In this chapter, you learn some maintenance tips that will help keep your computer running smoothly and keep your files safe. Because Apple frequently releases critical security updates and patches that should be installed quickly, we’ll talk first about automating system software updates. Then, we’ll discuss the importance of backing up your files so that you won’t lose all your hard work and important data in the event of system disruption. Finally, we’ll check out a built-in tool for monitoring the effort expended by your system.
Mac OS X allows you to receive software updates from Apple over the Internet, so you don’t have to go looking for the updates to the operating system or Apple-created software. You can enable this feature in the Software Update Preferences pane of the System Preferences.
Although automating software updates can take most of the burden off you, there are times when you want to force your system to search for recent updates instead of waiting for your scheduled time. (For example, when Apple releases a new version of a fun application such as iChat—see Chapter 16, “Using iChat AV”—you may be eager to get your hands on it.)
Here’s how you can check for updates anytime:
Launch the System Preferences application from the Dock, the Apple menu, or the Applications folder. (Or choose Software Update from the Apple menu and skip to step 4.)
Click the Software Update pane, which opens the screen shown in Figure 36.1.
If you want to check for updates right now, click the Check Now button. Your computer will use the Internet connection you’ve configured to contact Apple’s support Web site to check for possible updates.
If updates are available for your computer, you’ll see a screen listing what’s available, as shown in Figure 36.2. From there you can click the check boxes for the items you want and accept the download process.
When the downloads are complete, the software installers will launch, and your computer will be updated with the new software. Then there usually is an “optimizing” process, which allows the update to function with full efficiency. (For some updates, you will need to click the Restart button to finish the process.)
If you want to have your computer check for Apple software updates automatically, click the Automatically check box, and then click the Check for Updates pop-up menu to set the interval. You can choose Daily, Weekly, or Monthly (Weekly is best, considering the unpredictable nature of the software update process).
After you’ve set the schedule, quit System Preferences. After you select Automatically, Software Update checks Apple’s Web site at the specified intervals as soon as you log in to your computer and have a connection to the Internet. The window shown in Figure 36.2 appears where you can see what updates are going to be made.
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It goes without saying that if your computer isn’t on when the scheduled update is set to take place, it just won’t happen. The check will be skipped until the next scheduled run.
Did you Know?
Sometimes the list of updates includes features you don’t need or want, such as iPod updates when you don’t own an iPod. Although not checking the box for those items prevents them from being installed, they may continue to show up in your Software Updates window unless you choose Update, Ignore Update from the menu. If you ever change your mind, you can choose Software Update, Reset Ignored Updates from the menu to make the updates visiable again and allow the system to perform any you decide are needed.
Many users, for good reason, want to keep track of what software has been installed on their system. Opening the Software Update preference pane and clicking the Installed Updates button displays a log of installed updates. This listing is shown in Figure 36.3.
Although keeping a secure and updated operating system is important, that’s not as important as maintaining an archive of your important data.
When a program or computer crashes, it’s possible that one or more files on your computer’s drive can be affected (especially if you’re working on a file when the computer locks up). Even though Mac OS X offers strong resistance to system failure, the world is unpredictable, and the potential for events ranging from simple human error to theft, make backups an important consideration.
You can follow different types of backup techniques, depending on the kind of documents you’re creating and how many of them there are. Here’s a brief look at the sort of things you can do without having to buy extra software:
Select backups—. You already have copies of your programs on a CD, or can obtain them if you really need them. A complete packet of CDs came with your computer, containing all the software Apple installed on your computer. In addition, most new software you buy will also come on an installation disk of some sort. So the fastest backup method is just to concentrate on the documents you make with those programs.
Watch Out!
If you purchase software that must be downloaded, it’s wise to create backup copies in case of system failure. Or, if you can download the software freely but need a code to unlock it, you may simply want to store your codes in a safe place so that you can recover use of applications for which you’ve paid.
Full backups—. Even though you already have a separate copy of the software, it can be time-consuming to restore all your software and redo special program settings. If you back up everything, however, it’s easier to restore a program with your settings intact without fuss or bother. In addition, having a complete backup of your computer’s drive is extra protection in case something happens to both the computer and software disks. The downside, however, is that making a full backup can be time-consuming and requires a large amount of storage space.
