Transferring files to external hard drive

Question

Transferring files to external hard drive

Hello, I have 2013 Macbook Air running OS X El Capitan.

I also have a 1TB external LaCie hard drive.

I want to move all personal files to the LaCie, so on the Mac itself I'll only have really necessary programs.

The reason I want to do this is because for university I have to do a lot of work in MATLAB and Eclipse, and I want to make these apps run as fast as possible (MATLAB is a 11GB app). Right now, both apps are on the LaCie disk due to lack of space on my Macbook.

My idea is that I take my Macbook Air to university, with MATLAB, Eclipse, all the basics on it (mail, internet, etc.), to university to do "serious" stuff, then get home, plug in my 1TB hard drive and have all my personal files and games and films right there.

I was thinking of dragging and dropping my entire Library to the hard drive, however I'm worried that will cause problems and certain basic apps not to run like they should. Does anyone have experience with this or wants to help me?

Thanks in advance.

MacBook Air, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), Mid-2013 model

Posted on May 20, 2016 12:36 PM

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Answer 1

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

May 20, 2016 12:43 PM in response to iCauseMayhem007

No, you don't need to do that,Yes, Just drag and drop your own files over to them, the ones within Documents. But I think the best bet for you want is to create a clone. With the clone you'll have a file by file backup of your entire drive

You can use a cloning software like SuperDuper! or CarbonCopy Cloner.

The advanage of the clone is that it is bootable. The advantage of TM is that it creates recursive backup, so you can restore a file or the entire drive from a certain point in time.

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Answer 2

May 21, 2016 1:58 AM in response to macjack

Thanks, but which files should I absolutely keep on my macbook if I want it to work well?

I'm not looking to clone everything, I'm looking for a way to separate private and university work. With private on my disk and university stuff on my computer. I just don't know which files I can "safely" move to my external HD, without the entire thing crashing.

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Answer 3

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

May 22, 2016 3:58 AM in response to iCauseMayhem007

Only you know what are your personal files and what are the university files. Any data that you have put on to the MBA, you can take off without any negative consequences. The only area of concern you may have could be with applications that you may have installed. Look for uninstall instructions before deleting them.

Ciao.

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