I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do about backing up my new iMac. In researching different software and hardware I've come up with a few questions that I hope some of the folks here can answer.
Is my user directory ALL that I need to backup? What else could/would be important? If I backup ONLY my user directory will it have all my system/software preferences as well as my documents, music, etc.? Will the user directory backup along with software restore/install discs get me back to normal in the event of a problem/emergency? Would a complete backup of the hard drive be better?
Checking out Dantz's website last night I see that "Retrospect" is now compatible with the SuperDrive in my Flat Panel iMac. I've used "Retrospect Express" with my Bondi Blue iMac and a "Sony Spressa" USB CD-RW drive so I understand how it works and how to use it in this context. Is anyone here using "Retrospect" with the Sony DW-U10A SuperDirve and CD-RWs? How about DVD-RWs? How is it?
Another option I'm considering is an "OWC Mercury Elite" USB/FireWire hard drive used with either "Carbon Copy Cloner" or "Retrospect Express" (it comes with "Retrospect Express") to clone my internal to the external. At present I've only used 6.68 GB of my 80 GB hard drive. Does the external need to be equal to or larger than my internal for this to work? Will an external that is smaller than my internal work (assuming my internal isn't full)? If I have other data on the external will "Carbon Copy Cloner" or "Retrospect Express" replace it with the clone? Or will the clone just be added to what's already there? If I get an external that is larger than the internal, can I partition the external and use say one partition for the clone and another for temp space, etc.? Is anyone using "Retrospect Express" to do backups (not clones) to an external hard drive? How is it? Any comments on the "OWC Mercury Elite" drive?
I'm sure that in time OS X and all of this will seem old hat to me , but right now not being able to draw on my past Mac experience with this is making me feel a bit overwhelmed by the above possibilities and how they might work. Any help that anyone can provide will sure be appreciated.
Regards,
Allen ------------------------------------------------------------------------- iMac (Flat Panel)/G4 1GHz/256MB RAM/80GB HD/Super Drive/Mac OS X 10.2.8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- iMac (Rev. B/Bondi Blue)/G3 233MHz/160MB RAM/4GB HD/CD-ROM/Mac OS 8.6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Performa 600CD/68030 32MHz/20MB RAM/160MB HD/CD-ROM/Floppy/Mac OS 7.5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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