Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell. Copyright © 2007. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and Peachpit Press. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups Joe Kissell Peachpit Press Take Control Books Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell. Copyright © 2007. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and Peachpit Press. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups Joe Kissell Peachpit Press 1249 Eighth Street Berkeley, CA 94710 510/524-2178, 800/283-9444, 510/524-2221 (fax) Find us on the Web at: www.peachpit.com To report errors, please send a note to errata@peachpit.com Peachpit Press is a division of Pearson Education Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups is published in association with Take Control Books and was origi- nally published by Take Control Books as Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac (ISBN 1-933671-10-6) and Take Control of Mac OS X Backups (ISBN 0-9759503-0-4), both by Joe Kissell and copyright © 2006 by Joe Kissell. Learn more about Take Control at www.takecontrolbooks.com. Copyright © 2007 by TidBITS Electronic Publishing and Joe Kissell Editors: Jeff Carlson and Caroline Rose Project Managers: Tonya Engst and Adam Engst Production Editor: Susan Rimerman Tech Editor: Take Control authors and the TidBITS Irregulars Proofreader: Clark Humphrey Compositor: Jeff Tolbert Indexer: Rebecca Plunkett Cover design: Aren Howell Cover illustration: Alicia Buelow Notice of Rights All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact permissions@peachpit.com. Notice of Liability The information in this book is distributed on an “As Is” basis without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit shall have any liability to any per- son or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it. Trademarks Apple, FileVault, Finder, FireWire, iBook, iTunes, iTunes Music Store, Macintosh, .Mac, Mac, Mac OS, Panther, PowerBook, SuperDrive, and Tiger are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Peachpit was aware of a trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other product names and services iden- tified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book. ISBN 0-321-49218-8 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound in the United States of America Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell. Copyright © 2007. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and Peachpit Press. Overview Introduction 1 Quick Start 7 Chapter 1 Start on the Right Foot 11 Chapter 2 Perform Daily Tasks 33 Chapter 3 Perform Weekly Tasks 37 Chapter 4 Perform Monthly Tasks 47 Chapter 5 Perform Yearly Tasks 55 Chapter 6 Things You Might Never Need to Do 65 Chapter 7 When Apple Releases a New Version of Mac OS X 71 Chapter 8 Monitor Your Mac’s Health 75 Chapter 9 Decide on a Backup Strategy 85 Chapter 10 Choose Your Backup Hardware 115 Chapter 11 Choose Your Backup Software 139 Chapter 12 Set Up Your Backup System 159 Appendix A Troubleshooting Resources 181 Appendix B Backup Software 183 Appendix C A Retrospect Primer 191 Glossary 217 Index 221 Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell. Copyright © 2007. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and Peachpit Press. This page intentionally left blank Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell. Copyright © 2007. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and Peachpit Press. Contents Introduction 1 Basics 4 Acknowledgments 5 Colophon 5 Quick Start 7 Chapter 1 Start on the Right Foot 11 Install the Latest Version of Mac OS X 11 Turn On Software Update 12 Update Third-Party Software 15 Clean Out Accumulated Cruft 16 Turn Off Unneeded Login Items 20 Create a Backup System 22 Run Apple Hardware Test 22 Be Sure You Have Enough RAM 24 Run Disk Utility 25 Make Sure Scheduled Maintenance Tasks Run 26 Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell. Copyright © 2007. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and Peachpit Press. Install Antivirus Software 29 Use a Surge Protector 30 Chapter 2 Perform Daily Tasks 33 Back Up Changed Files 33 Download Software Updates 34 Chapter 3 Perform Weekly Tasks 37 Clean Up Your Desktop 37 Back Up Everything 41 Rotate Backups Offsite 41 Use Software Update to Install Apple Software Updates 42 Check for Third-Party Software Updates 43 Reboot If Performance Seems Slow 44 Consider Clearing Certain Caches 44 Chapter 4 Perform Monthly Tasks 47 Empty Your Trash 47 Use Disk Utility’s Repair Disk Feature 50 Clean Your Screen 51 Clean Your Mouse or Trackball 51 Exercise Your Notebook’s Battery 53 Chapter 5 Perform Yearly Tasks 55 De-Dust Your Mac 55 Clean Your Keyboard 58 Clean Your iSight 58 Make Archival Backups to DVD 59 Remove Unneeded Files 61 Change Your Passwords 61 vi Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell. Copyright © 2007. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and Peachpit Press. Chapter 6 Things You Might Never Need to Do 65 Repair Permissions 65 Defragment Your Hard Disk 68 Chapter 7 When Apple Releases a New Version of Mac OS X 71 Buy It!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Buy Take Control of Upgrading to _____ 72 Make a Fresh Bootable Backup 73 Upgrade 73 Chapter 8 Monitor Your Mac’s Health 75 Use Monitoring Utilities 75 Check Your Drives’ S.M.A.R.T. Status 82 Chapter 9 Decide on a Backup Strategy 85 Do You Need Duplicates? 88 Do You Need Archives? 89 Do You Have Special Backup Needs? 90 The Duplicate 92 The Archive 94 Scheduling Backups 96 Keeping Multiple Backups 98 Backing Up a Small Network 99 Joe’s Recommended Strategy 104 Chapter 10 Choose Your Backup Hardware 115 Hard Drives 116 Optical Media 125 Magneto-Optical Disks 129 Other Removable Media 130 Tape Drives 131 Contents vii Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell. Copyright © 2007. