backup
Latest
iPod.iTunes: powerful library synchronization
iPod.iTunes offers 8 different ways of synchronizing your iTunes library and playlists between both devices, giving you powerful control over what files are moved where and how. All formats are supported, including MP3, AAC, protected AAC (iTMS purchases), Audible books, and video files. PC-formatted iPods are compatible, and all metadata such as your song ratings, play count and album art are preserved in the transfer. This is a great utility for anyone in need of an easy method to clone an iPod, keep iTunes libraries on different Macs in sync or simply back up your iPod's library if it's the only place you keep all your media (Apple sadly doesn't provide a way of doing this).Check out the full list of features of everything iPod.iTunes is capable of. Another handy trick this app performs is that it can live and run directly from your iPod, in which case your registration ($35 USD) travels with you. A demo is available from crispSofties.
FoldersSynchronizer v3.6 goes Universal
FoldersSynchronizer, the backup and sync utility from softtoBe, has been updated to version 3.6, with the addition of Universal Binary status. This is one of the first backup utilities I ever found - I subsequently bought a license way back in the day and it's always done the trick for me since. I've never seen it appear on any 'best utilities' lists, but its extensive feature set seems to match most of the other similar apps I've seen. Users can back up an entire Mac OS X volume and make it bootable. In addition, FoldersSynchronizer has extensive support for multiple backup sessions and configurations, synchronizing directories as well as backing up, setting backup timers, automounting volumes, filtering files and much more.A demo of FoldersSynchronizer is available, while a full license will cost $40.
Intelligently backup your Mac
Backing up your Mac (and PC, if you have one) is very important. Many of us only keep our music, movies, photos, and writing in digital format now adays, tucked safely away on a few magnetic disks. We hardly give it another thought, that is, until our hard drives start grinding.Tyler Hall has written a great post about backing up that you should read now. It isn't a how to, but rather a great way to start thinking about your own backup regimen. I must admit that I have been lax in my backing up but I intend to change all that. I have a Cube in my closet that will make a great backup server.
SuperDuper! 2.1.1
Backups are incredibly important, that's why you need to get a system in place to make it as easy as possible to backup your Mac. SuperDuper! is a great way to kick start that system, and version 2.1.1 has just been released.It is a Universal Binary (that showed up in 2.1), it can automount volumes, it is speedy, and best of all it is reliable. Aren't good backups worth $27.95? I think they are.
Backup files automatically with Transmit
Backups are very important. This is something that you learn once, and never forget again (usually as you try to explain why your wedding pictures no longer exist). The fine folks over at StrongSpace, a service that offers online storage, have posted a nice tutorial that goes through the process of using iCal, Transmit, and Automator to automate backups of files to an FTP server.Don't be fooled, this will work with any online storage that Transmit can connect to, though it is best suited for backup of smaller files (such as AddressBook entries). I wouldn't recommend this as your only backup strategy, but it is good for certain files.
Apple Support doc: Mac maintenance Quick Assist
Apple has released a "Mac Maintenance Quick Assist" support document that is more or less a 10-step guide aimed at beginners for taking care of their Mac, both inside and out. These steps include good, basic practices such as using relevant names for files instead of "DSC_00001.jpg," while also recommending that you occasionally clean your Mac (duh).I was surprised to see a few tips make this list, however. The first: Check for viruses. "Macs don't get anywhere near the amount of viruses that Windows PCs are prone to, but that doesn't mean that they can't get infected," reads tip #8. I guess the guys who wrote this article didn't get the memo from the team who made the "Macs don't get viruses" TV commercials. The other odd tips deal with Mac maintenance stuff, like repairing permissions and defragging your hard drive. I was under the impression that, since Panther, Mac OS X defragged itself. On the permissions topic, there has been a lot of chatter over the last couple of months about whether repairing permissions is actually useful. Just check out the pseudo-series John Gruber had on the topic.All in all, I think I was actually a little frightened by evidence of even cheesier one-liners making their way into Apple's support docs: "As a Mac user, you won't have to do windows, but you will need to do some housekeeping!" Yuk yuk.
