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Terrified of upgrading to Snow Leopard

Okay for the BIG question and concern of mine and probably why I never thought to upgrade from Tiger to Leopard then Snow Leopard in the first place. My "phobia" if you will, is that I'll lose a lot of stuff on my computer...since this computer is five years old you can just imagine all the documents, photos, etc I have..being both a photographer and writer I NEED all the items stored. I'm also concerned about losing some of the other software applications I've installed like Photo Elements (the cheaper version of Photoshop and the software that came with my photo scanner), the software of the scanner, printer, etc, etc etc. And how about the iWork applications like Pages/Keynote and iPhoto which are older versions also. I just don't have the means to really back everything up, such as an external hard drive--if I do upgrade to Snow Leopard and find out I've lost years of work, let's put it this way...from where you are, you'll hear me screaming...LITERALLY

The only way I managed to get my computer in the first place was due to the passing of my mother and opted for a Mac due to the better quality of graphics/photos--I'm on disability benefits, so fixed income and can't get a lot of bells and whistles in tech applications. Also while I'm "fairly" computer savvy I would need someone to explain things to me in plain simple simplistic language...sort of like those famous "Dummies" books😉

If I find it's not worth it and might lose all my data, I just might forget about the whole idea of ugrading

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on May 14, 2012 3:09 PM

42 replies

pyewacket Author

Level 1

0 points

May 15, 2012 6:25 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

It's telling me the following

9 items, 99.49 GB available

pyewacket Author

Level 1

0 points

May 15, 2012 6:26 PM in response to pyewacket

A lot of other people are also telling me about USB flash drives...anyone have experience with them?

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

May 15, 2012 7:55 PM in response to pyewacket

This might be a solution. $60.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152292

You won't find a Flash drive that big. Well, actually you might, but it will be as or more expensive. If you have 99 GB available, that means you have used approximately ~50 GB. (You won't get the full 160 GB.) Single click on the Hard Drive icon to highight it, then do File>GetInfo and you will see a figure for "used."

If your drive dies, a full backup/restore from an online site will be impossible. Out of the question. And a Carbonite subscription for one year is $59.

May 15, 2012 8:12 PM in response to WZZZ

Great price, agreed. IMHO, an external hd plugged into your computer is a great idea, but not all that's needed for a backup. I've had a couple external hd's go bad, so I like having an online backup as well. That, and in the worst case scenario (such as a fire or theft) when your computer goes, if your backup is right next to it, it goes too.

So I would suggest an offsite backup and an external hd or some sort of local backup (cd's, dvd's, a bunch of flash drives or whatever). If I could only afford one, I'd go with the offsite/online backup. If your computer croaks, you still have to get it fixed or get a new one to access the backup no matter where the backup is.

pyewacket Author

Level 1

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May 15, 2012 9:06 PM in response to WZZZ

Thanks ever, and for that link

You're right...I've used 49.24 GB on the disk..going to look into as many possibilities as possible--whether flash drives or external...who knows, might try as many ideas for backing up as possible

pyewacket Author

Level 1

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May 15, 2012 9:10 PM in response to Jeff Kelleher

I was talking to a Mac user whom I've known for years and was posing all these questions to her as well...she didn't have a great experience with external hard drives--going to ask her about flash drives next

as far as USB flash drives btw...now WHICH kind/brand would you recommend...there are a gazillion out there or are they all relatively the same? Anyone better than another?

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

May 16, 2012 3:36 AM in response to pyewacket

Just do a search for "usb flash drive + 60 GB." You won't find anything even close to the price of the Samsung external I linked, if you can find anything at all. Thinking of a flash drive is going completely in the wrong direction. Flash drives are fine for portability and for keeping relatively small amounts of data. Just check out the prices even for a 16 GB or 32 GB flash drive.

