Backup important data to your iPod
I’ve been using the Apple Powerbook G4 12" for almost two years now and I’ve been absolutely happy with it. But, last week something happened that made the computer refuse to start. After looking in forums on the Internet, talking to Apple representatives and trying various things I was able to format the drive and reinstall Tiger, the operating system, from the DVD.
I got most of my data backed up but it’s always a couple of hours of work to get everything running again. Then it hit me - my music! My music library was organized on the Powerbook since I use that computer to sync with my iPod. After a couple of hours googling, reading and trial and error I’ve found three programs that I’d like to recommend. The best thing - all three are free of charge.
Senuti - a program to get your music off the iPod onto the Mac. It can even import all the tracks to your iTunes library if you want. Works like a charm!
iPodBackup can make an encrypted disk image from specified files on your computer on your iPod. Using rsync, it’s a fast and reliable way to make a portable back up of the most important files. If you lose your iPod the information is worthless to others since they don’t have the encryption key.
Do Something When is a small program that make you customize what’s supposed to happen when you for instance mount drives (such as the iPod) - make it run iPodBackup when the iPod mounts :-)