Incremental backups—. This technique requires special software (such as Retrospect, which is described later), but it is designed to make a backup strictly of the files that have changed since your last backup. A thorough backup plan might include a full backup at regular intervals, say once a week, and then a daily incremental backup. This method also takes a lot less time, and you won’t need as much disk space to store it all.
Another part of your backup plan is deciding where and how to store the data you will be copying from your hard drive. The best method is to get a separate drive with media (disks) that you can remove. That way you can store the backups in a separate location for the ultimate in safekeeping. That’s the method the big companies use.
Here are some storage options you should consider:
Watch Out!
It’s just not a good idea to back up your files to the same drive they were made on (such as your Mac’s hard drive). If something should happen to that drive, or the entire computer, your backup would be gone.
Data CDs—. Many Macs come equipped with an optical drive that can make CDs. You can use this drive to copy your files to a CD/R or CD/RW disc (the latter is the one that’s rewritable). This is a convenient and inexpensive way to copy your valuable data on a medium that will last for years. If you don’t have a built-in CD burner on your Mac, no problem. There are plenty of low-cost external drives that can work from your computer’s FireWire or USB ports (but of course the first will run much faster).
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Does your Mac have Apple’s SuperDrive? If so, you can also burn data DVDs in the same way you make a CD. The advantage is that you can store much more data on the DVD—4.7GB compared to 650MB or 700MB for a CD. Though DVDs are more expensive than CDs, if you have a well-populated hard drive this might be a good option.
External backup drive—. Iomega Jaz, Peerless, or Zip drives are convenient, and the drives and disks aren’t too expensive (well, the Jaz and Peerless media aren’t exactly cheap). There are also several varieties of tape drives that work with backup software as a fairly stable backup medium.
Networked disks—. If your computer is on a network, a drive on another Mac (or actually even a Windows-based PC set up to handle Mac files) can be used for your regular backups. Before you set up a networked drive for this purpose, you’ll want to set up a strategy with those who run the network. Some companies plan on having all files backed up to one drive or drives, and then they do their own special backup routine on those files.
Internet backups—. If you have a good Internet connection and you don’t want to back up a large number of files, you can use backup via the Internet. An easy way to get storage space is to sign up with Apple’s .Mac program, as discussed in Chapter 13, “Using Sherlock for Internet Searches.” As part of the package, you get 100MB of iDisk storage space at Apple’s Web servers, and you can buy extra space if you need it. Visit www.mac.com to sign up. However, unless you have really fast Internet access, the process of copying files to your iDisk can be slow.
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After you’ve set up a .Mac account, you can access your iDisk. Simply click the iDisk icon on the Finder’s toolbar to connect to your disk. If you aren’t connected to the Internet, the service will be dialed up first.
Here are some additional considerations related to storing backups of your data:
Careful labeling—. Make sure that your backup disks are carefully labeled according to date and content. If the label isn’t large enough, you might want to prepare a short listing of contents in your word processor and then pack it with the disk. Often something such as “Backup for February 28, 2002” is sufficient.
Reuse of media—. If you need to keep an older version of a file, you’ll want to keep the backup in a safe place. However, if you are using reusable media and you no longer need a file from a particular time range, there’s no problem in putting that storage media back into service for newer backups.
Making multiple backups—. If your files contain important data on them (financial or otherwise), make a second backup and store it in a secure location (such as a bank vault). In the unlikely event something happens to your home or office, you’ll be protected.
There’s one more important element in a backup plan—setting a consistent schedule. It’s a good idea to set aside a time to do your backup at regular intervals—perhaps at the end of your work day before leaving your office (or before shutting down your computer for the day if you’re at home). Remember, it does no good to intend to backup your files if you never actually do it, so try to work out a system and a schedule that you can maintain over time.
Mac OS X Finder makes writing a CD similar to moving files to any other storage device. To make the process as simple as possible, Mac OS X stores applications, files, and folders in a special folder until you tell the system to burn the CD. Files are actually transferred to the CD media only after the burn starts.
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To burn a CD using an external burner, you must have your CD writer connected and powered on. Check Apple’s Web site for supported writers.
