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All this talk about TC and TM got me thinking, what should I be really backing up and what should I skip? (For me, I have a 500 GB drive pretty full with another internal, so I have made the decision to eliminate certain things that I could get back if something bad happens.)
Anyways, here is what I do not back-up: Applications Applications (Mac OS 9) - Probably should delete this folder but always worried if I did something would "break" Document Folders for everyone else in the family (since they have their copies via Foldershare) FCE Documents (always can go back to the original tape) Games Microsoft User Data (why?) Music (figure it is on the iPhone) SW (not even sure what this file is for) System Files and Applications System Folder (from old Mac) - I probably could delete this one also, right? So basically backing up most of my User folder. Now that I got a job, I can buy more Apple products! |
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@kk@pennytucker.social
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Is it possible to get the music back off of your iPhone though?
I know that Senuti works with iPods, but does it work with iPhones as well? |
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Veteran Member
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Boston, MA
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I exclude my VMs.
I recently had my MBP stolen and I decided to replace it with an iMac. Upon first start-up of the iMac, I used the 'transfer from Time Machine backup' option. About two hours later, I had my docs, apps, and settings restored to my new computer. It worked perfectly and painlessly. BostonGeek Hey, I'm a reasonable guy. But I've just experienced some very unreasonable things. - Jack Burton |
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owner for sale by house
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Charlotte, NC
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Disks are pretty cheap these days - and while you can get lots of things back, the amount of time you spend installing all your software again, perhaps fighting against program that won't let you register with the same registration code again, etc. really isn't worth it. The reason I'm not using Time Machine is that I want to have a bootable copy of my entire harddrive. SuperDuper! does that, for example.
My harddisk died two months ago, and I can't tell you how relieved I was that I could just drop in the backup disk and be up and running again in almost no time, rather than spending a day installing software and trying to find what data I had scattered around on DVDs, etc. |
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@kk@pennytucker.social
Join Date: Jan 2005
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TM isn't bootable itself, but if you put the Install disk in, you can migrate things over from a TM Backup, so it's not really that bad.
I'm willing to trade not being bootable to have a continuously backed up system automatically. No more Twitter. It's Mastodon now. |
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Ninja Editor
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Bay Area, CA
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The only thing I exclude from Time Machine is the Time Machine drive. If that ever gets full, I'll start thinking about excluding stuff.
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owner for sale by house
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Charlotte, NC
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I know that you can restore the entire disk from a TM backup. Thing is, my backup drive is the exact same size as my internal drive, so TM would use that up quite quickly. And so far, I haven't really had a need to go back to an earlier version of a file. But I am thinking about getting a Time Capsule, anyway.
I was mostly arguing against the "I don't need to backup X, because I have it on DVD/on a different computer/can find it again online/etc." It's too easy to fool yourself into thinking that, and realizing that you can't find something online or on that burned DVD anymore doesn't make things easier when your harddisk dies at exactly the wrong moment. And they usually do. |
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Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
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Because if you use Entourage for all of your email and business contacts, appointments, etc... you're utterly fucked if the database gets corrupted. How's that for a why?
Otherwise, in general I would only use it to back up one thing: my users folder, sans Library. Note this only works if you're one of those people who doesn't scatter documents all over the drive including at the root level. ...into the light of a dark black night. |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Florida
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The only thing I don't back up is my EyeTV archive folder.
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
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The only thing I don't back up is my movies folder. If TM made a backup of every movie/show I put in there and then kept it when I delete the movie/show, I'd have little room for anything else. Any movie I want to keep I burn to disk.
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Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: St Evenage
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The only thing I leave out is my music folder, as I have virtually all of it on CD. It'll be a pain to reload nearly 500 albums, but my current TM drive hasn't got the space. However, once I get a Time Capsule, I think I'll be backing everything up.
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Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
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The only thing I have explicitly disabled is my Aperture Library as it can apparently screw things up http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306853
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BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope. Join Date: May 2006
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Anyway, I would back up your music for sure, as well as *any* folder(s) that have the words "user data" in them. (They typically have very small, yet very important, files in them.) I don't do a full Applications back-up but I do back-up the non-Apple apps I have installed, which is a very short list (eFax, MaxBulk Mailer, Quicken, Handbrake, Transmit, etc.). (BTW, what's that "Mac OS 9" thing you mentioned? ) Quote:
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
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I don't back up my movies or tv shows. I don't mind re-ripping them if I lose them and I simply don't have enough storage to back up everything.
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Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
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I do not back up my Parallels file.
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