Backing up files on a MacBook. Cloning Mac OS X: creating our own Dolly the sheep. Can I use a drive for Time Machine that already has other data

The year 2011 is drawing to a close - we are all summing up its results, making plans for the future. Some promise to quit drinking, others - to smoke, and others - to play sports or lose weight. But, as a rule, it is difficult to say goodbye to habits if there is no strong desire and willpower. Why not promise to back up your Mac files next year?

This is much easier to accomplish than fighting bad habits or exhausting yourself with difficult physical exercises. In addition, if this is not done, sooner or later you can lose valuable and irreplaceable information on your computer. And if you consider that the backup should be done regularly, new beginnings will be enough for you for a whole year. Of course, this advice is not at all new and almost every user knows about the need to backup files, but this procedure should be done diligently and carefully so as not to start the process of irreversible changes on the device's hard disk.

A year earlier, Chris Breen, in How to Make a Solid File Backup on a Mac, detailed the process, emphasizing: “You can easily do without backing up a huge number of files: applications from Mac App Store and other programs available for download on the network, applications for iOS. Also, you can skip backing up your email if you use IMAP mail or a Gmail account. On these postal services messages are stored on a remote server, so you can open your messages on the network. The question of information security and data confidentiality on such services remains open. Also, you can skip backing up your music files if you are using. Of course, the backup provides a much higher speed of data recovery in the event of a fatal error, but to save time and relatively quickly perform the operation, you can make a superficial backup of files.

The most important files that should be backed up without fail are text documents in Word, photos, home videos. Of course, if you want to make a more thorough backup of your Mac device, check out our other backup plans. We will concentrate on the most simple solutionsavailable for every user, even a beginner.

Backup with Dropbox is the easiest solution

Download Dropbox from dropbox.com, install the program. If all went well, the Dropbox folder will appear in the main user directory of the device, as well as in the sidebar of the search window.

After downloading the program, you will be given up to 2 GB of disk space for free. If you have few backup files at your disposal, this is more than enough. If you need additional space, you will have to pay $ 99 per year. Move important documents and photos to your Dropbox folder, and the service will sync them with a remote server in automatic mode.

Installation Dropbox and upload to the server important information takes minutes. But if you don't mind spending a little time and money, there are other ways to make a more thorough data backup on your Mac device.

Next simple solution: Time Machine

You probably know about free program Time machine for Mac, allowing you to back up your data. But if you've never configured Time Machine, it's unlikely to come to your aid. But if you configure the program correctly, it will take very little time for the backup.

The plan is as follows:

1. Buy another hard drive. For less than $ 100, you get at least a terabyte of disk space. Consider Mac drives when purchasing, and Thunderbolt drives are faster.
2. Connect the drive to the device.
The system will ask you if you want to use the new disk for backup with Time Machine, after your consent, the data will be backed up to the new disk. This procedure is very effective and most painless. If you have purchased a large disc, you can be sure that your data is safe, just in case. The program saves information, and if you have already changed the file, you can always return to it old versionif the need arises. Also, if you accidentally deleted a file, you can restore it at any time.

The advantage of Time Machine lies in the ability of the program to do regular backup data even if the files are updated by the user. As soon as this happens, a new backup is automatically started. In the event of a fatal error, the program provides a backup up to a minute of the previously unforeseen situation. And unlike Dropbox, Time Machine copies everything to another drive, and you don't need to check if all the files have been moved to the backup folder.

Time Machine can also be used to back up files to remote network drives.

Of course, working with Time Machine involves the purchase of an additional hard disk, its regular synchronization with the program. But there is another opportunity to do backup files, and this does not require additional hardware, but only a monthly or annual subscription and Internet access. It:

CrashPlan

This program has already become popular with many users. A subscription to CrashPlan costs only $ 3 per month, thanks to it you can make a backup of information on one computer; for $ 6 per month, you can back up data on 10 personal computers. These prices are subject to a one-time payment for a period of 4 years, but if you intend to pay monthly, then this service will cost a little more.

With CrashPlan you don't need to buy additional hard disks for backup. CrashPlan backs up data over the Internet, which eliminates the possibility of a one-time error.