Download your Flickr pictures to your Mac with FlickrBackup
File this under: cool application you'll only use once every blue moon.Yesterday, after rooting around the web for a solution and then chatting with Fabienne a bit about porting a version of the app to OS X, I tripped across FlickrBackup. Sure, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Fabienne wanted, like preserving tags, groups, comments, notes, etc. from Flickr, but it does one thing and does it well: it downloads all the pics you've previously uploaded to Flickr to a central location on your computer, to a zipped archive, or to a CD or DVD backup. Of the over 1600 pictures I just downloaded from Flickr, only about 12 of them didn't come down the pipeline properly, instead resulting in a blank image with a Flickr logo and a note reading "This image temporarily unavailable." This would seem to be a Flickr issue, rather than a problem with FlickrBackup.All in all, not too shabby. It's especially good if you've just got a new MacBook Pro and you wanted to grab just your favorite pictures for carrying around rather than sifting through all the pictures archived in iPhoto and other photo-management applications on all your other Macs. ;-)For other cool things Flickr related, make sure you check out this page. Update: Use this tool at your own risk! So it did a great job of downloading all those pictures, but it also somehow managed to delete several of my recent pictures. Not cool.
Address book back up solution roundup
Just like our mother used to say: "backing up your data isn't just a good idea, it's the law!" (Or something like that.) Anyways, PC World has a nice little roundup of address book backup solutions for your phone. They run the gamut of convenient, but expensive, carrier-based solutions, interesting SIM card readers and hardware dongles, and tried and true PC software for those with USB sync cables, so hopefully you can find something that fits your style. We prefer to have our people call their people when it comes to using teh phonez, and don't know these "address books" of which we speak, but your mileage may vary with this method.
BackityMac update brings CD/DVD backup
We mentioned BackityMac 1.0 a couple of weeks ago, and since then it's had a minor .1 update with a big new feature: backing up to CDs/DVDs. As icing on the cake, BackityMac can also span disk images that are too big for the media you're using, putting that 'size matters' issues to rest.BackityMac 1.1 is donationware, a Universal Binary and available from Whimsplucky Software.[via Hawk Wings]
Backup files to Backpack with Automator
Non Stop Mac has put together an ingenious how-to on creating an Automator action to backup files to Backpack. It's a simple process that uses the genius of Backpack's page-specific email addresses to email files that are sitting in a specific folder. Head over and check out their post for the full details, as it really isn't difficult to create a system for keeping your stuff backed up, online and accessible. However, don't forget: free Backpack accounts (to my knowledge) don't allow for hosting files or images.I actually have an amendment to offer up for Non Stop Mac's Backpack backup process. While I haven't tested this out yet, it should work in theory: instead of saving this system out as an Automator action, I bet you could save it as a folder action, then simply attach it to a folder of stuff you want to back up. In a sense, this might be a basic, one-way iDisk: you could (theoretically) save items to this folder, which would then automatically be emailed to Backpack. If you try any of this out, feel free to share your thoughts on the experience.[via Backpack blog]
BackityMac 1.0 - easy backup, restore and maintenance
BackityMac is a really handy, really simple to use backup and restore utility that allows you to chose from a number of different application support directories to backup into a good ol' fashioned read-only disk image. The list of library and support folders includes: Mail Entourage Keychain Safari, Firefox and Camino bookmarks iPhoto library iTunes library iWeb files Documents folder your entire Home folder However, BackityMac is no one-trick pony. It also has a Maintenance pane that allows you to perform various Mac OS X tune-up tasks such as permissions repair, deleting caches, re-indexing Spotlight, running those late-night cron scripts and more.If you haven't found a good tool or developed some kind of a backup habit yet, BackityMac is a great place to start - especially since its free. Go check it out.
