My Address Book is backed up alright, but how do I un-back-it?

[piquant]

I"m running OS 10.3.9 on a G3 iBook 600MHz. I've backed up my entire HD to a 80GB Fantom external drive. Since then, I've managed to lose my Address Book in its entirety. I'm 86 years old, senile, and to save my life I can't figure out how to transfer my saved Address Book from my external drive to my computer's HD. I've read the Fantom User's Guide until my eyeballs were ready to fall out, but I still can't make head or tail of what I'm reading.

I have Carbon Copy Cloner installed on my machine, but I'm not sure how that helps me. If there is one soul out there who can restore me to peace and harmony, I'd love to hear from him or her.

[VirtualTracy]

I"m running OS 10.3.9 on a G3 iBook 600MHz. I've backed up my entire HD to a 80GB Fantom external drive.

I have Carbon Copy Cloner installed on my machine, but I'm not sure how that helps me.

Hello piquant,

If you cloned your System Drive using Carbon Copy Cloner, then you would use this App to restore Address Book.

Unfortunately I have no experience with CCC, therefore I can't advise you on the steps to take.

If you attach your Ext Drive can you open the drive and navigate to your Address Book backup, or did you back up your HD as a .dmg file?

If you can launch Address Book on the Ext drive, then using the Address Book ~> File ~> Export Group Vcard, you could Export the Group Vcard to your iBooks desktop, then using Pacifist, extract Address Book.app from your Panther Installation Disc and when it's properly installed, import the Group Vcard, which would essentially have you up an running again.

[g/re/p]

Hi piquant - it is very good that you have your drive backed up!

1) Connect your external hard drive to your iBook and then open carbon
copy cloner.

2) Click on the padlock at the bottom left and type your password in the
box that opens.

3) Select your iBook hard drive as the Target Disk and the external drive
as the Source Disk.

4) Set Cloning Options to incremental backup of selected items.

Be sure to leave "delete items that don't exist on the source" unchecked

5) In the Items to be copied box under Source Disk, uncheck ALL of the boxes and
click on the triangle next to Applications and then check the box next to Address Book.

Now all you have to do is click on the Clone button and your Address Book should be restored!

Note: I have had backup and/or restore sessions stall or fail on me a few times - if the restore fails and you get an error, or the program stalls and seems to be taking too long, just close out of the application and retry.

[piquant]

Wow! I'm so on the cusp, one click will get me there — but paranoia has me frozen in my tracks, I'm afraid to proceed. Your directions are great, but they're not matching my screen. I suspect we're using two versions of CCC, mine is v2.3!

Let me describe my window. On top: "Use this utility to clone one disk to another. If you do not want to copy all the items listed, select the unwanted items and click on the Delete button. Click on the padlock to authenticate (enables the clone and scheduler buttons."

Below the text you see: "Source Disk" and below it two choices: "HD" and "Fantom HD." Under that section you find: "Target Disk" with two choices: "Select a target" and "Fantom HD."

In a vertical column beneath the above, you observe 4 clickable buttons named: Preferences - Scheduler - Log - Help.

On the right in a vertical column are listed all the individual contents of my HD. Amongst the items is: Applications, but I saw no way of extracting just the Address Book from the myriad of other items.

In the bottom left is the padlock you described hovering next to the clickable button: "Clone."

If you've managed to navigate through this thicket unscathed, I'd love to know how to proceed. I really do appreciate your assistance.

[ElDiabloConCaca]

If all you want to do is restore your Address Book contents, then simply navigate to [yourusername]/Library/Application Support in your backup, and copy the "Address Book" folder to [yourusername]/Library/Application Support folder on your hard drive.

No need to restore the entire hard drive backup with CCC just to retrieve the contents of your backed-up Address Book.

[piquant]

ElDiabloConCaca:

You don't understand, there no longer is any address book at the end of that rainbow — the only Address Book I have is parked in my Fantom external backup HD.

g/re/p (previous reply) has the right medicine, I just need slightly more help to be whole again.

[piquant]

You don't understand, the only Address Book I have is on my external backup drive. The previous writer (g/re/p) has the right medicine, I just need a little more help and I'll be home free.

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Well, we're both accomplishing the same thing -- restoring the "Address Book" folder inside of "Application Support". My way is the "manual" way, whereas g/re/p's way is via CCC.

Both accomplish the exact, identical thing, though.