Of all the methods mentioned previously for storing backup copies of your data, the simplest is burning a data CD. Here’s how:
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To choose File, Burn Disc from the menu, the active Finder window must be the CD’s window. If the CD is not the active window, the menu item will be disabled.
Insert a blank CD into the CD writer. The Mac OS X Finder prompts you to prepare the CD. This doesn’t actually write anything to the CD yet, but it tells the computer what your intentions are for the disc to ensure that you use the appropriate kind of CD.
Choose the Open Finder option from the Action pop-up menu. (We talked about burning from iTunes in Chapter 22, “Using iTunes,” and we will look at burning CDs from an application called Disk Utility later in this chapter in the section “Creating Disk Images with Disk Utility.”)
Enter a name for the CD you’re writing. The disc appears with this name on the desktop.
Click OK to start using the CD on your system. An icon representing the CD appears on your desktop. At this point, you can interact with this virtual volume as you would any other under Mac OS X. You can copy files to it, delete those files, and so on.
When you create the CD layout you like, you can start the burn process by choosing File, Burn Disc from the menu. In addition, dragging the CD to the Trash also prompts burning to begin. This process takes a few minutes and is tracked by the Finder much like a normal Copy operation.
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If you decide against writing the CD, you can click the Eject button in the CD burning dialog box to remove the media and erase the CD layout you created. If you want to insert a CD in the drive but don’t want to prepare it (for use in another CD-burning application), click Ignore rather than OK in the window that appears when you first insert a CD.
When the disc is done, eject it from the drive and put it a safe place. It’s not a good idea to subject backup media to hot sunlight, high humidity, moisture, or extreme cold. If you live or work in a climate with temperature extremes, try to locate a cool, dark place (such as a metal closet) to put the backup disks.
In addition to the methods previously mentioned for storing your data, your Mac comes equipped with a piece of software that turns files into disk images that are read by computers as if they were CDs. This software, called Disk Utility, is located in the Utilities folder within the Applications folder of your hard drive. Disk Utility is mainly used to fix file permission discrepancies and hard drive errors, but it also includes a slick tool that is useful for creating an exact duplicate of your hard drive. Disk Utility even has built-in CD-burning capabilities to make turning a disk image into a real CD a matter of a few clicks.
There are two ways to generate an image in Disk Utility: by copying an existing item, or by creating an empty image file, mounting it, and then copying files to it.
To create an empty image file:
Open Disk Utility, and don’t select any drives.
From the Images menu, choose New, Blank Image. The dialog box shown in Figure 36.4 appears.
Fill in the Save As field to give a name to the image file.
Choose a size for the image from the Size pop-up menu. There are a variety of preset sizes for common media, such as Zip disks, CDs, DVDs, and a Custom setting for arbitrary sizes.
If you want to encrypt the disk image, choose AES-128 in the Encryption pop-up menu.
Choose a format in the Format pop-up menu. The options are read/write disk image, which takes up a set amount of space, or sparse disk image, which fills only the space needed for the files it holds. (Sparse disk images are used for the distribution of software over the Internet—why require customers to download more than they need to?)
Click Create.
After the blank image is created, it will appear in the sidebar in the Disk Utility window. To add files to it, select the each file and drag it to the newly created disk image.
To create a disk image from an existing folder drive, open the Images menu and choose an available folder or drive from the New submenu. In the window that appears, similar to the one shown in Figure 36.4, give your disk image a name, choose a location to save it, and pick an image format and whether to encrypt. Finally, click the Save button.
A Progress window appears to show how much of the image has been created. Depending on the size of the folder or drive being duplicated, it may take a while.
After you have a disk image of your data, you can move it over the Internet or network to a safe storage place or burn an actual CD of it.
To burn a CD from Disk Utility, follow these steps:
If you have many files, or if your files need to be backed up from more than one Mac OS computer on a network, you’ll do better with some backup software.
Such software can
Perform scheduled backups—. You can set the software to perform the backups at a regular time (daily, every other day, weekly, whatever). At the appointed time, you only need to have the backup media in place and the computers turned on for the process to go.
Watch Out!
Although automatic backups are great, a backup can stop dead in its tracks if the media runs out of space, the media isn’t ready, or the computer is shut down by mistake. If you have many files, make sure that your disks have enough space, or be prepared to check the backup process every so often in case of trouble.
