Gary, I am unsure which of your podcasts cover this. I use a Time Capsule with Time Machine for incremental backups. However, I would like to have a copy of my data and such in a separate drive. I use a single external HD to make a bootable copy of my system using Carbon Copy Cloner. What I’d like to do is to make copies of movies, photos, music and Apps which I don’t get from the App store, using CCC. My question is where these are exactly? Or better said, what should be copied in these categories.
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Mike Wheless
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Backup Of Files To External HD
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I wouldn't use CCC for that. Just drag and drop to a writable DVD. No need for a special program.
Movies are in your Movies folder (unless you put some elsewhere). Photos are in your Pictures folder. Music in your Music folder. Etc.
Apps are in Applications. But that may not be the best way to back up applications. Better to backup the installer in case you need to install them again. Then you know you get the app plus any support files. So when you download a new application, back up the installer.
Thanks Gary. I did exactly what you suggested and it has worked like a charm for the photos, movies, music and all. I was also able to simply copy all of my documents with the same drag and drop.
I did not try a backup of the Applications (the non-App store ones) as I was unclear about how to backup the installer. Not sure where they are located and what the process is to drag and drop.
So when you purchase an app that is not from the Mac app store, you usually download an installer from the developer's site. That may appear in your Downloads folder, perhaps. Then you run the installer and it installs the application and any supporting files. Sometimes it is simply a compressed copy of the app file, sometimes it is a .dmg or .zip. Depends on the application.
It would be that original file you downloaded, the file you downloaded, that you should back up. See what I mean? Perhaps you have already deleted that file -- many people do after they have installed it. In that case, see if you can return to the developer's site and download it again.
Thanks. Yes, I do get it, about the zip and dmg. I did delete these installers. Fortunately, I have very few of these apps and none were paid for (they are the ones you recommended as useful such as some from Adobe). Having most of my Apps at the App store makes it easy to not worry about backing those up.