system is NG, how best to proceed?

[edurbrow@sea.plala.or.jp]

I really messed things up on my startup disk yesterday trying to do maintenance and slim down my HD at the same time. The long and the short of it is that my system needs to be replaced. All the data on the startup drive is there but I can't boot from the drive anymore. My backup clone is about two weeks old. Luckily most audio data is on another drive.

My friend suggested I search for all the data I've saved in the last two weeks, copy it to my backup HD, reformat my startup drive and move everything back. I just tried to boot DP from the backup drive and it is asking for my keycode etc. No problem, but will I have to go through this with every app? Will there be needed invisible files for samplers and such that I'm likely to miss? More of a worry is that I'm afraid I might miss some files searching for all the data I've played with in the last two weeks. Is there any way I could just clone the System on my backup and save myself all the trouble of trying to find every file I've saved in the last two weeks? He said the all those overlapped files that Disk Warrior found are in the file structure, not the system and I need to re-format my drive. I would just like someone to confirm what he said. I'm pretty sure he knows what he is talking about, but I'm hoping for some short cuts. For example, could I use CCCloner to copy my Mail file so I don't have to read through all that mail again?
Thanks in advance

[edurbrow@sea.plala.or.jp]

I plunged in and did a search on my startup for everything opened within the last two weeks. I've been going through and some of it is not too bad: I search the same name on the backup and can find the appropriate folder. This technique really falls down when I come to files like: C664C8B1C0F03E16-D94B749F26DF5BC2.itc Which is buried in heaps of folders in my iTunes library. I have to try every folder and copy the name of it and search for it on the backup.
Isn't there an easier way?

[FMiguelez]

I'm not getting what you're trying to do... you are using a Mac (not Windows), so it seems to me you're really complicating yourself.
Why are you looking for all those "weird" files?

If you messed up the system by trying to "slim it down" (terrible idea, BTW), simply recover it with your previous backup and that's it!

As for your personal files (any data, projects, etc.), simply copy them all to another disk (I suppose you have everything under one or two master folders -Documents, for instance), and once you recover your system copy your stuff back there. This should be quite fast and easy...

You won't have to worry about apps that use iLok or similar. Challenge/Response apps will probably ask you for your original disks and/or reenter serial numbers, but that should not be a big deal at all.

Really... If I understood your issue, your are DEFINITELY overcomplicating yourself.

Remember, this is OSX! It's simple, easy and intuitive, but you're acting as if it were Windoze doing all that crazy stuff

One other thing: if you don't know what you're doing, leave the system alone! You don't need to "slim it down" (unless you really know it well and have a good reason to do so).

[macguy]

I plunged in and did a search on my startup for everything opened within the last two weeks. I've been going through and some of it is not too bad: I search the same name on the backup and can find the appropriate folder. This technique really falls down when I come to files like: C664C8B1C0F03E16-D94B749F26DF5BC2.itc Which is buried in heaps of folders in my iTunes library. I have to try every folder and copy the name of it and search for it on the backup.
Isn't there an easier way?

Search for "type" as in audio, video, docs etc. Yeah, it can be a pain.

[edurbrow@sea.plala.or.jp]

I'm not getting what you're trying to do... you are using a Mac (not Windows), so it seems to me you're really complicating yourself.
Why are you looking for all those "weird" files?

[quote/]

Ah, the weird file was a cache file. I figured out I don't need to save it. But what about meta files, such as iPhoto Photofaces ipmeta files? Each on seems to have its own folder path. That is what is overwhelming. I just want to copy all the files that I've saved or added since the last backup. But, I would like them to be in the same folder on the backup as the folder they came from on the startup disk.


If you messed up the system by trying to "slim it down" (terrible idea, BTW), simply recover it with your previous backup and that's it!

It wasn't the system I was trying to slim down, but duplicate data files.


As for your personal files (any data, projects, etc.), simply copy them all to another disk (I suppose you have everything under one or two master folders -Documents, for instance), and once you recover your system copy your stuff back there. This should be quite fast and easy...

