trash unless it's a conscious foregone conclusion
that the item is to be eradicated. Once a temporary folder has served its
purpose the content is distributed to the appropriate "permanent" locations
and the entire temporary folder gets Trashed & the Trash gets emptied.

I've honestly never researched it on the Mac - because of the habits
described above it hasn't been an issue for me - but on Windows the
equivalent Recycle Bin has a default capacity of 10% of the HD. Many users
are totally ignorant of that & will continue to stuff the Recycle Bin
[encouraged to do so by that very name] thinking that the discards will
always be available. Eventually they lose stuff that they never intended to
delete in the first place

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hi little_creature ,

What do you mean by
"but what if you /one/ the file"

"own" -- the obliques indicate emphasis.

what does 'abd' mean?

"and"

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
============

 

[Rafael Montserrat]

Right. Quotation marks. Thanks, Rafael





On 9/15/07 4:57 PM, in article
C312AE9B.2FEC3%[email protected], "Clive Huggan"

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Rafael:

How is it then that all these other Files(?) are in my User folder, some of
which were placed there originally by OS X, and others such as Safari, I
placed there when I Export(ed) Bookmarks. And some others like Pictures.
Aren't Pictures 'Files I have created or touched, etc. for the other
non-'Documens' folders and files?

Various manufacturers have come to the conclusion that you would consider
their files to be extremely valuable, so have put them where you are most
likely to back-up. Of they were too lazy to put them in the correct place.
You choose

'Documents-has "Microsoft User Data"' is there because of an incompleted
(on my part) issue that Diane Ross is helping me with.

Make sure you back that up: if you are using Entourage, that's where all
your mail is.

You say " I just use a standard File COPY and Zip the

Do you mean you compress everything?

Yes. Shrinks it to about half the size so you use less space in the backup.

Don't make "Backup" into a huge project unless you are the system
administrator of a large organisation. For a home or single user:

1) Copy your Documents folder somewhere

2) Zip it (create archive)

3) Make sure you do it every day.

Cheers



--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. S12.22.1918,E136.99.5392
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Rafael Montserrat]

OK, John,

1. So you say "You choose..." But you also say the manufacturers are "...too
lazy to put them in the correct place."

Then I would understand you to mean that the /correct/ place for all of them
is in the Documents Folder, and that's most likely where /you/ put them.
Correct?

Various manufacturers have come to the conclusion that you would consider
their files to be extremely valuable, so have put them where you are most
likely to back-up. Of they were too lazy to put them in the correct place.
You choose
2.
1) Copy your Documents folder somewhere
2) Zip it (create archive)
3) Make sure you do it every day.

If I have /everything/ in the Documents Folder, that's about 16 GB at
present and that takes a while to transfer into my bottom line Acomdata Ext
HD. About a half hour, I think.

Do I Zip the Documents folder (create archive) before or after I move the
folder somewhere else?

Is 'Create Archive' what OS X provides now so it's not necessary to use
Stuffit?

I'll have to figure out a simpler/faster way to keep frequent work backed
up. I do it with the novel because it's so important. I make the smallest
windows of finder, jump drive and ext HD and put them in a row at the top of
the screen. I have the finder window on the left. The Word novel file has
the exact same name in finder/jump drive/ Ext HD. Very frequently I move
the finder file to jump drive, window comes on says there's already a copy,
I click OK to that, and I've updated and backed up my most recent work. I
do the same thing over to Ext HD.

Maybe I can figure out something like that to constantly back up other
recent stuff, and only do Document Folder at the end of the day. I have
finally created (I think I mentioned this) a folder called 'Quick Save' with
it's alias in the side bar. Everything new goes into that folder
immediately. I could probably create a 'Quick Save' to 'Quick Save'
transfer same as the novel, and back up the stuff quickly.

3.
Re. " 'Documents-has "Microsoft User Data"' is there because of an
incompleted (on my part) issue that Diane Ross is helping me with."

Thing is I also have two 'Microsoft User Data' folders in the Documents
Folder, again because I haven't finished the steps Diane gave me to clean
things up. Everything is working all right on the computer, so I should
just leave those where they are and they'll get backed up with documents.
Right?

4.

Make sure you back that up ( Documents-has "Microsoft User Data"): if you are
using Entourage, that's where all your mail is.

I thought I backed up Entourage when I created 'Main Identity.rge'?

Thanks for your answers. Hope I'm not being a pest. It's a tough job being
an obsessive perfectionist.

Rafael



On 9/16/07 2:26 AM, in article C3132CF6.8DD4%[email protected], "John McGhie"

 

[Phillip Jones]

OK, John,

1. So you say "You choose..." But you also say the manufacturers are "...too
lazy to put them in the correct place."

Then I would understand you to mean that the /correct/ place for all of them
is in the Documents Folder, and that's most likely where /you/ put them.
Correct?


If I have /everything/ in the Documents Folder, that's about 16 GB at
present and that takes a while to transfer into my bottom line Acomdata Ext
HD. About a half hour, I think.

