Joe Kissell - Take control of Mac OS X backups

Copyright 2011

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You can access extras related to this book on the Web (use the link in , near the end of the book; its available only to purchasers). On the ebooks Take Control Extras page, you can:

• Menus : Where I describe choosing a command from a menu in the menu bar, I use an abbreviated description. For example, the abbreviated description for the menu command that creates a new folder in the Finder is File > New Folder.

• Contextual menus : Contextual menus appear when you Control-click various elements on a Macintosh screen, including Dock items and files in Finder windows. To describe opening a contextual menu, I usually I tell you to right-click (Control-click) an item on the screen. If your mouse offers a right-click option, or if you use a trackpad or other means of opening a contextual menu, you should feel free to use the method you prefer.

• Finding System Preferences : I sometimes refer to settings in System Preferences that you may want to adjust. To open System Preferences, click its icon in the Dock or choose Apple > System Preferences. When the System Preferences window opens, click the icon of the pane whose settings you want to adjust. I refer to these panes using a brief notation such as the Network preference pane.

• Finding an applications preferences : I often refer to preferences in an application that you may want to adjust. Dont confuse an applications preferences with the system-wide settings found in System Preferences. To access an applications preferences, choose Application Name > Preferences. For example, in the program Retrospect, you would choose Retrospect > Preferences.

• Path syntax : This book occasionally uses a path to show the location of a file or folder in your file system. For example, Mac OS X stores most utilities, such as Terminal, in the Utilities folder. The path to Terminal is: /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.

  The slash at the start of the path tells you to begin at the top level of the disk. Some paths begin with ~ (tilde), which is a shortcut for the current users home directory. For example, if the person currently logged in has the user name joe and wants to install fonts that only he can access, he would put them in ~/Library/Fonts, which is just another way of writing /Users/joe/Library/Fonts.

• Removal of information about versions of Mac OS X older than 10.5 Leopard, as mentioned in the

• An entirely rewritten section, , which I hope will eliminate some confusion on the topic of what problems this type of backup can solve

• A brand-new, eight-page section titled that should be the starting point for people who already have a backup strategyespecially those who have read earlier editions of this bookand provide a useful reference as your backup needs change over time

• Information about a new program called that has features resembling a version control system

• In the context of backing up while on the road, a reworked section,

• Completely reorganized (and almost entirely rewritten) instructions for backing up