Backup ical, Adress book, and Mail

[nealt]

I use Silverkeeper for a nightly backup of various folders. What folder should I use to backup these Apple files? Mac Os 10.6.6

 

[Satcomer]

Backup your whole Home folder. It will have Addresses in it (/YourHardDrive/Users/YourUserName/Application Support/AddressBook/), Calendars (/YourHardDrive/Users/YourUserName/Library/Calendars/), Documents (/YourHardDrive/Users/YourUserName/Documents/), Music (/YourHardDrive/Users/YourUserName/Music/), etc.

The point is we can't read your mind on what you want to backup. Most of your data will be in your UserName folder, so you can find most of your data here. Explorer and figure out what you want to backup.

 

[nealt]

That is too much too much back up. I already back up. much of the home folder.

 

[Whitehill]

So why do you want to duplicate the effort if you already have everything (?) backed up periodically?

 

[nealt]

I don't have iCal, Address Book, and Mail files backed up because I do not know where their data files are located. That is what I am asking.

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Those data files are stored in your home folder, typically in the ~/Library folder.

If you are already backing up your home folder, then you are already backing up the data for those programs.

 

[nealt]

I am not backing up the home folder. What are the names of the folders in Library?

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Mail:
~/Library/Mail

Address Book:
~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook

iCal:
~/Library/Calendars

You should probably also back up the preference files for each of these as well:
com.apple.AddressBook.plist
com.apple.AddressBook.abd.plist
com.apple.mail.plist
com.apple.iCal.plist
com.apple.iCal.helper.plist

...located in ~/Library/Preferences

 

[fryke]

The thing is: If you backup separate folders, you'll have to recreate your stuff by hand. If you use a cloning mechanism like Carbon Copy Cloner, or if you use Time Machine to create a complete backup, it'd be MUCH simpler to get back to where you were before a wipeout.

This, in most cases, means a big enough backup drive is more than worth its money.