Do I Zip the Documents folder (create archive) before or after I move the
folder somewhere else?

You should be able to Command click each desired file that are non
continuous (not together) or shift click a group then choose create
archive. it automatically will encase the files in a folder before
creating the archive.

Is 'Create Archive' what OS X provides now so it's not necessary to use
Stuffit?

Yes its supposed to be but, I've found that it really does little
compression basically (my experience) it compress a very little but does
encases it in a zip Archive, the desired files.

Suffit's zip method actually uses two different compression methods
(that are settable in the preferences) faster, more compression. zip on
Mac is faster only.

Stuffit will never be surpassed as it compresses and decompress far more
file types than zip is capable of. There are about 20 or so different
compression types used and Stuffit can read or write to all of them.

The best compression utility for Mac was created by a company called
Central Point. you were even able to drop addition files on top of its
archive and it would be added to the archive and the original
automatically be deleted. There were many of us that begged for months
on end from Alladin to add this feature to Stuffit when the bought out
Central point then killed everything they had. It went on deaf ears, and
I still miss the feature.

I'll have to figure out a simpler/faster way to keep frequent work backed
up. I do it with the novel because it's so important. I make the smallest
windows of finder, jump drive and ext HD and put them in a row at the top of
the screen. I have the finder window on the left. The Word novel file has
the exact same name in finder/jump drive/ Ext HD. Very frequently I move
the finder file to jump drive, window comes on says there's already a copy,
I click OK to that, and I've updated and backed up my most recent work. I
do the same thing over to Ext HD.

Maybe I can figure out something like that to constantly back up other
recent stuff, and only do Document Folder at the end of the day. I have
finally created (I think I mentioned this) a folder called 'Quick Save' with
it's alias in the side bar. Everything new goes into that folder
immediately. I could probably create a 'Quick Save' to 'Quick Save'
transfer same as the novel, and back up the stuff quickly.

When OSX.5 comes out provided you have the proper equipment and space.
X,5 will do a forced backup for you in other words it everything is in
place the system will backup every so often whether you want to or not.
I am un aware from any reading that this feature can be turned off.

3.
Re. " 'Documents-has "Microsoft User Data"' is there because of an
incompleted (on my part) issue that Diane Ross is helping me with."

Thing is I also have two 'Microsoft User Data' folders in the Documents
Folder, again because I haven't finished the steps Diane gave me to clean
things up. Everything is working all right on the computer, so I should
just leave those where they are and they'll get backed up with documents.
Right?

4.

I thought I backed up Entourage when I created 'Main Identity.rge'?

Thanks for your answers. Hope I'm not being a pest. It's a tough job being
an obsessive perfectionist.

Rafael



On 9/16/07 2:26 AM, in article C3132CF6.8DD4%[email protected], "John McGhie"

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[Clive Huggan]

On 17/9/07 7:07 AM, in article C312E93C.347A%[email protected],

I'll have to figure out a simpler/faster way to keep frequent work backed
up. I do it with the novel because it's so important.

<snip>

Rafael,

I do a lot of work in which I just can't afford to have to go back and
re-create something I've lost. So I back up these files as often as
half-hourly, though on average it's more like several times in a day. I'm
very happy with an application called Martian Lifeboat. Here's a snippet
about it from an article that a backup guru did for my Mac user group
magazine.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
============

.... What about backing up your pet project during the day ‹ the project that
you couldn¹t bear to think about losing the results of an hour¹s intensive
work, or photos you¹ve just moved off your digital camera?

Manually backing up to an external hard drive or a memory stick is
straightforward enough, but it¹s easy to forget to back up a file if you¹re
working on several files.

Fortunately, there¹s a nifty application that¹s ideal for a quick backup of
things you¹re working on. You still have to remember to initiate the backup,
but the arrangement is so simple that in practice you¹re more likely to back
up important work during the day. It¹s called Martian Lifeboat.

You set up Martian LifeBoat by inserting a memory stick (³thumb drive /
flash drive²). You could back up to a hard drive, but in practice it isn¹t
worth it, as I¹ll explain.

Then you define the files ‹ or folder(s) if you want ‹ to be checked and
backed up on that particular memory stick. It¹s very easy to nominate the
files/folders, and you only ever have to do that once; typically it takes
about a minute.

After that, every time you insert that particular memory stick, Martian
Lifeboat scans the files you have nominated for it, then over-writes (on the
memory stick) any files that have changed. Then you remove the memory stick.
Simple! And cheap.

Clive Huggan, who uses Martian LifeBoat several times a day, tells me that
the best arrangement is to use a separate memory stick for each project
you¹re working on. He says he remembers to back up more often that way. He
also saves time because he doesn¹t have to remember which files to back up
within the project (usually that equates to ³folder²). And it takes Martian
LifeBoat less time to scan only one project/folder than if he had nominated
more folders/files.

Clive wraps a sticky label around each memory stick, on which he writes the
name of the folder it will check. He has four or five sticks for this
purpose. When a project finishes, he re-uses the stick for another project
(and the hard-drive backups take care of the files).