Perform networked backups—. With the right software, backups can be done from all computers on a network to one or more backup drives.
Back up the entire drive or selected files or folders—. When you set up your backup, you can instruct the software to limit the backup to the items you want. By default, they do the entire drive and then incremental backups for each disk, unless you pick a full backup.
When you’ve decided on the backup software route, you’ll want to know what to choose. Fortunately, several good Mac OS software packages will give you great automatic backups. They vary in features, and you’ll want to pick one based on what you need.
Watch Out!
Regardless of the software you choose, make sure that it is compatible with Mac OS X. The file structures of Mac OS X files are often different from the ones used in the Classic Mac OS. This means that non-native applications won’t recognize those files, hence your backup won’t be complete. If you only intend to back up document files, of course, this doesn’t matter, but if you want to back up your applications and operating systems (or the whole drive), it’s very important.
Here’s a brief description of backup programs:
Backup—For home users who just want to make sure that their critical data is backed up to CD, DVD, or iDisk, Apple’s aptly named Backup may be the right answer. Shown in Figure 36.5, Backup is a simple piece of software capable of selecting common file types (such as Word documents), System information (such as Safari preferences), or arbitrary files and folders and backing them up to your Mac’s optical drive or .Mac iDisk. It does not currently offer incremental backups, nor a way of performing unattended backups.
Did you Know?
Backup is a .Mac membership exclusive application. This means that to download and use the tool, you’ll need to pay the $100 entrance fee (www.mac.com/). See Chapter 14, “Exploring .Mac Benefits,” for more information about the benefits of .Mac.
Data Backup from ProSoft Engineering (www.prosoftengineering.com/products/data_backup.php) is a complete personal backup system that picks up where Apple’s tool leaves off. It offers advanced features such as scheduling, compression, mirroring, synchronization, incremental backups, and an “evolutive” mode that preserves different versions of files as they change across backups. For personal workstations, Data Backup X is difficult to beat. If you can afford the $50 expense, Data Backup X is the most feature-filled personal backup software currently available.
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On a positive note, .Mac membership also buys you a copy of Virex virus scanning software, along with the mac.com email, iDisk, and iSync capabilities. For Mac users who aren’t running servers or using Unix tools, this might be a wise investment. For others, however, the money might be better spent on a third-party backup solution.
Retrospect—From Dantz (www.dantz.com), this is a heavy-duty backup program that does just about everything you can imagine in backup planning with little fuss or bother. You can use its EasyScript feature to create a complete backup plan simply by answering some basic questions. Backups are compressed (to save space) and saved in a special format for efficient retrieval. Unlike other backup programs, Retrospect can work with tape drives, which can store many megabytes of files on little cartridges. Retrospect can also work with Internet-based backup services. For large networks, there’s the Retrospect Network Backup Kit and even a Windows version with similar features.
Retrospect Desktop—This program distills the most important features of Retrospect and puts them in a smaller, less-expensive package.
After looking at software updates and backing up data, we’ll round out our system management discussion with a look at system resources. With the multitasking capabilities of Mac OS X, you may find it interesting to check what your system resources are being used for.
Activity Monitor, found in the Utilities folder of the Application folder on your hard drive, can illustrate system activity with simple graphs for CPU, System Memory, Disk Activity, Disk Usage, and Network activity. Figure 36.6 shows Activity Monitor at work.
At the top of the window is a live list of active processes. You can also choose whether to view only your own processes, all processes, or other subgroups of processes from the pop-up menu at the upper right. The data displayed about each process includes the percentage of CPU time, the amount of memory it consumes, and the user running it.
Mac OS X gives you a great deal of flexibility, but it also requires more responsibility to run. To successfully keep your computer running smoothly and safely, you must stay current with system patches and create backups. If system performance problems arise, it may be beneficial to understand the effort your computer is expending to do the tasks you ask of it. We began the chapter with a look at Apple’s automated software updates. Next, we looked at several options for backing up your data, including burning data CDs and creating disk images to transfer over the Internet or network to a safe storage place. To finish up, you learned about the Activity Monitor Utility, which allows you to observe the processor function of your computer.