Hello Folks,

I'm using Mac OS X Version 10.4.11. I bought a Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk External Drive to back up my files.

I've tried to drag and drop iPhoto onto the Seagate, and iPhoto doesn't let me do this. I tried to drag and drop individual photos in iPhoto onto the drive and I can't do that either.

I also want to drag and drop Adobe Bridge onto the Seagate, and that doesn't work either.

Can anyone tell me how to accomplish the above things?

Thanks,

Dorothy

Welcome to FineTuneMac, Dorothy.

There are a couple of issues to be addressed here:

One is the question of formatting the external drive. Did you do this correctly? If not, that could account for your problem. To format the drive:

1. Launch Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities) and select the external drive.
2. Click the Erase tab, select Mac OS Extended (journaled) as the format, and then click the Erase button. This will wipe the drive of anything that is on it so you need to know this in advance.

A second issue is the method that you want to use in order to make a backup. 10.4 did not have Time Machine as an option so it would be best, in my opinion, to clone your internal drive to the external. This gives you a complete backup so that you can even boot from the external to run the computer if that should ever be necessary.

There are two cloning apps available with which I am familiar (you can't do this by drag-and-drop because that won't copy invisible files that are crucial to the process). Carbon Copy Cloner is a good choice but my preference is SuperDuper.

I have not used CC in years so I can't comment about how user-friendly the current version is, but SD is very easy. A complete clone can take upwards of 40 minutes, depending upon the speed of data transfer and other factors, but SD can also do incremental clones. That is, it can copy only those files that have changed since the last clone. If you do this every once in awhile, you will have a complete backup and it takes a fraction of the time that a complete clone takes. You can even schedule automatic backups with SD if you prefer not to do it manually.

In addition, the developer of SD is very responsive to tech support questions and, in my experience, answers questions within hours.

Good luck, and post back if you have any questions.

> I tried to drag and drop individual photos in iPhoto onto the drive and I can't do that either.

You can't drag photos from iPhoto; you've got to select them and then do command-shift-E to export them to, say, your desktop. From there you'll be able to drag them to your external (when you get it working).

Jon,

Thank you for your quick reply.

I called Seagate because some of the icons and .exe files didn't work at all when I double clicked them. I was told those were for pc's only. The technician told me that I had installed the Seagate drive correctly for the Mac. He didn't mention anything about launching the Disk Utility, etc., as you describe. So I have gone ahead and dragged and dropped a lot of files on the drive already. Sigh. I don't want to delete them and have to do it all over again.

You're right that Time Machine came out in the version after mine, and I don't have it. I will look into both Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper, but do you think that the files I've already dragged and dropped onto the Seagate drive are okay?

Thanks again,

Dorothy

Artie -

Thank you also for your quick reply.

The Seagate Drive is working. But thank you for telling me how I can get the photos from iPhoto onto the drive. Apparently I will have to do the same thing in Bridge, as well.

Dorothy

Sure you can! i do this all the time.

It sounds like the problem the original poster is having is that the drive is formatted for Windows rather than for Mac.

Now, how about that! Thanks.

I'm pretty sure I've tried and failed in the past, and I have read elsewhere that it can't be done (Edit: so I may have been relying on just that memory).

I often drag and drop images from iPhoto and/or Aperture and drop them on the desktop and even into a file open in another application, but just to be sure I was correct, I just tried it and it works just fine. I wouldn't think the drive format would make a difference in this particular case, but it may.

However, although it will work, using a PC formatted drive on a Mac is a formula for problems later on. I have seen many problems on these and the predecessor forums resulting from the use of PC formatted (ie.MS_DOS, a.k.a. FAT32) drives. Some OS X applications require and others prefer to use drives formatted Mac OS Extended (Jounaled). Problems range from lost files, files forgetting what application they belong to, and in a few cases damaged directory structures resulting in the loss of all the data on the drive. You might go along for months or even years without a problem, but if and when a problem occurs it will never be a minor one.

I know recopying all the files is a pain, but I urge you to reconsider and reformat the drive using Disk Utility and then recopying your files again.

> [...] just to be sure I was correct, I just tried it and it works just fine.

Sorry... I should have mentioned that "Now, how about that!" meant that I had tried and succeeded.

> I know recopying all the files is a pain, but I urge you to reconsider and reformat the drive using Disk Utility and then recopying your files again.

I agree with you on that one, but I'll add that most of the "pain" can be avoided with CCC or SuperDuper.

Joe,

You've all convinced me. I will have to use the disk utility and reformat the drive. Then I think I'll buy that software recommended earlier in this thread, that will clone my entire computer. That's really what I want and thought I could do it manually, but the software sounds just right.

Thanks for your input.

Dorothy

Wise decision, Dorothy!

As for cloning software, I use Carbon Copy Cloner (primarily because it's donationware which can be acquired for less than SuperDuper's $27.95), and it is intuitive and works just fine.

It's often overlooked that the basic functionality of SuperDuper is free, while (only) its scheduling, smart update, sandbox and scripting options require purchase/registration.

Hmmm... Looks like MacUpdate needs an update; thanks for pointing that out.


Essentially, though, to get SD more or less on a par with CCC you've got to pay the 27.95.