How to backup Mac without login???

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Level 1

8 points

How to backup Mac without login???

My iMac has a very weird problem, it usually booting with a long gray bar and take very long time, and even sometime it suddenly shuts down while booting. And now it shuts down every time i turn it on. I did try Lion Recovery to repair Macintosh HD, but it can't repair, there is an alert that tell me I have to reinstall Mac OS, but before that, I have to format Macintosh HD, and it will erase all of my data. And OMG, I forgot to backup my iMac, what can I do, please help me?!!!

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Jul 16, 2012 1:55 AM

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Answer 1

mende1

Level 10

93,624 points

Jul 16, 2012 1:59 AM in response to Auticons

Did you try to boot in safe mode (press Shift key)?

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Answer 2

Auticons Author

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Jul 16, 2012 2:17 AM in response to mende1

Yes, but it still suddenly shut down. :((

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Answer 3

mende1

Level 10

93,624 points

Jul 16, 2012 2:23 AM in response to Auticons

If you can, create a second partition and install Lion in it. Then, do a Time Machine backup. It will do a backup of the two partitions

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Answer 4

Auticons Author

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Jul 16, 2012 2:25 AM in response to Auticons

Or is there any way for me to copy all photos and videos inside my iPhoto library from Bootcamp on my iMac, if there is no way to backup Mac without login. I think i just need all stuff inside iPhoto library, i don't need anything else!!!

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Answer 5

mende1

Level 10

93,624 points

Jul 16, 2012 2:34 AM in response to Auticons

If you have Boot Camp, you can copy all your files to an external drive

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Answer 6

Auticons Author

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Jul 16, 2012 5:20 AM in response to mende1

But i don't know which to copy, and after that how can i restore it to Mac OS!

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Answer 7

mende1

Level 10

93,624 points

Jul 16, 2012 5:28 AM in response to Auticons

You must copy the files you need (iPhoto library and videos). To restore it, just copy them to the folder they were (iPhoto library is in Pictures folder)

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Answer 8

Auticons Author

Level 1

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Jul 16, 2012 7:06 AM in response to mende1

Have you ever take a look inside Macintosh HD via Bootcamp, what a mess. There is too many folders, and i don't know which is storing my photos and videos. I took a look to every folders inside iPhoto.app and i cannot see any of my photos or videos. Not only that but also there is more than 1 iPhoto folder, the 1 i mentioned above is located in /Macintosh HD/Applications, and i'm still not sure which is the 1 i have to copy to my external drive!!!:((

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Answer 9

mende1

Level 10

93,624 points

Jul 16, 2012 7:10 AM in response to Auticons

Search in Macintosh HD > Users > user. It's your user folder, where you have your photos and videos

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Answer 10

Auticons Author

Level 1

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Jul 16, 2012 7:43 AM in response to mende1

I'll try that later because i'm going on a travel tour for 5 days. After i try it, i'll reply you soon. Thank you a lot!!!:))

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Answer 11

Auticons Author

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Jul 21, 2012 9:02 PM in response to mende1

Inside Macintosh HD/Users/myname, there is Applications folder but nothing inside, Library but no iPhoto folder inside, and the last i try is Pictures, there is iPhoto Library folder, i can't find any of my photos inside that folder.

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Answer 12

Auticons Author

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Jul 21, 2012 9:16 PM in response to Auticons

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Answer 13

Auticons Author

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Jul 21, 2012 10:48 PM in response to Auticons

OMG, finally i found all of my pictures when i copy iPhoto Library to Bootcamp Desktop and did a search, all stuff appeared. The reason i can' find pictures my self is Bootcamp doesn't support searching in HFS+ of Macintosh HD, but if i do it manually, i never can find my pics because iPhoto organizes photos with too much folders, each pics stored in a separate folder. Btw, i still want to know is there any way to backup Mac without login Mac OS? If yes, i will do backup all my applications because it is very crazy for me to reinatall all applications again!??

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