How do I save my data to a CD?

Hi..all,

My name is Shellie. I absolutely love parallels. I do not have the latest version but I am trying to save data to a cd,but I cannot do it. I am a jewelry designer and have input all of my parts into a program for this purpose. If I loose all this data I am dead. Anyone know how I save data? I am not a computer person and so therefore do not understand sophisticated technical stuff. I just want to save my data in this program. It is for my business and very important. I do not have .mac or an external disc. Can some one please help? TIA for any help

 

You can use shared folders to store your data to Mac side and backup it to CDs with ordinary Mac tools.

Or you can install any Windows backup tools inside VM and burn CD from VM.

 

Thank you

Thank you for your reply. How exactly do I do this? (Use shared folders?) I've never done this before and have not a clue on how to do this? TIA Shellie

 

You can refer to Parallels documentation for full explanation of the shared folders usage and setup. You can find it on page 200 in the Using shared folders chapter.

You can find Parallels Desktop documentation here .

 

Since you are in business, you need to do more than save just your jewelry program data to a CD. At the minimum, you need at least one external FireWire drive that you use to "clone" (duplicate) your entire Mac hard drive (including Parallels, your Windows VM and all data) to, using a backup program such as SuperDuper. Preferably you will have two or three external FireWire drives that you rotate, with one stored off-site to protect against fire, etc. This will allow you to recover easily in case your hard drive or computer fails.

Anything less than this is courting disaster.

David

 

Hi again.

I installed the tools and got to the editor but when I click on shared folders option there add-there is no shared folders option-only an option to add a new hardware device. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks again, shellie

 

Thanks David,

I guess i better consider this then. Hope I can figure out how to back up everything to an external firewire drive. I have never had luck in the backup department. Thats why I like to save things to CD. I seem to get lost and cannot do it. Very embarrassing, I know. Maybe I will take my laptop down to Apple and have them help me. Thanks, shellie

 

Download Superduper and follow the instructions--they are very easy. There is a very helpful SuperDuper discussion forum where the developer will answer any questions you might have. <http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html>

You should also consider joining an e-mail list such as Mac-L <http://listmoms.net/lists/> to help you solve basic problems.


David

 

Hi again,

Well I connected an external firewire drive to my lap top and down loaded SUPER DUPER.
I then proceeded to make a backup of my MAC. Is this all I have to do? I made a bootable copy-and it said it completed the backup to my firewire drive. Does this mean that it successfully copied my parellels program, Windows XP and all the programs on there and my jewelry design data and program? How do I know? All it said was that the(Macbook) back up was completed. Is there a way to know for sure that this was done correctly? I ask this because I've had many backup programs before and I thought I backed up everything, and then when the time came to restore, I could not do it. Also although I tried to follow all directions as closely as possible, I really have no idea what I am doing and did not truly understand the terminology used (Disk Image, etc.) Again, I really do not have a good handle on computer terminology and had a hard time understanding the instructions. But I tried my best and am hoping that i did it right. I will definitely join listmoms.net/lists/. Thanks for the info. I do have to tell you that since I connected my firewire drive to my laptop it is making strange clicking sounds off and on. Should I be concerned? Much thanks in advance for your time. Shellie ;-)

 

You can prove to yourself that SuperDuper! has made a bootable backup by booting it up and trying it out.

First, power off your computer. Now power on your computer while holding down the option key. It should give you the option of booting from your normal drive or from your firewire drive. Select the firewire drive and boot up. You will notice that the speed is slightly less than on your normal internal hard drive, but you can boot up and everything is there.

Once you are done, power off again and boot up in the usual way.

I recommend that you print out the SuperDuper users guide and keep it where you can find it. In an emergency, it will help you with all this and how to restore your files.

 

Hi all,

Thank you all sooooooooo much. Even though I didn't know what I was doing and didn't understand a thing Super Duper was saying----I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It actually was there in Parallels, all my data in my Jewelry software in Windows. WOW!!!!!!!!!! What a RELIEF!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I guess I don't have to burn anything to a CD, do I? So I just run SUPER DUPER how ever many times a week I want and it will back up all the changes the same way and I never have to worry about a hard drive crash???? This is like a dream come true. I can't thank you all enough-YNOT, David5000, Purplish-you were all wonderful and so very patient and helpful. I am in your debt. You all helped me so very much---I am so very very relieved. I'm off to join listmomsnet/lists.


Blessings to you all and again, I just simply don't know how to thank you enough. Feel free to give me any other helpful hints a computer challenged person such as myself might need. You've just helped beyond imagination. Thank you Thank you Thank you

 

Strange clicking sounds may indicate a failing drive. At the least you should have a second external FireWire drive for just this eventuality.

