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When going from 10.6.4 to 10.6.8, should I back up my files?

So I'm updating my software from 10.6.4 to 10.6.8...should I back up my files with time machine, or can I just update without having to back up anything?

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on May 28, 2012 9:39 AM

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4 replies

May 28, 2012 10:58 AM in response to udkid

Of course not. Computers always work perfectly. Upgrades are always flawless. User data is never lost. Disks never fail. Corruptions never occur. Power is completely reliable. :-)


But back here on Planet Earth, where bad things do occasionally happen to good data, yes, always have backups of your files. At least the data that you care about.


The OS files? Useful for fast(er) recoveries, but available from distributions if lost. Those files can be recovered. But your own unique user-local files? Definitely have copies of those.


Somewhat more seriously, that you're even asking this question could imply you're not already running Time Machine or related archival processing; that you're not creating your own regular backups. If that's the case, then your data is already exposed to corruption, loss, user error, and to intentional deletions that can sometimes be initiated by miscreants subsequent to a security breach.


But if you do have a Time Machine backup configured and going, you can directly trigger a backup to get the latest copies of the files (if you've been making any changes since the most recent TM backup) and allow it to run to completion, then do your upgrade.

May 29, 2012 6:24 AM in response to udkid

Do you need to have a backup here? Probably not.


Will you regret the loss of your data from a failed (upgrade, update, patch, tweak, spilled soda, simple and no-possible harm configuration change, accidential or intentional file deletion, simple disk failure, ill-timed power glitch, etc)? Yes. If a failure should arise, of course. Computers and software can and do sometimes fail, and sometimes at the worst possible time.


Are you feeling lucky?


And again, do consider getting Time Machine going to either an external device or to a Time Capsule or analogous NAS device, and the TM backups usually deal with this stuff for you, and largely (usually) automatically. If you already do have TM backups running, then you have a backup, so a specific (additional) backup is likely not necessary.


Me? I have backups. (And I still expect there will be cases where I might lose data.)


This is your data, your time, and your call, of course.

When going from 10.6.4 to 10.6.8, should I back up my files?

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