backing-up

J

John McGhie

Hi Rafael:

It's probably hidden files. Your home folder contains a few files the OS
hides from you because it considers them critical system resources it
doesn't want you messing with.

Since they are hidden, they were not selected, and thus not copied.

And while the system may consider them to be critical, from the point of
view of your backup, they don't matter, because they would be invalid if you
restored them. The system needs to re-create fresh ones after a restore.

Cheers


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.





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

--
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, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
 
R

Rafael Montserrat

John,

Sometimes it takes me a while to get back to the NG information.

This backing up thing is still bugging me. You say "1) Copy your Documents
folder somewhere..."

What I don't get is how, if I'm only Copying my Documents folder..." Then
what about the rest of these guys?

Desktop
Documents
Faxes
Library
Library?
Movies
mp3s Audio
Music
Pictures
Pictures?
Public

I've got so much stuff in so many different places that all need to be
backed up, that I feel I've got to do it all at once to get everything
backed up.
1. If I'm only backing up "Documents", what about 'pictures" etc., which now
that I'm doing a lot of ebay stuff are starting to add up on iPhoto.
2. When I'm working on my book, I do /constantly/ /religiously/ back up
every few minutes.
3. I've got one Lexar Jump Drive, and one acomdata external HD. What the
Ext HD looks like now is:

'Auctions & Selling'
Desktop Folder
Documents
EBay Pictures
External UV (Special folder for my book)
"Rafael Montserrat"
Synopsis
Users
UV Ms 2007-09-19


What's in "Rafael Montserrat" is all the regular stuff after User>"Rafael
Montserrat", as below.

Desktop
Documents
Faxes
Library
Library?
Movies
mp3s Audio
Music
Pictures
Pictures?
Public

I've got to get this thing down so it's easy. So far, it all turns into a
hodge podge.

Sincerely,

Rafael



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

John McGhie

Hi Rafael:

Hmmm.... You're another one like me ‹ stuff scattered all over the place
:) Part of the answer is: "Don't do that" :)

These days I have learned to keep "everything" in the "Documents" folder.
That's how modern Mac OS "expects" you to be working.

However: They make an exception to their own "rules" for things such as
"Music" and "Pictures". That makes it a little more difficult to back up.
It would be nice if they put those all in "Documents" too.

However, if you go a folder level above that, you will find your User Home
Folder.

In your case, that's the one you want to copy. Just copy your user home
folder somewhere, and you've one your backup!

There's only one "consideration" if you do that: By backing up your home
folder, you have backed up your user preferences (but not your system
preferences).

That means that if you ever have to do a complete restore, you need to
remember NOT to bring your preferences back. Because they will be
inconsistent with the system preferences. The inconsistencies may lead to
lock-ups or crashes. Better to re-install all the applications, then bring
just the data back, without the preferences.

Cheers


On 21/10/07 2:07 PM, in article C34025A0.40F4%[email protected],

John,

Sometimes it takes me a while to get back to the NG information.

This backing up thing is still bugging me. You say "1) Copy your Documents
folder somewhere..."

What I don't get is how, if I'm only Copying my Documents folder..." Then
what about the rest of these guys?

Desktop
Documents
Faxes
Library
Library?
Movies
mp3s Audio
Music
Pictures
Pictures?
Public

I've got so much stuff in so many different places that all need to be
backed up, that I feel I've got to do it all at once to get everything
backed up.
1. If I'm only backing up "Documents", what about 'pictures" etc., which now
that I'm doing a lot of ebay stuff are starting to add up on iPhoto.
2. When I'm working on my book, I do /constantly/ /religiously/ back up
every few minutes.
3. I've got one Lexar Jump Drive, and one acomdata external HD. What the
Ext HD looks like now is:

'Auctions & Selling'
Desktop Folder
Documents
EBay Pictures
External UV (Special folder for my book)
"Rafael Montserrat"
Synopsis
Users
UV Ms 2007-09-19


What's in "Rafael Montserrat" is all the regular stuff after User>"Rafael
Montserrat", as below.

Desktop
Documents
Faxes
Library
Library?
Movies
mp3s Audio
Music
Pictures
Pictures?
Public

I've got to get this thing down so it's easy. So far, it all turns into a
hodge podge.

Sincerely,

Rafael



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



--
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]
 
C

Clive Huggan

Hello Rafael,

You might find this interesting:

www.takecontrolbooks.com/backup-macosx.html

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from North America and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================
 
C

Clive Huggan

I probably mentioned Martian Lifeboat
(http://www.martian.com/LifeBoat.html), Rafael.

For the thread, look up Google newsgroups: look for Martian, author Huggan,
group microsoft.public.mac.office.word

I'm about to leave for a meeting so can't look it up, but you'll get it OK,
I'm sure.

I only use Martian Lifeboat for during-the-day backups; I use SuperDuper for
nightly/weekly backups. But it's excellent for automating backing up a
particular file or folder (or more than one) just by inserting a memory
stick.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from North America and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================
 

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