Try asking your backup questions on the SuperDuper forum--the developer is very helpful. (You should browse some of the messages from other users there, which may answer your questions.)

If you are still unsure of what you are doing, consider finding a Mac consultant to set you up. It need not be expensive and may save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

David

 

If you use the Smart Update feature of SuperDuper, it will only update the changed files, so your backups will be quicker. Otherwise you will be needlessly erasing and recopying all your data every time you back up.

Having a complete backup on an external drive will protect you in case your main drive fails. If that happens, you will have your data on only one good drive. That is why I suggested having more than one external FireWire drive. If one drive fails, your first FW backup now becomes your main drive and you will still have your second FW drive as a backup for the first one.

Another reason to have more than one external FW drive is to keep one offsite to protect against fire, etc.

If your data is really important, you should also consider backing up just your User file to a DVD once a week. This will provide a historical archive of your data at a given point in time, which can be handy if a file becomes corrupt. You may be copying the same corrupt file over and over to your FW drives, but don't realize it until you try to access it. In that case you can go back to one of your historical archives and get the file before it became corrupted.

David

 

I agree with everything David mentioned. I think it's fantastic you can get to install Parallels, etc, w/o knowing about what's going underneath, but especially if you're running a business you should try to see of some more basic info, or as David mentions, perhaps bring in a consultant for a session or two. Anyway, backups are important but no magic bullets. You should learn how to restore. You should also continue to use CD (or DVDs). Having a multi-stragegy for backups can be helpful at times. Recently we use "thumb drives" for this purpose regarding changes you just did through the day which we do between the more major backups. Most are dirt cheap in cost these days (under $20 for 2Gigs) are can be gotten most places, I bet even some gas stations have them now

 

Okay guys,

So I am off to buy another firewire drive per David5000
Print Super Dupers User Guide per Purplish
Join the Super Duper Forum per David5000
Find out which windows backup tool to get and how to iinstall inside VM and burn CD from VM per YNot So I can back up my user file once a week to DVD per David5000.
Also considering a Mac consultant per David5000!!!!! Seriously! Any suggestions where to find one? Should I just go to the Apple store genuis?
Whew!!!! You may not hear from me for sometime as I will be busy carrying out your suggestions. I'm going underground to complete my mission-(Impossible) Talk to you soon, shellie

 

BTW, your underlying basic question still stands about accessing the CD. So I would suggest you play around with seeing how to connect and disconnect a CD to whatever you're running with Parallels, I assume Windows XP. And BTW, although I have not done so, there should be no reason that you cannot save a file to a CD through a Parallel'd Mac, altough for more involve backups you probably do want to consider some backup tool (Windows comes with some too, but bare bones, which may or may not be sufficient for your situation(s)).

 

Thanks CCparallels

I'll also look into a "Thumb Drive"

Shellie

 

If you re-read Ynot's message, you will see that he first recommends putting the VM data you want to back up into a shared folder, which you can access from the Mac, then burning a CD with the built-in Mac tool. (Search for "burn CD" in the Help menu in the Finder.) This is simpler than doing it from within your VM and you don't need to buy Windows backup software.

As for finding a consultant, I would try asking on one of the Mac forums such as Mac-L <http://listmoms.net/lists/> or possibly one of the Apple discussion groups <http://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa?categoryID=1>.

 

One more thing...I assume you got the free download of SuperDuper.

I would recommend that you pay the $30 bucks and get the paid version of SuperDuper. This will enable you to get your backups done much quicker. It will only have to copy what changes rather than backing up everything from scratch. Also, you can set it up to run automatically according to a schedule. It will automatically do your backups, and it will not bother you unless there is a problem.

I have mine set to do a complete backup of my entire Mac every night at 3AM.

Good luck

 

Gosh, you guys are awsome!!!

David5000-I did try to do the shared folder thingy-just couldn't figure it out-just got confused--maybe I'll just take my laptop down to Apple and have them show me if they can.

I just joined Mac-L today, so I'll ask there about a consultant!

Purplish-I was absolutely thinking of this, so thanks for the encouragement.

Also-Do you guys think it is worth upgrading my Parallels to 3.0????
Does it really do that much more? I have my Parallels program less than a year.
What are the pros and cons-well, actually-I mean what are the things I would be gaining
from 3.0-what are the differences? Would I really use the upgrades, would I really see a difference, would it simplify my life that much more? How? I really am not a power user, just use the Windows XP for my business program-thats pretty much it-although i was contemplating running some old windows software (Picture and graphic stuff) on the XP as I had saved it and wasn't able to run it on my mac. But that is really non essential stuff, not really an issue--don't know if I'll even do it at all. Just musing about it. Thanks-Shellie