mkellis

So here's what happens when I have a full blown geek-out on a topic. The topic? Backing up your Mac.

tl;dr (Too Long; Didn’t Read)

This post assumes that you want to back up your Mac’s hard disk, and most particularly, back up your files. As computers go, a hard disk crash and data loss is about the worst thing that can happen. There are data recovery services to get your data back, but they are expensive, and they can’t guarantee that they’ll be able to get what you want. Worse, if you have a laptop and it’s stolen or lost, you may not get anything back.

At a minimum, if you don’t feel like reading this whole thing, do the following:

Go to Western Digital or G-Technology.

If your Mac only has USB (MacBook Airs, some older white MacBooks), buy the G-DRIVE Mobile USB or My Book for Mac, depending on whether or not you want portable storage (the former) or desktop storage. If it has FireWire of any sort (FW400 or FW800), or you don’t know what your Mac has, get the ‘My Book Studio’ or the G-Drive. Get the 3 TB size if you can afford it. It’ll be bigger than whatever is in your Mac. Most Apple stores carry some of these models, and you can order them from Amazon or your electronic dealer of choice. I’ve chosen the models here because they come pre-formatted for the Mac and because the hard drives in them have a decent reliability rating. (If you’re wondering about Thunderbolt, as of this writing there are no reasonably priced Thunderbolt-interface drives for sale. This will probably change soon.)

Buy your chosen drive and follow the instructions in getting it hooked up to your Mac. If you don’t have a Time Machine volume hooked up, the system will ask you if you want to use it as a Time Machine backup. Agree with it. If it doesn’t, or you select ‘Cancel’, go into the System Preferences app, and select ‘Time Machine’. Turn the slider to ‘On’ and for ‘Select Disk’ select the disk you just hooked up. Click the ‘Show Time Machine status in menu bar’ checkbox, and you should see a new icon in the menu bar on the upper right: a clock-shaped icon with an arrow on the outer clock face. After a few minutes, the clock should start to run and the arrow should circle. If you click on it, Time Machine should show that it’s backing up or when its next backup will be.

You can go to Apple’s Time Machine Documentation for more information about how to use Time Machine, but once it’s up and running, it will automatically back up any files you’ve saved to disk. You’ll also be able to get back older versions of your files if you manage to overwrite or corrupt a current file, just so long as Time Machine has had a chance to run on that older file.

Congratulations. If something bad happens to your Mac, you should have a backup. You’re now ahead of most people. I recommend following the link and learning how to use Time Machine. It’s better to learn how to use it to do a recovery before you need to actually perform one, since you’ll be stressed enough when you do lose that file or files. Practice recovering single files, multiple files in a directory, and entire directories. I also recommend reading how to use a Time Machine backup to recover from a failed system hard disk, but as long as you have a good backup, any competent Apple Store employee or local computer store technician can help you get your computer working again if your system drive is corrupted, fails, or is lost.

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All web applications which allow off site users to update any internal web pages are evil. All wikis are doubly evil. I don't have time for this crap, and neither do my sysadmins. Further, all spammers, crackers, and script kiddies must die.

Thank you.

Just go read this. Don't forget to make your SAN check.

Just got back from Resident Evil: Apocalypse with cadhla and porpentine in Concord. Non-spoiler impressions above the cut.

It was good, and satisfying, and I enjoyed it. Like any horror movie, some of the people you're rooting for die, and some don't. The ending didn't suck. The camera work was a bit jumpy and they did some other effects with it, particularly one stunt which you will all recognize when you see it, which, despite being a real stunt looked like CG. Similarly the fights weren't badly choreographed, but they were chopped up too much to really enjoy them.

( Spoiler impressions below the cut.Collapse )

All and all, I am seriously considering digging out my Dreamcast and finishing Resident Evil: Code Veronica, which is about as high a recommendation as you can give for a film like this. Resident Evil fans should immediately go see it, and buy the DVD when it comes out. Horror fans should at least catch the matinee. Non-horror, non-game fans should consider getting drunk and watching it with friends when it comes out on DVD.

I'd just like to say that whatever complaints I ever had about trying to take care of the postage stamp I had in Mountain View are small, inexperienced squeakings of dismay compared to the task before me. I now have a real garden. It has flowers, fruit trees, a man-eating blackberry bush (possibly two, it's hard to tell where they lay off) and come fall there will be leaves sufficient to hide a swift boat.

Oh, and it has got ants. The thing is full of ants. Fortunately they are the small, black, and apparently harmless variety, but I did not plan to sign up for SimAnt when I became a homeowner. They all come out when you water, particularly on hot days. The net result was finding ants crawling up my legs for the balance of the day.

Small, black, and apparently harmless. I believe I have a new motto. Or perhaps a prayer.

Since, karmically speaking, it would have been very bad to actually post this before everything finished up, I haven't done this up until now...

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In approximately twelve hours, the Alameda County records bureau will have its records updated, and I will officially be the owner of a bungalow in Berkeley, CA.

I'm stuck between elation and not quite believing it, but it's done. Twelve years after I left, I'm moving back to Berkeley.

Now you all just need to come join me for a drink on the deck out back. Housewarming invitations will be sent shortly after I move in.

when you spend 30 seconds before lunch stretching your jaw so you can open it wide enough to eat your sandwich.

I had a near miss today. Nothing life threatening, but when I got off the BART and returned to my car, I found a pile of glass next to the left front fender, and a BART Police officer interviewing another man in the aisle across.

Turns out someone had shattered the passenger side window of the car next to mine, and then ransacked it. At least one other vehicle (the truck) was robbed as well. My car, which is a rather long-in-the-tooth 1993 Ford Probe GT, was untouched. This is at least somewhat fortunate, since the stereo, new last year, is worth roughly 1/10th of the total cost of the car, and I'd hate to lose it. Never mind replacing a window and cleaning out the inevitable shower of glass from the car.

I've been wanting a new car for a while now, but perhaps I'll actually go and get one when I'm no longer leaving it in a park-and-ride and unattended all day...

WHEW

Everybody else is doing it, so, ( picking up the meme:Collapse )