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How to organize information on my external HD after Macbook was stolen

My 13-inch Macbook was stolen about 2 weeks ago, along with all of my photos, videos and pictures on it. Luckily, I do have an external hard drive that I had been using to back it up. However, since I was still using Tiger OS at the time of the burglary, none of the backups utilized Time Machine. Basically I would just plug in the hard drive (using firewire 400) and drag the “home” icon into it to start the backup. I’m not sure if this was wise but someone once suggested that at the MAC store and I’ve been sticking with it. In addition to this I saved a couple of important videos separately (my old bar mitzvah video, which is 2 hours long).
I would like to start organizing my files on my new Macbook Pro so that I can do regular time machine backups, but I’m terrified that my old Maxtor hard drive will burn out before that and I’ll be left with nothing. Can you recommend the easiest (and safest) way to duplicate the entire drive before I begin so that I have a backup of my old backup? Should I just get a new HD and plug it into the Macbook along with the old one, then drag and drop? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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david

Comments: 2 Responses to “How to organize information on my external HD after Macbook was stolen”

    13 years ago

    I would get a new drive to use as your Time Machine backup and then eventually use the old drive for other things. Just plug in the old drive and transfer your files to your new Mac. Then leave the old drive alone. Plug in the new one and start using that for Time Machine. After a complete backup is done, your old drive is no longer important. Put it in a drawer somewhere and eventually use it for something else.

    Kiwi Grant
    13 years ago

    Sorry for your the loss of you macbook. An unrelated recommendation having endured similar pain, is to install LowJack for the Mac.

    Low Jack silently broadcasts your laptops IP address and estimated location (In North America only) when or if connected to the internet. It is inexpensive and give you additional peace of mind - I bought my version at the Apple store.

    Once activated and registered you can go the low Jack website and see your laptop last status

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