Q re: archive and reinstall

Repair permissions has not worked to solve the (admittedly small but annoying) problems so that is why I am looking to the reinstall at the moment.

Good advice about the home file... I tend to keep current projects on the desktop or on a 1 gig flash drive (scary to think if I lost it considering my homework is always on it... any programs out there for syncing between a generic thumb drive and your mac?). Anything not currently in use on the desktop gets dragged to a "clean up" folder for later review, save and/or discard.

Back up? I don't do it as often as I should, sad to say... Since I have always done it manually, what is a good backup utility to use? Only have the CD burner in my iBook and the native burning utility for panther keeps about a 150 mb buffer (annoying!) on a blank CDR so I hardly ever use it. I need to purchase Toast but I don't digitize music, got no iPod or other MP3 player and only buy commercial music CD's (bit of a snob when it comes to audio quality) so I only burn discs for clients or homework that must be handed in.

Limewire? I really only use it for sound bites when I'm in a crunch. Just covered that subject in school and it may fall under the fair use section of copyright law if it's for education, not reproduced for sale, for one time use only, and you use less than 10 % of the total work... at least thats the guidelines for written material. Maybe different for music (any kids reading this should assume I am a total idiot and absolutely wrong here so don't copy music). FYI, the Macs at school have a block on such software but I often bring my iBook to school with me... otherwise I use my vinyl and CD collection at home. If this section violates the TOS then let me know and I will repost without it... thanks

I did try to take advantage of the up to date program...
http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-7813-0.html?forumID=10&threadID=100068&messageID=1149257
but despite repeated emails, the only response I got back from Apple was an advert for Tiger! No discounts were offered... Since I can get it with my student discount now, I will. Just too poor at the moment (new glasses and dental work... joy! + a new windshield thanks to a state road salt truck).

Just to clarify... how much blank space do you need on your HD to archive and reinstall? The same amount as your home folder? And again... what is a good back up utility in your opinion.

Thought the auto censor would blank out the "B" word! Time to test George Carlin's 7 dirty words you can't say on the radio! ****,****,********,**********,*********,*********,**********! Any show up?

Thanks Peter!

grim

During my time in the Royal Navy, I spend 6 months on an island called, Astricum, in the south Pacific.
I became fluent in the language, Astriculish, and so am deeply offended by your closing remarks!

Backup: I use Apple's backup program, it's part of .Mac, but before that I used Retrospect Express. This seems to come free with almost every CD/DVD burner out there. Its major problem is that it does not handle schedules very well. If the machine is asleep, Retrospect fails to wake it and do a backup. That said, neither does Apple's Backup program.
I'm pretty sure that the space requirements for Archive and Install include the size of the original system plus the new system plus the Home folder.
You can also Archive and Install using the Tiger installation DVD and kill two birds with one stone.
Remember, be careful with the Astriculish, or I will have to come over there and ******* your horse and ********** your dog with a *****!


P

Grim, go back to school.
Pete, get some sleep.
? Have both of you heard of a special character called Asterism?
An asterisk with 3 asterisks showing? It is on Safari's special characters.
Seems not to be supported with CNET and full html
:

Thank you Grim. That was a nice surprise!!! :

Sorry I'm late wishing you a Happy Birthday Kevin, but I had to go to North Carolina for your Birthday Cake

Enjoy.


Rick

Thanks. Grim and Pete would like the cake also.
Does it come with a fire extinguisher?
Rick, That is so funny!
Did you really go to North Carolina or did you and your wife make the cake? Is there a new Macmini ready to pop out of the cake?
I'll bet you were in charge of the candles!
I'm not THAT OLD! Really! :

Peter,
Are you having OS 9 flashbacks, or have I been misinformed about the "Desktop folder"?

I thought that, in OSX, the desktop folder was just another folder in the Home folder, and therefore safe during an A&I. Granted, the Finder displays the contents on the screen, but other than that, it's just a folder inside the home folder with a unique icon, isn't it?