The three keys to the convenience of Martian LifeBoat are: first, it¹s so
easy to associate a memory stick with one or more files/folders on your hard
drive; second, the backup is initiated simply by plugging in the memory
stick; third, it¹s so quick. Clive says this convenience is why, in
practice, Martian LifeBoat encourages him to be diligent with during-the-day
backup.

There¹s a 30-day free trial download at www.martian.com/LifeBoat.html. The
full version is US$13.99.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Rafael:

Yes, that's correct. I have a hard-and-fast rule: "If software puts files
somewhere, I leave the damn thing alone!!" Otherwise the software will
inexplicably "not work" ‹ usually, when I really need it.

The one exception I make is for Word's templates folders: I move those. But
I know what I am doing, I know how to tell Word where I have moved them to,
and I need to move them.

That's because I wipe out and replace Word several times a year as a result
of beta testing, and I don't want to lose my very valuable templates when I
do that.

If I have /everything/ in the Documents Folder, that's about 16 GB at
present and that takes a while to transfer into my bottom line Acomdata Ext
HD. About a half hour, I think.

I suspect I would be looking around amongst that data for data you do not
"need" to back up. Move the stuff you never change "out" of the Documents
folder into, say, an "Archives" folder.

Back the Archives up only once, manually. Then you don't need to back it up
again unless you put more stuff in there.

Your Documents backup will then run a lot faster.

With a daily backup that size, YOU are a good candidate for a "Real" backup
application such as SuperDuper, which gives you very fine-grained control
over what you back up, from where, when, and how often.

A backup that size is something you let run overnight

Thing is I also have two 'Microsoft User Data' folders in the Documents
Folder, again because I haven't finished the steps Diane gave me to clean
things up.

Back up the one you are USING

I thought I backed up Entourage when I created 'Main Identity.rge'?

Yeah, but WHERE IS the backup? On the same physical device as the working
copy? So when that drive fails...

Back the damn thing up

Thanks for your answers. Hope I'm not being a pest. It's a tough job being
an obsessive perfectionist.

Yeah, it is. And your computer will run like molasses in winter due to your
persistent attempts to get it "perfect" I have the same problem. If
you find a way to talk yourself out of this depressing obsession, please let
me know how...

By the way, we very much appreciate your questions. We come here to answer
questions. We would look a bit disappointed if there were no questions to
answer We need you more than you need us!!

Cheers

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. S12.22.1918,E136.99.5392
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Rafael Montserrat]

OS 10.4.10
Ibook G4
1.5 GB Ram
Word 2004

Hi,

While I'm working out your (plural) more esoteric responses, I have gone
back to doing my one overall backup at night from my iBook to the external
hard drive. In ext HD I create a new folder and name it 'Rafael
Montserrat'. I change the existing Rafael Montserrat folder's name to
'Rafael Montserrat Old' . Then I drag all the folders in my iBook under
Rafael Montserrat (the home folder) to the Rafael Montserrat folder on the
ext. HD. When that's done, and I'm comfortable that everything's been
copied, I send the 'Rafael Montserrat Old' to the trash. I realize that
much is repetitive, but I'll figure that out later from your remarks.

As I mentioned, my most important work, the novel goes to the HD and a Jump
Drive every 15 minutes as I'm working. I could put in a cd and then have 3
backups. I could be making a paper copy, but I've gotten past the initial
paranoia with computers, and trust that four electronic backups are enough.
I pity poor Melville, and Tolstoy.

One thing I don't get is that my original computer size folder is 17.32 GB
(18,117,720,342 bytes) and on the Ext HD are 16.92 GB and (17,689,647,733
bytes). Why aren't they the same size, much less that the home folder is
smaller that what I just transferred to the HD?

Thanks, Rafael



On 9/15/07 4:57 PM, in article
C312AE9B.2FEC3%[email protected], "Clive Huggan"

 

[Rafael Montserrat]

The other thing, is that I don't understand what Diane Ross said about
putting "everything" I've worked on into Documents. Everything would to my
mind mean photos, movies, etc. I think I misunderstood something.

I've been putting Safaari bookmarks, rg? (entourage) contacts, outside of
documents.

I would think keeping everything separate including safari etc.

Rafael








On 9/15/07 4:57 PM, in article
C312AE9B.2FEC3%[email protected], "Clive Huggan"

 

[Rafael Montserrat]

What I mean is that ... Why don't the 17.32 GB that were on my home folder
(Rafael Montserrat) show as 17.32 GB on the external hard drive get info?
In face the ext hd shows /less/ (16.92 GB) than what I transferred from the
iBook.

I had to clarify for myself what I was asking below.

One thing I don't get is that my original computer size folder is 17.32 GB
(18,117,720,342 bytes) and on the Ext HD are 16.92 GB and (17,689,647,733
bytes). Why aren't they the same size, much less that the home folder is
smaller that what I just transferred to the HD?

On 10/1/07 1:46 PM, in article C326AABF.3AC7%[email protected],