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and Peachpit Press. Flash Drives 132 SAN and NAS 132 Local Network Servers 133 iDisk 134 Internet Backup Services 134 Camcorders 136 Joe’s Hardware Recommendations 138 Chapter 11 Choose Your Backup Software 139 Duplication Features 140 Archiving Features 141 Ease of Use 149 Support and Reputation 150 Price 151 Joe’s Software Recommendations 151 Chapter 12 Set Up Your Backup System 159 Test Hardware First 159 Partition Hard Disks 160 Install and Test Software 161 Label Media and Files 162 Set Up Duplicates 163 Test Your Duplicate 165 Set Up Archives 167 Test Your Archive 169 Automate Your Backups 170 Mind Your Media 172 Restore Data from a Backup 177 viii Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell. Copyright © 2007. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and Peachpit Press. Appendix A Troubleshooting Resources 181 Appendix B Backup Software 183 Duplication+Archiving Software 183 Duplication Software 186 Archiving Software 187 Synchronization Software 189 Photo-Cataloging Software 189 Photo-Sharing Services 189 Internet Backup Services 190 Version Control Software 190 Other Software 190 Appendix C A Retrospect Primer 191 Retrospect Terminology 192 The Directory 195 Set Up a Duplicate Script 196 Set Up a Backup Server Script 200 Set Up a Backup Script 203 Back Up Network Clients 207 Recycle a Backup Set 209 Restore a Backup 210 Glossary 217 Index 221 Contents ix Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell. Copyright © 2007. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and Peachpit Press. [...]... replacing your computer 1 Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell Copyright © 2007 Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc and Peachpit Press 2 Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups This book teaches you the most important and useful maintenance tasks you should perform to increase your chances of keeping your Mac in tiptop operating... Consultants Network Partners Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell Copyright © 2007 Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc and Peachpit Press 10 Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups Tip: If you want to see a very funny video about the importance of backups, featuring none other than John Cleese (The Minister of Silly Walks, Q, Nearly Headless Nick, and so on), visit LiveVault’s... Mac OS X (One of the first suggestions I make is to upgrade your Mac, if possible, to Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell Copyright © 2007 Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc and Peachpit Press 4 Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups run the latest version of Mac OS X, which is likely to contain fewer bugs than earlier versions.)... features, and some newer software runs only on recent versions of the operating system Often, doing nothing more than updating your system software can eliminate a wide range of problems and prevent others 11 Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell Copyright © 2007 Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc and Peachpit Press 12 Real World Mac. .. Apple Consultants Network Partners Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell Copyright © 2007 Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc and Peachpit Press This page intentionally left blank Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell Copyright © 2007 Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc and Peachpit Press Quick Start... computer, and, if so, offers to download and install them for you Software Update is the easiest way to keep your Mac up to date with bug fixes and minor enhancements, and I strongly recommend that you use it Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell Copyright © 2007 Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc and Peachpit Press Chapter 1: Start... Have Special Backup Needs? (page 90), and then see Digital Photos (page 90) and Video and Audio (page 91) Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell Copyright © 2007 Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc and Peachpit Press Quick Start 9 Learn the value of using a single system to back up all the Macs in your home or office See Backing... Mac Maintenance and Backups Mac OS X updates fall into two categories: major and minor Major updates (more properly known as upgrades) increment the digit after the first decimal point in the version number: 10 .2, 10 .3, and 10 .4 were all major updates With rare exceptions, Apple charges money (typically $12 9) for major updates Minor updates increment the digit after the second decimal point: 10 .4.2, 10 .4.3,... don’t run on Macs.) Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell Copyright © 2007 Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc and Peachpit Press 1 Start on the Right Foot Whether you’ve just unpacked a shiny new Mac or you’re hoping to get an older machine into shape, your first step should be to perform some initial cleanup and preparation... Partners Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell Copyright © 2007 Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc and Peachpit Press Introduction 5 topic-specific preference panes You access a particular preference pane by way of its icon or the View menu For example, to see “the Mac preference pane,” you would launch System Preferences and then click the Mac icon or choose View > Mac Acknowledgments . Backups 17 0 Mind Your Media 17 2 Restore Data from a Backup 17 7 viii Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups. 59 Remove Unneeded Files 61 Change Your Passwords 61 vi Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups Prepared for Apple Consultants Network Partners. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell Partners. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups by Joe Kissell. Copyright © 2007. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and Peachpit Press. Real World Mac Maintenance and Backups Joe