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Howard Garrison · Jul 10, 2005, 12:13 PM

[FONT=Courier New]I have G4 PB 550 MHZ 756MB memory. Copying Library and Dcoument files to external disk doesn't work because Apple doesn't want you to copy "secret files". All my software is legal. I've been through one crash. Darwin will not let me cd / to the root. Anyway to outwit the system. If I have to buy expensive program, which???[/FONT]

NeilCharter · Jul 10, 2005, 01:52 PM

Retrospect is probably the best program for backing up your system. You can choose to back up to a hard drive, CD/DVD R or RW, tape etc. It handles the permissions and privilages to be able to backup multiple users as well as system files.

You can have multiple types of backup. Backing up to HD is one approach, but the drive can be damaged by fire etc, stolen or be corrupted. Choosing an additional backup system is sensible. I use DVD-RW to back up the User folders once a week which works well. I use finder labels to mark folders / files that I don't want backed up.

Since I don't think your powerbook has a DVD-RW drive, you may want to consider getting an external DVD writer. OWC have good options:

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgr...=Show+Upgrades

Chuckit · Jul 10, 2005, 04:09 PM

His description of the problem is really weird. You normally can copy /Library and you normally can cd to /. I've done both. It sounds like he simply doesn't have the permissions.

siflippant · Jul 11, 2005, 06:43 AM

Originally Posted by NeilCharter

Retrospect is probably the best program for backing up your system.

Check out Superduper... http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDup...scription.html

PurpleGiant · Jul 11, 2005, 07:08 AM

Another

for Super Duper!

Lee33 · Jul 11, 2005, 08:17 AM

Third vote for SuperDuper.

M.A.S. · Jul 11, 2005, 09:22 AM

If you don't want to pay then just use Automator. (if you have Tiger that is!) I wrote a script that copies all i need backing-up to an external HD, I used to just copy the files (Safari, mail folders etc) manually and it took ages, now i just click run and leave it for 5 mins and it's done!

I backup all personal files, photos, app installers and all personal stuff from the Library like the safari, mail, calendars (which apple changed in tiger! so i lost all my calenders! v v v annoying) keychains etc. I also back-up onto DVD-R every now and then.

mAxximo · Jul 11, 2005, 10:39 AM

I just checked Superduper and couldn't find a way of cloning my main HD to an external drive without having to erase it first. I don't want to do that, there's other stuff I need in that external disk, I just want to copy all my stuff over there, write zeros to my internal drive at work, install Tiger and restore all my stuff from the cloned Panther system. Am I missing something? I remember doing this with CCC in the past.

chris v · Jul 11, 2005, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by mAxximo

I just checked Superduper and couldn't find a way of cloning my main HD to an external drive without having to erase it first. I don't want to do that, there's other stuff I need in that external disk, I just want to copy all my stuff over there, write zeros to my internal drive at work, install Tiger and restore all my stuff from the cloned Panther system. Am I missing something? I remember doing this with CCC in the past.

Carbon Copy Cloner would work, if it ever got updated for OS 10.4. I've switched to Deja Vu for this purpose, and it seems to work just fine. I've cloned one OS and booted from it, no probs.

step · Jul 11, 2005, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by chris v

Carbon Copy Cloner would work, if it ever got updated for OS 10.4. I've switched to Deja Vu for this purpose, and it seems to work just fine. I've cloned one OS and booted from it, no probs.

carbon copy cloner launched with "pseudo" wiill work, and is free

chris v · Jul 11, 2005, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by step

carbon copy cloner launched with "pseudo" wiill work, and is free

1. That's a pain. 2. It's not really free, as he requests a donation. 3. That didn't work for me-- I still got a permissions error.

Deja Vu has a better, easier to understand interface, and you can back up individual forlders that aren't at the root level of your drive. I've found it to be worth the money, so far.

JMII · Jul 12, 2005, 08:56 AM

I've used Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable copy of our 10.2 xServer RAID onto a both a 2nd internal drive and an external Firewire drive so it's got my vote.

We also use Retrospect for network backups with a client on each machine (Mac and Windows mixed network) to backup users home folders.