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Lampie

The desktop folder has always been just another folder on the HD. Now, with the advent of OS X and it's distinct user accounts, that folder lives in the Home folder of each user. It remains intact during the A & I.

I've just re-read my post and see what you mean. The desktop folder is not normally used as a source for a back-up, it is normally the Documents folder as this is where most apps put saved stuff by default.
Guess it could have been a flash-back. I have a thing about storing stuff on the desktop as it means that configuring a backup gets to be tedious. Instead of pulling all my stuff from one place, I have to remember just where it was that I saved stuff. Normally the Home folder gets WAY to big to backup easily.
Sorry for the confusion.

How sad, just another folder in a sea of folders. Always the desktop, never the desk.

P

Pete and Lampie,
I happen to like my desktop folder when I am downloading anything.
Easy to find and than put into an actual desk folder and file later.
Right now my desktop looks like a sea of endless files downloaded and files ready to upload. Quicker and easier for me this way.
I clean up my desktop on a monthly schedule, or try to.

I have Rick's Birthday cake on my desktop right now. I sent a piece of the cake to all my relatives and friends this evening. I cut them a piece from my desktop and sent them a candle or two. I have plenty of candles left if you both would want some. :

into a folder on the desktop, I have Safari set up that way, so that all the unnecessary clutter is contained within one, not visible, place.
All the decompression and decoding is done within that folder which leaves the desktop clear.


P

Howdy Guys!
At least it's not Deskbottom!

I use my Desktop just about halfway between the two of you. About 70% of the stuff I download is temporary (view once and trash it), like PDF's and page archives. Everything gets downloaded to the Desktop, where I have a folder marked ''Junk Drawer''. If it doesn't get trashed it goes there. Inside the Junk Drawer I have aliases to Documents, Photo, etc, also external HD's, and other computers on my network. The real sorting goes on there. That way my desktop isn't a mess if I haven't sorted the junk lately.
About once every 6 months It all goes pear shaped, because there are always things that don't fit, defy sorting, and end up living in the junk drawer. The folder gets bloated, so I burn it to DVD, and start over.

As for back ups, I have a 250 gig external that I've formatted in 3 parts, and I use ''Carbon Copy Cloner'' to create a complete image of all my internal HD's on it. So far I'm lucky, in that all 3 computers will boot from any of the 3 images.
I also burn DVD's periodicaly because Murphy invented the Hard Drive. It usually works out to 1 for Apps, 1 for Librarys (after clearing cashes and logs) 1 for Docs & Pics, and one for movies. My MP3's live on an external HD, get backed up to the iPod, and twice a year or so to DVDs.

I suppose I burn stuff I don't have to, since much of it doesn't change but ends up on every burn, but it's fast and doesn't take much thought, and that's important.

I have disks going all the way back to 1999 (CDs back then). It would be impossible to find anything because of the number of disks, except It's all searchable through ''Disk Catalog Maker''. The hardest part of this is remembering to NEVER burn a disk named ''Untitled''. LOL

For me, the biggest flaw any back up plan can have is being a pain in the glass. I learned the hard way that if it has that flaw, it won't get done often enough, or it won't get done at all.


Lampie

Lampi, How was RBB&B?
Looking forward to your posts.
I made a folder called ?BLACK HOLE? on my desktop. The folder image looks like a black hole.
I created a doc in photoshop that was a small black square. Copied the image.
Command shift to create a new doc. Command i, get info, clicked on the left top image to highlight it and pasted the black image into it. Now the folder icon shows up as a black hole image and icon.
Certain stuff goes to it, sort of a file bin.

Lampi, you could make a folder called Lampi and have the folder in the image of a clown. I know that you and others know about this and how to do it.
I just wanted a few newbies to know this trick.
How about a folder called ?MY MOTHER-IN-LAW?
Just paste a photo of your mother-in-law in and you have a great image to view all the time! Just wonderful to view.
Neat! Works for father-in-law images also.
Interesting stuff to know.
Anyone else have fun stuff out there to share? And how to do it?

-Kevin