All you have to do is subscribe to CrashPlan, choose a plan, download the appropriate software, and wait. The program automatically backs up files using worldwide network to the CrashPlan servers. You can run the application and see the progress of the copy, or just leave the program closed and it will quietly do its job.
Also CrashPlan will notify you by e-mail or on Twitter about the status of backups, and in case there is no backup for several days. If you need to recover a file, you can easily do it through the CrashPlan app or website. Similar to Time Machine, CrashPlan backs up multiple versions of files, so you can access more early versions files. The same applies to files that you have deleted. The service provides almost unlimited data backup options for a reasonable price.

Bootable backup

But none of these systems, not Dropbox, Time Machine, or CrashPlan, are designed to run a bootable backup. This means that you will not start your Mac if your hard drive fails. But this problem can be solved thanks to the regime emergency assistance Lion.

If you are using Snow Leopard or it is not suitable for you Recovery Modebut you still want to make the backup bootable, the most suitable tools for this are SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner. But working with them requires more attention and effort.

Make sure your backups are working

It is very good that in the end you decided to do backup data. But how can you check if it will work in an emergency? After all, you must agree that losing valuable data is a big disappointment, which is very difficult to cope with. And if there are no duplicate files on disks or flash drives, this frustration intensifies and becomes doubly unpleasant. That is why Macworld journalist Adam Engst even suggested celebrating the International Day for Checking Backups. And we have to agree that this is a very good idea. This year the day falls on January 13th.

It's easy to check the backup functionality: find a couple important files, make sure that you can successfully recover them in the event of a fatal error - and open these files.

After all, if the backup is inoperable, consider that it is not. Checking will help you sleep well at night without worrying about the safety of your data.

Enjoy the beginning of the New Year and the realization of your goals

If you started new Year from the fact that you have pleased yourself with the confidence in the safety of important information, you can consider that a good start has been made for the better. After all, you will spend very little time on backup, and the result is worth it. A good start is half the battle.

No matter how debugged the Mac platform is, there is always the possibility that, due to various circumstances, the user may lose their data, often quite important. Most popular backup tool in Mac OS X is time program Machine that comes with the operating system. This fairly well thought-out application, with all its advantages, has one notable drawback - the lack of advanced backup settings. The program indiscriminately copies everything that the user has on the disk. Meanwhile, the user does not always need to make a copy of the entire disk; quite often it is necessary to save only certain data. In this case, he will be helped by alternative applications from third-party developers, which include a small utility from the developer company with the funny name Grapefruit (Grapefruit).

The multilingual interface of the program is localized in 15 languages, including Russian. It cannot be said that Russian localization is perfect - somewhere there are untranslated phrases, somewhere the translation is made without taking into account the peculiarities of the Russian language ... However, all these translation shortcomings are found mainly in the program settings menu, where the user will occasionally look.

In the upper part of the program window there is a panel of program profiles, in the left - a list of groups of objects, the contents of which are supposed to be copied. In the right part of the window, a list of the contents of a particular selected group is displayed. At the very bottom of the window is a very small toolbar, which also performs an information function, displaying information about the selected profile. Additionally, you can display a pull-out panel that displays information from the log file of the operations performed. The display of this panel is controlled using the corresponding button on the toolbar.

All operations for copying and restoring are carried out using profiles that are created in a special section of the settings menu. Initially, iBackup already has two profiles, “ Recovery"And" Backup copy“, The purpose of each of which can be guessed by the name. In order to be able to literally make a backup copy of certain data with just one click of the mouse, the user will need to set up a profile, point him to the folder where the data file should be saved and mark the objects that should be copied. We select the profile we need and, using the button Set ..., set the folder for saving the backup file. Now we need to select objects for backup. To do this, go to the list of groups and select one or another group, for example System parameters... After selecting a group, a list of objects included in this group will be shown on the right side of the application window. These are what you need to mark so that the program knows what to copy. If you need to copy all the objects included in the selected group, then you do not need to mark each element at all - just put a mark next to the group name and all the elements of the group will be automatically selected.

After completing the selection of the objects we need, use the button Create alocated on the mini-toolbar - and the program will save a backup copy of the marked data to the specified folder. As you can see, the operation is quite simple and it can only be easier to restore data from a saved copy. To do this, in the profile Recoveryspecify the path to the file with the saved data, mark those elements of the list of its contents that we want to restore, and press the button Restore.