I don't now what your friend is talking about. We all use external hard drives in one form or another for our primary backups. Yes, all hard drives, external or not, being mechanical, will fail sooner or later. The average lifetime of a drive is around five years. An external, if it's not run constantly, used only for the time it takes to make periodic backups, should last much longer. Many of us have two or even three external drives for redundancy. But, you need something right now, or even yesterday and that's why I recommended the Samsung. You also want to be able to grow and store more than your current 50 GB.

And your last problem right now is worrying about redundancy.

As far as some kind of online backup storage is concerned, that's fine perhaps for some kind of redundancy, but it's not at all practical. How long does it take you to download (or upload) a 1 GB file? Now just multiply that by 50. Getting 50+ GB back after a hard drive failure will take a few lifetimes. Getting all 50+ GB uploaded will take even longer. And then there's the matter of trusting your data to some online entity, some possible malfunction there, or the chance of some kind of disruption when you need it. Not only that, but if your drive dies, how do you connect to that online storage to retrieve your data?

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

May 16, 2012 4:00 AM in response to WZZZ

Oh, and maybe your friend's bad experience was with a WD (Western Digital) external. They have a terrible reputation for reliability and many of them will not boot a Mac. Even if you find one cheap, stay away.

a brody

Level 10

82,991 points

May 16, 2012 5:08 AM in response to pyewacket

In addition to backing up, you need to make sure all your applications are compatible. For a full list of info you need to know there is this tip I wrote:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2455

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

May 16, 2012 5:24 AM in response to pyewacket

To check compatibility (I see a brody listed this one.)

http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/

But, nothing is better than just searching "name of application + snow leopard compatible" or going directly to the developer's site. May be tedious, but will be worth it. You may also find updated versions of apps that will work with Snow.

pyewacket Author

Level 1

0 points

May 16, 2012 5:04 PM in response to pyewacket

@WZZZ

Yes I was doing a quick search about flash drives and to get one say with a 64GB capacity would actually be more than that Samsung external hard drive--so yes will most likely go the external hd route

And yes I realize I need to get one asap....but as I mentioned in my original posting, I'm on disability benefits so in other words a fixed income....I recently had to put aside and save money to pay bills that were due these past few months and have money aside for another bill coming up in June---bottom line it will take me awhile to save up for an external hd but hope to get as soon as humanly possible.

@brody---

Did a quick check of applications that are compatible with Snow Leopard...I would imagine I'll lose my earlier version of the iLife applications like iWork, etc--so would have to get the newer software if and when I install Snow Leopard??? Would I lose iTunes also and all the music stored? Even if and when I do backup with an external hd, I'm taking it, once I install Snow Leopard it just won't recognize the old apps..right?

pyewacket Author

Level 1

0 points

May 16, 2012 5:14 PM in response to pyewacket

BTW--Dumb question I know...but how can I tell which "version" I have for iLife and iWork?

pyewacket Author

Level 1

0 points

May 16, 2012 6:42 PM in response to WZZZ

Oh another question

I'm reading up on External hard drives in general and most seem to plug in via a USB port --my problem is that all my USB ports are "occupied" but I do have one remaining FireWire port available....

so do external hard drives come with BOTH USB and Firewire cables or would I have to get one specifically with just Firewire--if so can you recommend one to me?

steve359

Level 6

17,169 points

May 16, 2012 6:45 PM in response to pyewacket

I use this one ... takes 2.5 and 3.5 in drives, and has Firewire 400 and Firewire 800 and USB 2.0 connectors.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/FWU3ES2HDK/

May 16, 2012 6:52 PM in response to steve359

That's a great option, but it would require $80 for the device, and then you have to buy hd's. The OP is looking for a low cost solution. macsales.com is a good place to look, but I believe firewire drives are becoming a think og the past, and now actually cost more than USB drives.

Something like this

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?sugexp=chrome,mod%3D15&q=usb+hub+mac&um=1 &ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=3417932797173174393&sa=X&ei=flm0T_31Eom06gHig5XbDw&ved=0C JUBEPMCMAM

is pretty inexpensive and should work with a powered USB external HD.

Terrified of upgrading to Snow Leopard