C
Okay, that is the dotMac Back Up Utility.
What this does is as follows:
First time you run it on, say iPhoto, it back up the entire library. Takes a while and a lot of discs.
Second time you run it, it compares what's been backed up against any changes since, and backs up the changes. So this second (and subsequent runs) are faster.
But you need to keep
all the disks.
To restore you need to disks
and the Back Up application. You need the app because it has all the details of what goes where (and when) from all the disks.
These disks are not readable on a Windows box, nor should the be. The iLife apps don't run on Windows.
There are many apps that work back ups this way, it's not unusual to need the application to restore things.
See that "large individual file", right click on it and select 'Show Package Contents'. See all your files in there?
There are apps that work differently. For instance,
DejaVu will back up your files in a way that the Finder can easily read - it looks like the Finder's own layout. There are lots of other possibilities - search on
MacUpdate.
Remember, backing up is a rolling ongoing process, not an event. It's designed to recover your system in the event of a failure.
If you're thinking of putting files on a disc and putting them away for 20 years, that's an event: and doing so is Archiving.
Regards
TD