We have now described the operation for a one-time copying and restoring data. If the operation of copying the same data is supposed to be performed more than once, then during the next copying session there is no need to re-mark the objects - it will be enough to select the desired profile and use the button Create a.

The undoubted advantage of the utility is that if you need a regular backup, all operations can be automated using the ability of the program to work on schedule... In accordance with additional settings profile specified in the tab Profiles program settings menu, iBackup can daily, weekly or monthly, on specified days and hours, copy data to a specified folder. Additionally, you can set the program to end after a copy operation, put the computer into sleep mode, or turn it off altogether. Before starting the operation and after its completion, you can enable the execution of certain scripts.

iBackup can copy data not only to a specific folder on the local hard drive, but also upload it to a specified AFP or SMB server (unfortunately, the program does not work with FTP servers), and after the download is finished, it will automatically disconnect from it. To do this, the user needs to specify the full path to the desired folder on the remote server in the corresponding tab of the settings menu.

Why do you need multiple profiles, you say, because one profile would be enough to save and one to restore. The use of several profiles opens up possibilities for the separate storage of data, for example, documents on a mobile medium, photographs on a remote server, etc.

Initially, iBackup operates with 10 groups ( system parameters, program parameters, Desktop, user's home folder, programs, documents, movies, music, pictures, site) containing potential objects for copying. It is quite clear that the list of groups is based on an average Mac and it may not contain certain applications, data folders, etc. that are used on a particular user's computer. That is why the developers have provided the ability to add any other folders and objects to the general list by the user.

As for groups System parameters and Program parameters, then the situation is somewhat more complicated. The thing is that the utility can back up the settings of only those Mac OS X or third-party applications that it knows about. The utility takes information about applications and where exactly the files with their parameters are located from the corresponding plugins. The current version of iBackup can copy parameters 26 Mac OS X applications (including settings operating system) and more 260 third-party programs and games, which is quite enough for the average user.

If the plug-in for the required application was not found in the list, then there is an opportunity to create and upload your own plug-in (a template for creating a plug-in can be downloaded from the application developer's website). The plugin is an XML file, the analysis of the template of which showed that the only difficulty in creating a plugin will be the need to specify the paths to ALL settings files of the selected application, while knowing program code not required.

The program settings menu is quite simple and consists of three tabs, one of which ( Plugins), you have already met in the previous screenshot. Tab Are common responsible for general settings of iBackup (including launching the application at login and automatically checking for updates).

Overall, iBackup is a simple and convenient solution for backing up and restoring virtually any data on a user's hard drive. The function of launching the application at logon and the ability to work on a schedule make the work of the program almost invisible to the user, without distracting his attention to himself.

iBackup is completely free for private use and can be recommended to all those users who want to be able to selectively backup their data, with the ability to fine-tune to the level of an individual folder or file.

The latest operating system apple systems, OS X Mavericks, is available for download today. In this article, we'll show you how to save your data, update your operating system, and prepare for latest version OS X.

Before you start, you need to make sure that you have everything you need. To back up your data, you need external hard a drive with at least the same amount of memory as your computer's hard drive (or Time Capsule). You should also make sure that your Mac can run Mavericks and make sure you have an iTunes account to purchase the upgrade.

Before installing the update, you must ensure that your device is compatible with Mavericks. Most of the information you need is on the About This Computer tab. To open it, click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen, then click the About This Computer button.

This window will allow you to see what operating system is installed on your computer, check if your software is up to date or not, find out how much memory your computer has, and also get serial numberto find out what year it was purchased.

Since Mavericks is downloaded through the Mac App store, you must ensure that the version number is listed on the About This Mac page 10.6.8 or higher. If you don't have 10.6 (also known as Snow Leopard), you can buy it online. When you click on "Software Update", the system will check for an update for your machine. We strongly recommend that you make sure your software is up to date before installing the operating system. In addition, you must have at least 2 GB of RAM.

Here is a complete list of machines that are compatible with OS X Mavericks:

MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or early 2009 or newer)
iMac (mid 2007 or newer)
Mac Mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
Xserve (early 2009)
MacBook Pro (mid / late 2007 or newer)
MacBook Air (late 2008 or newer)

You can find out the exact year of production of your poppy by its serial number:

Data backup

If your machine supports Mavericks, we recommend that you back up your data before updating.

