What does NOT need to be backed up?

B

Barry Garsson

Barry
Re: backing up my Mac hard drive - I want to cover my bases, but I wonder if EVERYTHING really needs to be backed up. My Mac G5 included three CD's: Power Mac G5 Mac OS X Install Disk 1 and 2, and Mac OS 9 Install Disk. As I look at my root Mac HD folder, I see the following:
Applications (5.34 gigabytes)
Applications (Max OS 9)
Developer (small)
Downloaded Files (small)
Library (36.86 gigabytes - yikes!)
System (1.58 gigabytes)
System Folder ("9" part of the folder icon) (small)
User Guides & Information (small)
Users
Obviously, I need to back-up the "Users" folder since that contains all of my data - I've also added a few applications, most of which have their own original disks. Since there is a finite amount of storage space on my external drives, and because backing up can be a lengthy process, I'd like to limit my backups to what would really be lost if I suffered a complete crash.

So here's my first question: of the above listed folders, which ones can safely be left out of backing up because they can be restored with the original CD's?

My second question: have I inadvertantly, in use, modified the system, library, developer, and User Guides folders so they no longer resemble the originals (I have not done so intentionally, I just wonder if I lose something by having to rely on the CD's instead of a, external drive back-up)?

My storage problems are exacerbated by my use of the Mac for video, and those are monstrous files. So I'd like to know how crazy and paranoid I need to be to be safe without purchasing yet another external hard drive just for the system files.

My third question: about the applications folder: can I assume that whatever I don't have a separate original CD for (like Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, etc.) will be on the original CD's and don't need to be backed up?

My last question: I have some downloaded applications (example: nik Sharpener for Photoshop) that was purchased and downloaded from their website) that are not in my "Downloaded Files" folder. When I used Windows, I used to download applications in a "zip" file and save them into a new folder, but I don't seem to have that option with the Mac. Where in heaven's name are those downloaded applications stored, or are they installed and erased?

Barry
 
If you only have one user, you don't need to backup the whole Users folder, only _your_ user folder inside of it. Then make sure you backup *any* folder you _yourself_ put stuff in. Plus /Applications and if you can also /Library ... done.

If you have a 36 GB Library folder, I'd take a good look at it with OmniDiskSweeper. I've never seen one this big. (Unless we're talking about the Library folder _inside_ your user folder, which also contains all your E-Mail, for example.)
 
The Library is certainly not "pristine"; it's used by a lot of applications and also for some system settings. And if it's 36 GB, that means there's a whoooole lot of non-standard stuff in there — my Library is about 1GB. I have no idea what would be filling 36GB of space. Maybe you've installed some very large multimedia apps (maybe Final Cut Pro or Maya or something of that sort), or maybe something has gone wrong and it's filled with garbage. So you might want to poke around in there and do some cleaning, but you should definitely not leave it off your backup routine — unless you're OK with reinstalling all your apps and resetting your system settings, anyway.

It's likely that "System" is unchanged, but some things do get installed there, like kernel extensions and some of Apple's software. A few programs I've used that install parts in System are Snapz Pro, USB Overdrive, Apple's MPEG2 component for QuickTime, and Audio Hijack Pro. These programs are few and far between, so I consider it practical to leave off System and simply reinstall certain things if you ever need to.

There are also a lot of invisible folders that can take up several gigabytes. If your goal is to create a backup you can use to restore bootability, then you'll need to do these, too (as well as System). I recommend Carbon Copy Cloner for the task. These fall into the same category as "System" — a few programs might install things there, but it's not generally changed.

System Folder should be backed up if you use Classic, since that's where all your preferences for Classic apps are stored.
 
You had me curious about the size of my library folder. I am attaching three screen captured images of that folder so you can see what's in there (a lot of stuff). The one labeled "Library" shows the entire Library folder, the other two are subfolders, one of which, the "applications support" folder is itself just under 25 GB, and the "audio" folder is almost 10 GB ("Apple Loops" are divided into "Apple" and "Soundtrack Pro" loops - the "Apple" came with the computer and is 2.49 GB itself, the "Soundtrack Pro" loops are over 7 GB - I have no idea what loops are even). I annotated the images with sizes for some of the larger folders: within the 25 GB "applications support" folder are three sub-folders: "DVD Studio Pro" at 8.51 GB (interestingly, it's larger companion program, Final Cut Pro, is only a fraction of that), "garage band" which I've never used weighs in at a hefty 1.92 GB, and the "iDVD" which I also never have used is 1.69 GB.

I cannot understand how a library folder could be only 1 GB when one application (Garage Band) alone is considerably more than that (not to mention "Apple Loops" and so on).

Since I started using the Mac in August, it would make sense that any folder with a date prior to that must have come already installed, and I think my original question was, and is, is all of that pre-August, 2006 stuff on the three installation CD's that came with the Mac? And most of the "post-August" folders (like Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Adobe applications) have their own CD installation disks.

Even if I do back-up all of these library files, and system files, can I really recreate everything from the back-up disk? Or will I have to revert to the installation CD's in any case? I easily understand backing up all of my data files, image files, video files - if I lost those they would be gone. It's the system stuff, and library stuff, and applications programs stuff that I am trying to understand the need to back up using a lot of precious external media capacity. Just asking, folks.

Barry
 

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As I suspected, it's all that huge multimedia stuff. If you don't use those apps — Garage Band, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Soundtrack — then you could uninstall them. I uninstalled iMovie and GarageBand as soon as I got my Mac, because they were very large. It would also be safe to simply leave those bits out of your backups, and reinstall them from your CDs if and when you ever need them (assuming you have CDs of these).

It is reasonable to think that any file not modified after you got your Mac is safe to delete, and can simply be reinstalled from your OS X CD. However, when it comes to folders, modification dates cannot always be trusted, because a folder's modification date will not always reflect the most recently modified file within. So it's better to search for the modification dates of files rather than folders.

As for your question about recreating the entire system, you can create bootable backups with the help of tools like Carbon Copy Cloner. Whether this is appropriate is another matter. Personally, I think you have the right idea backing up only what cannot be easily reinstalled from CDs.
 
THANKS! That tells me everything I needed to know. I am going to do some wholesale deleting tomorrow. My Mac will probably breathe a sigh of relief.
Barry
 
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