Well I think there might be an easy way, but I don't know what it is. As I go through the list of files that Spotlight brought up (475), some are grouped together and I can move them to the same folder, many others seem to be in strings of folders that are different.

You won't have to worry about apps that use iLok or similar. Challenge/Response apps will probably ask you for your original disks and/or reenter serial numbers, but that should not be a big deal at all.

Remember, this is OSX! It's simple, easy and intuitive, but you're acting as if it were Windoze doing all that crazy stuff

[quote/]

Well, what would be an easy way for me to track down all the files I've saved in the last two weeks and the new files I've created and put them in their proper corresponding folders on the backup so that I can reformat my HD? Or are you saying my HD doesn't need reformatting?

I've run Disk Warrior several times and it can't fix it. So although the data seems to be intact, what I've tried anyway, something in the file structure is damaged. I asked him why I can't just clone the system but he said it was the directory which is probably messed up, and copying the system isn't going to take care of that.

One other thing: if you don't know what you're doing, leave the system alone! You don't need to "slim it down" (unless you really know it well and have a good reason to do so).

I was trying to get rid of duplicates after having done defragmentation maintenance. I wasn't doing anything to the system that I know of. After having done the defrag and the drive slim, I decided since I was booted on the backup system it would be an opportune time to run Disk Utility and just make sure everything was tip top as a kind of maintenance. But it said it couldn't repair the disk so I rand Disk Warrior. It couldn't either on the first couple of tries.
I would be happy to avoid any work that I can but I don't want to end up with more problems later.

Thanks so much.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Defragging isn't really something you should worry about any more since OS X. Duplicates are another issue as they just take up space. Someone will jump in and tell you defragging is important. Maybe for some folks it is, but not for the average user. There are much better ways to deal with large files and items that tend to suffer from fragmentation, such as copying the files to a more spacious drive. Besides the fact that audio & video (streaming files bring the ones really impacted by fragmentation) should be on separate drives from the OS. In a work environment, these files are usually archived and the drive wiped and/or replaced periodically. Drives are fairly inexpensive these days. In a smaller environment, you could also go with cloud storage, although I personally don't completely trust the cloud with my data.

[mikehalloran]

>Someone will jump in and tell you defragging is important. Maybe for some folks it is, but not for the average user.<

Yes to both.

Audio (and video) files should be de-fragged once a year or so - DP does run a bit smoother that way. Copying over to another drive and back works well.

The average user never needs to de-frag.

There are some inexpensive programs that will search for duplicates quickly. Trying to track them manually is a time consuming chore.

Do open the Font book: Resolve duplicates and remove corrupt files there (takes a few seconds). Many programs including Finale, Word and DP run slower if duplicates are present - many will have problems if any are corrupt.

[bayswater]

Assuming this is a Mac, is there a good reason to reformat (actually erase) the hard drive? Can you simply reinstall the system? An install of OSX doesn't typically erase the hard drive. Some versions at lease do "archive and install" which leaves behind a copy of all your old stuff that can be dragged into your new copies of the relevant folders. You can erase the archive when you are sure you don't need it any more. Installing Leopard or Lion left everything intact in my Macs, and just replaced the relevant operating system files.

Alternatively, can you boot from the original install DVD and then use DiskUtility to create a image of the drive, just to be sure you have a copy of the missing files? If you can do it one of these two ways, most of your stuff will not need to be re-authorized.

[mikehalloran]

>I really messed things up on my startup disk yesterday trying to do maintenance and slim down my HD at the same time. The long and the short of it is that my system needs to be replaced. All the data on the startup drive is there but I can't boot from the drive anymore. My backup clone is about two weeks old. Luckily most audio data is on another drive. <

Disk Utility and Disk Warrior will often work but sometimes they don't. I run into this now and then.

Sometimes, the only fix is to re-initialize the drive and restore from backup. If you have to erase the drive, select Zero All Data in the Options. Disk Utility will now re-map any bad sectors (all drives have them) to reduce the chance of future problems.

If Disk Utility fails when you run a Zero All Data, replace the drive - if still under warranty, the manufacturer should back it up.

You don't say what OS you are running. If running 10.5 or newer, you should have a drive dedicated to Time Machine.