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HazelGirl · Oct 30, 2006, 06:49 PM

I recently got Dot Mac and a LaCie 250GB for my Mac Mini. I picked a "custom" plan via Backup 3 and backed all important stuff to a folder on my external hd. It didn't take very long after hitting "backup now" but when I went to check my external hd, there is nothing there.....can someone help me out here?

I want to back up everything and then do a clean reinstall of OS X on my Mini....I been having some issues that I hope will be resolved with a clean install but want to make sure I have everything backed up properly too. Also, will there be any issues with my iTunes library on backup when I transfer the songs over to my Mini from the external?

Any help appreciated.....I was hoping to finish all this tonight but it looks like I may have to split this job up.

Lastly, When I get my mbp in, I want to use the same external hd for backup. Is it absolutely necessary to partition the external hd for it to work with both machines (Mini and mbp) or can I just have all files backed up to separate folders (e.g, "Mac Mini Backups" and "MBP Backups").

TIA

CatOne · Oct 30, 2006, 07:07 PM

I wouldn't use Backup to build something for complete restore.

Here's what I would do:

* Use SuperDuper! to clone your Mac's HD to the LaCie drive. You could use Carbon Copy Cloner as well, but I have the ultimate faith in SD! and they have an eval version which you can use for this purpose.

* Once that's done, boot with the option key held down, and boot to the LaCie drive. Just make sure it comes up, and works *exactly* like the built-in drive does. Check your homework here -- make sure your backup is good

* Once that's done, boot from the "restore" CD that came with the Mini, and select "erase and install" from the options. Lay down a clean copy of OS X

* Boot from the new drive, and when migration assistant comes up, point it at your LaCie drive. It will copy over your applications, user data, and network settings

* Once that's done (it will take a while), let software update run and reboot. It will likely do this twice -- once to get you to 10.4.8, and a second time to update any stragglers.

HazelGirl · Oct 30, 2006, 10:35 PM

wow....are these clone programs free?

HazelGirl · Oct 31, 2006, 05:06 AM

Okay, thanks a lot for your help. I ended up downloading SD and was able to partition my hd and made a Bootable clone of my Mac Mini....I was so proud at the end of that! ANyway, I also reinstalled the OS onto my Mac Mini and am now at the migration stage but am running into problems. After I select the LaCie drive, the process appears to be stuck in Step 1 of 4. At the bottom, it says that it is calculating...but it has been saying that for several minutes now....is it supposed to take a long time like this or is there something amiss here? By the way, I tried restarting and also simply reopening the application but it's the same every time. TIA

HazelGirl · Oct 31, 2006, 06:48 AM

Well, a lot of things did not transfer for some reason, but I just copy and pasted them....I have all my iphotos and itunes music now. Now I am gonna update the OS. Btw, the problem that I had before with my system has since been resolved with hte reinstall :-)