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MDWeezer · Apr 15, 2005, 12:34 PM

So I purchased a Mac Mini and I've been using it for a few months. I LOVE IT and I'm a switch case for sure... I also have a 3rd gen iPod and a 512 Shuffle.

Annnnnyway

I really don't have much loaded up on my Mini except for my song collection (which I let iTunes organize for me) and some video footage that I imported using iMovie.

What would be the best way to back these up? I do have the Superdrive so I can burn DVD's. I would most likely want to backup my Music, Images and Movie folders in Finder. Are there any free software tools out there that will back all of that up for me?

I would like to do a fresh install of Tiger, just for the heck of it, or should I not worry and just upgrade? My other concern is I didn't get the iLife '05 Install DVD with my Mini, I got the newer batch that does not ship with the installer, my guess would be that they're on one of the included CD's but I havn't checked yet.

Finally how will I boot from the Tiger DVD? I hear you have to hold down N or something however I have a bluetooth keyboard, is bluetooth initialized by then or will the DVD automatically boot into the installed?

$69 w/student discount is AMAZING and I'm counting down the days just like everyone else!

Take care

Chuckit · Apr 15, 2005, 12:46 PM

If you just want to back up a few documents that are in specific locations (like ~/Music/ and such), you can just drag and drop.

As for booting from the CD: You shouldn't have any problem. I never have, and I don't think I've ever held down C when booting.

rmongold · Apr 15, 2005, 12:51 PM

While I may not be the bestest of sources for information on this, I'll give my thoughts...

Depending on the size of your Pictures and Movies folders (and the size of your iPod), why not just copy the data there and have all your Music, Movies and Pictures all in the same place? 'Course if that's not possible, then burn your Pictures and Movies to DVD (there's not really any dire reason to back up your Music for the time being if it's on your iPod - so long as you have a utility like iPodRip to pull the music back off the iPod at a later time - and playlists, too).

If your Mini came with iLife '05 pre-installed, then iLife '05 should be on the Restore Discs (I would suppose).

To boot from the Tiger DVD, you would put the DVD in, let it mount. You'll double click on Install Mac OS X and it will bring up a window with a single button that says "Restart". That will handle the whole process of changing your startup disc and everything. How the machine will interact with the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse from there, I don't know. If you started the machine up from a shut-down state, you would boot, put the DVD in and hold down the C key to boot from CD (not from a Bluetooth keyboard, though). Or you could go into System Preferences --> Startup Disc and change it there once you've put the Tiger Install DVD in. Or you could boot with the DVD in, hold down the Option (alt) key and select the DVD from there (with a non-Bluetooth keyboard/mouse). Lots of ways to skin a cat (so to speak), but letting the DVD do the work for you is probably the easiest solution.

AppleOptionFour · Apr 15, 2005, 01:56 PM

Carbon Copy Cloner for sure if you have somewhere to put an extra image of your stuff.

http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

Create a disk image slightly larger than what your HD takes up and clone to that.

OreoCookie · Apr 15, 2005, 02:17 PM

Just burn everything on DVDs, it'll be fine. You don't need to delete your stuff, just let the Migration Assistant handle it.

MDWeezer · Apr 15, 2005, 03:30 PM

I totally forgot that I still have around 8gb free on my iPod

I will simply back up everything on there and use one of the many iPod-->Mac programs out there!

Thanks for the tips folks!

rmongold · Apr 15, 2005, 08:01 PM

Originally Posted by MDWeezer

I totally forgot that I still have around 8gb free on my iPod

I will simply back up everything on there and use one of the many iPod-->Mac programs out there!

Thanks for the tips folks!

There's something sorta magical about that little white rectangle and it's plethora of space.

CatOne · Apr 15, 2005, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by MDWeezer

So I purchased a Mac Mini and I've been using it for a few months. I LOVE IT and I'm a switch case for sure... I also have a 3rd gen iPod and a 512 Shuffle.

Annnnnyway

I really don't have much loaded up on my Mini except for my song collection (which I let iTunes organize for me) and some video footage that I imported using iMovie.

What would be the best way to back these up? I do have the Superdrive so I can burn DVD's. I would most likely want to backup my Music, Images and Movie folders in Finder. Are there any free software tools out there that will back all of that up for me?

I would like to do a fresh install of Tiger, just for the heck of it, or should I not worry and just upgrade? My other concern is I didn't get the iLife '05 Install DVD with my Mini, I got the newer batch that does not ship with the installer, my guess would be that they're on one of the included CD's but I havn't checked yet.

Finally how will I boot from the Tiger DVD? I hear you have to hold down N or something however I have a bluetooth keyboard, is bluetooth initialized by then or will the DVD automatically boot into the installed?

$69 w/student discount is AMAZING and I'm counting down the days just like everyone else!

Take care

If you have the iPod (as you said), you may just want to copy your ENTIRE /Users folder to the ipod.

from terminal:

sudo ditto -rsrc /Users /Volumes/iPod/Users

(where iPod is the name of the iPod... if you have a space you'll need to put it in quotes... "/Volumes/Your iPod/Users")

this will copy the entire thing... everything and all.

Then do a clean install. To boot from CD, hold down the option key when you boot. Wait a while (painfully long actuallyl, because one drive pops up immediately, but you can't select anything for about a minute). Click on the CD, click the right facing arrow, and you're off.

But this isn't typically necessary... when you install the CD and click "Install Mac OS X" it will prompt you to reboot, and automatically boot from CD.

You'll then need to get the data BACK... you can probably use the OS X setup assitant to copy all the relevant data back from your iPod's "Users" directory. Haven't tried directly from an iPod, but the setup assistant lets you specify "firewire Hard Drive" and I *have* done that successfully.

kcmac · Apr 15, 2005, 11:11 PM

Catone,

When you use the setup assistant and get your info from an external disk, doesn't it use firewire target disk mode? How do you put the external disk in that mode? Or am I confused and you put the computer in that mode?

I am going to have to reload my PB this way and am a little confused about how to proceed. I have a bootable copy of my complete harddrive on the external drive.

CatOne · Apr 16, 2005, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by kcmac

Catone,

When you use the setup assistant and get your info from an external disk, doesn't it use firewire target disk mode? How do you put the external disk in that mode? Or am I confused and you put the computer in that mode?

I am going to have to reload my PB this way and am a little confused about how to proceed. I have a bootable copy of my complete harddrive on the external drive.

One of the options is "from another disk." It doesn't care if you're booted in firewire mode or not. I have 3 drives on this machine, I was able to use setup assistant and suck data off an external firewire HD.... no problem 'tall.

kcmac · Apr 16, 2005, 12:09 PM

Thanks CatOne. I back up very regularly but have never had to do a restore. Now that I am in this position I am a little nervous. Can't wait to get it over with.

Busemann · Apr 16, 2005, 12:48 PM

I would just do an Upgrade Install. No need to even do an archive install unless the system is hosed in some way (full of haxies etc.)

kcmac · Apr 16, 2005, 01:12 PM

My 12" PB hard drive broke. Getting repaired by Apple at the moment. (Yay, I had Applecare.)

I am guessing that the hard drive will come with the original system that my PB would have come with? Or will it be blank and I will have to load something onto it first to get started with my original disks?

I am thinking of waiting to load it all up when I get Tiger around the 28th or 29th. Assuming I have it back by then which I should.

Getting this thread off track. Sorry folks.

Getting back on track, I use Super Duper and save to an external firewire disk. SD has a smart update feature that looks at your last backup and then syncs the new stuff with your backup. Usually takes less than 5 minutes. SD is really easy to use.