If you are already using Time Machine, it is very easy to check when your data was last backed up and restart it if necessary. Just click on the Time Machine icon to see when the backup was completed. If you need to make another copy, just click on the "Create a backup copy."

If you haven't done a Time Machine backup, let's discuss the different backup methods. copying Mac using Time Machine. You have two options: using Time Capsule, or using third-party external hard drives.

1. Back up to Time Capsule. To set up your AirPort Time Capsule for backups, open System settings and click on the "Time Machine" button. Then press the “Select Disk” button and select your Time Capsule from the list that appears.

2. Back up to an external hard drive. When connecting any external hard disk for the first time, a pop-up window will appear prompting you to use it for Time Machine.

Encrypting backups will allow you to encrypt a Time Machine backup using FileVault 2. It's up to you whether you want to encrypt the backup or not. This will give you an extra layer of password protection to access your backup, but encrypting your data can slow down the backup process noticeably.

Click on "Use as backup drive" and select an external hard drive to use with Time Machine. The first backup can take several hours, I would recommend doing it quickly so as not to interrupt the process. After the initial backup, Time Machine makes an hourly backup of only files that have changed while the drive is connected. If the drive is not plugged in, when it's time to back up Time Machine will simply wait until the drive is plugged in again and continue to operate normally.

In addition to Time Machine backups, or instead of Time Machine backups, you can use online backups, although this can be much slower than using a local drive.
Installing Mavericks

Once yours has created all the backups, you are ready to download Mavericks from App Store... The download is free and takes about an hour, depending on your internet. Once it finishes downloading, the installer will automatically open and you will be prompted to start. Click the "Continue" button to install.

The first part of the installation process simply involves agreeing to Apple's terms of use. Click the "Agree" button to continue. If you later decide that you want to read (or reread) all of the terms, you can find them on the Apple website.

You need to confirm once again that you have read the terms.

Next, you will need to choose which drive you want to install OS X Mavericks on. For most, this should be your inner hard diskwhich is often the only choice, but if you have multiple hard drive partitions or multiple hard drives in your machine, choose the drive that best suits your needs.

In order to proceed with the installation, you need to enter the administrator password on your computer. Usually this password is different from your Apple ID. This password is used when you log into your computer and is sometimes needed to change settings. Not all users on a computer have a single administrator user, so it is important to make sure that you are logged into an administrator account. If you have more than one account on your computer, the administrator is usually the first user of the computer.

You are now ready to install.

After a few minutes, the computer will automatically restart and the installation will begin.

The computer will boot against a black screen, showing the current installation progress in a gray window. This usually takes about forty-four minutes, but sometimes it actually takes an hour and twenty minutes, depending on the speed of your car.

If the progress bar seems to be stuck at "Less than a minute left," Don't worry. This message is almost always wrong, and takes much longer than he says. Do not try to restart your computer during this step.

When the installation is complete, you will receive a message that the installation was successful. Your computer will restart one last time. You are currently running OS X Mavericks. After rebooting, there are a few additional steps you will need to follow to get back to using your Mac.

Even though the installation is complete, there are still a few things that the installer must do before you can continue using your Mac. This process takes a few minutes, but is much faster than the previous step.

If the installer detects that you have older incompatible versions software on your computer, it warns you that these programs have been moved to the Incompatible Programs folder.

Click the Start Using Mac button to start using your machine. At this point, depending on the version of OS X that has been updated, you may have to go through a few additional steps, such as signing in (or creating) an iCloud account, which is not very long and easy enough.

When you enter your desktop for the first time, two notifications will appear in the right upper corner screen. The former reports that your Mac will be optimized for use with the Mavericks, which will impact performance and time autonomous workuntil complete.

And the second will offer to get acquainted with the features of the new operating system.

Clicking on the Show button will take you to a page on the Apple site that details the changes to Mavericks. You can always find "What's New in OS X Mavericks" later using the Help menu in the Finder. The first option, Help Center, takes you to the Mavericks User Guide. The second option, What's New in OS X Mavericks, takes you to Apple's page, which highlights some of the new features.

Congratulations! Your computer is now running OS X Mavericks. Over the next few days, we'll be posting several help articles to help you get the most out of your updated Mac.

And if your computer is outdated for Mavericks - it's time to upgrade! New MacBoo Pro, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina Display is always available in our online store