Help! backing up my TiBook!

stjobs

I'm pretty good with computers but I recently ran into a problem that is somewhat serious... My TiBook is being returned to Apple for servicing, but I need to wipe the HD before sending it off. Obviously I'd like to back it up, I have hours of DV movies, music, and games.



I tried to copy my HD on to my FireWire external hard drive while in OS9... I got 20 out of 26 gigs before it gave some error and stopped copying.



In OS X I got 6 out of 26 gigs. My initial suspicion was that the 6 gigs were the 6 not copied in the original 20 gigs, but they are overlaps... IE, no new data is in the 6 gig section.



My dad thinks you have to start up from a system CD to back up your HD, so he was trying that...



but which CD can I start up with? the TiBook came with 4 CDs: hardware test, soft. restore 1 & 2, and OS X Install. The OS X install boots it up, but it goes directly to an 'install OS X' screen, and there's no desktop for copying files, etc.



The other 3 CDs all have the "hold C while in CD-ROM drive to boot computer from CD" written on them, but the software restore takes you directly to a screen asking to either restore, wipe the HD, or restart the computer.



We haven't tried the hardware test.



Why the hell won't my 3- month old TiBook back up completely?



The Apple guy said there are hidden/invisible files which could account for a discrepancy between the size of the backup and the original, but 6 missing gigs? Something's up... I really don't want to lose that much data.



Please help!



(sorry for the rambling post)



stjobs

pyr3

First of all, you were telling me that your TiBook is awesome and I should get one, but why does it need service? You should just need to backup your music/video/etc files. You shouldn't need to backup all of your programs and such since you can reinstall them if need be. Also backup your home directory so that you have you program prefs too. That should be all you need. Deleting everything, you copied on the external drive and trying to copy it again could work too, but you don't need to backup the OSX install files and .apps of your programs since you can just re-install them. You need to just backup your prefs, and personal files. That's my opinion anyways.

stjobs

I understand I don't need to back up every single thing, but my computer is extremely disorganized so it's difficult for me to go through and grab every document, pref, video and song. I've tried selective backups in the past and I always find out either a day later or a week later that I forgot to copy something.



Anyway, regardless of whether I NEED to copy everything, it should be ABLE to... there is some underlying problem here that I can't pinpoint.



As for the TiBook, it is an awesome computer.



Mechanically, it's been 100% reliable.



It's being returned for repair for an aesthetic issue... my dad's iBook is going to be returned also, the latch has ceased to catch reliably after only 6 months of ownership.



stjobs

pyr3

[quote]Mechanically, it's been 100% reliable.



It's being returned for repair for an aesthetic issue... my dad's iBook is going to be returned also, the latch has ceased to catch reliably after only 6 months of ownership.<hr></blockquote>



Technically the latch is mechanical. I think you meant electronically.

stjobs

I meant functionally... yeah... it's just the aesthetic thing that I'm sending it back for.



But does anyone have a clue what is causing the problem? I really need to back it up by Friday...



stjobs