Yojimbo QuickPick for Backup 3
For .Mac members (like me) who have been enjoying the breath of fresh organizational air that is Yojimbo, you might be interested to know that Antony, an enterprising member of the Yojimbo mailing list who runs MacCentre701, has created a Yojimbo QuickPick for Backup 3. I tried it as soon as I saw the email, and everything went swimmingly.As a bonus, if you are unfamiliar with how Backup 3 works, Antony included a brief and effective tutorial covering how install QuickPicks and how to get started using this most handy of backup software from Apple.
The Office upgrade ate two Address Books, or: why I don't touch Microsoft products
So y'know that Office update that came out a few days ago? The one that Spotlight-ified Entourage and added syncing abilities with iCal and Address Book? Yea um, it ate not only my Address Book but my fiancé's which I was subscribed to through .Mac.Syncing setup is brainless and painless - there's a new preference section in Entourage in which you can individually enable syncing with iCal, Address Book and/or Notes through .Mac. Simple enough. A little while after I checked those options, the .Mac syncing engine offered a dialog asking if I would like to merge items between Entourage and Apple's apps, or if I would like to overwrite Entourage. I chose to overwrite, since I didn't have info in Entourage's database and I was simply curious about the app.Somehow, some way, even though I told the engine to overwrite Entourage, my Address Book magically increased to 499 contacts after the first sync operation. Maybe it picked up all those extra friends from MySpace or something during the sync, because last I checked I only had 326 contacts in Address Book. Upon investigation, some of my contacts had split into separate cards, with information either duplicated or obliterated. Even better: I am subscribed to my fiancé's Address Book (with editing rights) through .Mac, as we're helping to keep each other's contacts up to date in preparation for sending out invitations. The Entourage sync not only mangled a seemingly random collection of her contacts, but it blew away all of her groups.Now before you fire off a snarling comment: yes, we have backups. I've turned into quite the backup nazi - but this post is more of a complaint and a warning about this new Entourage feature. Who knows if the mishap was the result of a .Mac syncing error or bug, but - call me biased if you gotta - I have a sneaking suspicion this had to do with an Office update that wasn't quite finished. I've never had an issue syncing anything else through .Mac, and that includes a lot of 3rd party stuff like Yojimbo, SOHO Notes and Transmit favorites.So, boys and girls, the moral of the story is a classic: back your stuff up - and often (sub-moral: don't trust Microsoft, even if it is software from their Mac Business Unit).
Dobry Backuper
We can argue the spelling of Backuper all day, but let's just ignore the rules of English for the time being and get down to the application at hand: Dobry Backuper. It appears the hole left by Retrospect is being filled by ever more capable applications, and Dobry's solution looks like a great one for home users. In fact, this program is really geared towards the home user, who is often tasked with keeping backups for a couple computers (or 4, as in my case). Backuper allows you to make full backups (replacing old with new in one big chunk), versioned (keeps older versions intact), or incremental (my favorite, where new or changed stuff is uploaded over the old, but anything that didn't change stays there). In summary: Dobry Backuper is similar to .Mac's Backup, except it offers more flexibility. Some downsides exist, however, as you won't be able to administer backups from afar. Also, you'll have to create an individual backup scheme for each machine (only local Home folders can be backed up). But overall I think this is an excellent alternative to something like Retrospect, which I just never bothered to update after OS X pretty much smashed it to pieces.[Via Apple Matters]
Migrating to a MacBook Pro
Enterprise Mac's Tom Yager posted about his recent transition from a PowerBook to a MacBook Pro using Tiger's integrated Setup Assistant. Using Setup Assistant one can easily transfer old data, settings, applications and more to a new Mac over firewire. His migration took a little under two hours to transfer 60GB of data rather painlessly.What I found insightful with Tom Yager's post is that with Rosetta one can still use most old PowerPC applications without having to search for upgrades. This makes switching (or cloning) to a new machine a hopefully trivial experience. Have you had a breezy time of upgrading your Mac using Tiger's built in Setup Assistant? We're all ears.
