what is easiest/best way to backup my computer information & bookmarks

[faithnotgreed]

i have panther
700 mhz emac with combo drive
i have cds of my software so basically i just need to backup word files/pdfs and emails and bookmarks

ive heard of ghost but thats about it and outside of hearing of this product i have nothing intelligent to add. would i just burn this onto a cd? i havent burned any cds before

thanks for any guidance o intelligent (and very kind) mac users....

[alfredo]

1. Try this

http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html It will make a disk image of whatever you are backing up.

Burning a cd is pretty easy on the Mac. Once you have the data in the disk, drag it to the trash. The Trash icon will change to the burn icon. Just follow the instructions.

[faithnotgreed]

2. thank you alfredo. ill check this out

i wasnt sure the best way to back everything up. i want to be prepared and do this before (and just in case) my hd blows

[alfredo]

3. Disk utility will do the job, but it has a steeper learning curve

and is slower. Disk Utility does make a smaller file which means you can stuff a lot more onto a CD.

[faithnotgreed]

4. ok. i cant have much learning curve so i hope i can just burn what i

need to on cd

i just dont want to ignore this then one day find my hd burnt out~!

[alfredo]

5. Steep learning curve on a Mac means having to check the help

feature instead of figuring out by just looking at it. In other words, it is not hard to figure out. The help file for disk utility is real easy to figure out.

[faithnotgreed]

6. youre exactly right. i was forgetting i was dealing with mac

troubleshooting

see thats part of the problem. since ive had such little trouble with macs (and have used them for over 10 yrs) then im far behind on what to do when anything comes up

thanks alfredo

[alfredo]

7. They just work.

[politicat]

8. External hard drive at least 2x the capacity of your internal HD.

No, really, I'm quite serious. You may think you only need to back up prefs and email and user-created files, but there will always be something you forget. I strongly suggest creating an image of your disk before backup to use as a just in case. Having lost files this way - including a large hunk of a work project - I'm really a strong advocate for full backups.

If you still have the standard, 40 GB HD, you can get a 160 GB external firewire drive at compuseless and back it up 3 times before you need to start getting rid of the old backups. (For me, with a 60, I tend to have two fortnightly backups on the external before we transfer to the long term storage array. ) You should have firewire ports; if not, there are usb versions, but they're slower. The LaCie that compuseless sells is the same price as a firewire harness kit and 160 gb HD from the local chopshop, and comes with a better warranty - it runs $149.

Remember, burning to a CD only gives you about 18 months of reliable storage. Most burnable CDs are not considered permanent and should not be used for long-term backup. (Same for burnable media of any sort.) They degrade, especially if the dye in the disk is exposed to light, heat or humidity. While that may not be an issue for you, it can be for others. Some CD manufacturers say their media last longer, but I wouldn't trust their claims with anything critical.

Panther makes it pretty easy to burn a CD. Pop a blank in the drive, and it will pop up a window for you. Follow the naming instructions, then open another finder window. Now drag and drop the files you want to preserve onto the blank CD. When it's full, it will tell you. Then click on the icon that looks like a radiation symbol. That burns the disk.

Finally, don't forget to back up your libraries, both under the individual user and under the hard drive itself and under system. (These are what I used to forget to back up....)