I know I shouldn't, but
You're a good little Mac user. You back up your files. You repair your permissions. You install the latest updates. But, there's that one bad habit you maintain that isn't in accordance with your regular behavior. Maybe you don't back up regularly, or you've shut down your Mac by just yanking out the power cord. When I was using Mac OS 9 (and I still do at work sometimes), I've been known to force quit the Finder, just so I could rebuild the desktop without having to restart the machine (because laziness is the mother of invention). So it's confession time, TUAWers. What's your bad Mac habit? It's ok, we'll protect your anonymity.
Backup 3.1 is available
.Mac users: Launch Software Update. Apple has released Backup 3.1, with several changes. According to Apple:"Backup 3.1 delivers added support for some backup destinations and addresses file restoration and other issues. Backup 3.1 is recommended for all users of Backup 3.0. Significant areas addressed are: improved support for iDisk, local hard drives, and some network destinations (Mac OS X Tiger only); new iWeb QuickPick and updated iLife plan; and addresses issues with restoring files."I'm looking forward to checking out the iWeb QuickPick. Grab your copy, and let us know if anything goes wonky.
TUAW Tip: Put your apps wherever you want
When you download a new application, its installation process typically tells you to either drag it into your Mac's Applications folder, or it has a full-blown installer that takes care of this process for you. But who says you have to keep all your apps in the Applications folder? Many applications, from Firefox to Quicksilver and even FCP and Photoshop, can generally be run from nearly any folder on your Mac, allowing you to organize your applications any way you see fit.Why would this matter, you ask? Well, if you're anything like me, you've built up a healthy collection of 3rd party apps that you use on a regular basis. If you want an easy way to either backup all these apps or quickly bring them all over to another Mac, you can simply keep them in a folder in your Home folder. This way, you can still use them and call them with tools like Quicksilver, OS X can still find them, and you can easily keep track of just your apps that matter most. This also saves a lot of time if you ever decide to do some serious "spring cleaning" and wipe your entire Mac.Now, one word of caution with this tip: as a general rule, exercise care when moving around any of the big apps, as well as the apps that used a full-blown installer. I had no troubles moving the entire Photoshop CS2 folder and Final Cut Pro.app to my desktop and running them, but I have no idea if a move like that could affect the functionality of things like plugins or other addons. My personal rule of thumb (which hasn't failed me yet) is that if an app is a simple drag and drop install, it doesn't necessarily have to live in the main Applications folder. If you've been using a similar trick like this, TUAW readers, feel free to discuss your ideas in the comments.
Pod2go 1.6 released
That beta version of Pod2go we mentioned last year (ok, a month ago) has gone official. The new version boasts a wealth of upgrades to the way it handles lyrics, Mail, iCal information, backup, news and apps, as well as support for multiple iPods. A number of usability enhancements are present as well, such as holding down the option key to change the "Sync" option in the menu bar icon to "Sync and Eject." Check out the lengthy list of release notes to catch up on the massive amount of changes in this unassuming point upgrade.[via Hawk Wings]
Backup your iTunes purchases
Rex Hammock is shocked that Apple recommends users back up their iTunes purchases. Since the iTunes Music Store has a transaction record of everything you have downloaded shouldn't the onus fall on Apple to make sure your data is safe? No, no it shouldn't. Rex does offer up some ways of backing up your purchases, which is a good thing in my opinion.iTunes purchases are just one type of data that litters your hard drive, and you should be conducting regular backups of your data as a standard operating procedure. There is even a popup after you download a track or album from iTunes that reminds you to back up your music (unless you check the box that says 'Don't show this again). Losing data is never fun, but I don't think Apple should be in charge of having a backup of my music. What do you think? Am I making sense here, or am I totally off my rocker (wouldn't be the first time).
