Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Backup Has Never Been Easier

Backup 3 + Delicious Library

Delicious Library is an amazing way to catalog your book, movies, music, and video games -- but once you've assembled your collection and loaned out items to friends, the last thing you want to worry about is dropping your laptop, having your computer stolen, or losing everything because of hard drive issues.

Luckily, combatting data loss is easy! By backing up your data monthly, weekly or even daily, you can ensure that no matter what the circumstance, your library won't skip a beat. Backup is the #1 best way to protect yourself from whatever curve-ball technology may throw - yet still surprisingly few people back up regularly. Like flossing or cleaning the dryer lint tray, backup is a routine maintenance task that most people dismiss with an "I'll get to it it later" attitude... and sadly eventually lose data.

Today is the day to take a stand and protect yourself from tomorrow. And the great news is that, just today, Apple introduced the brand-new Backup 3 software as part of the new .Mac, which makes it easier than ever to enter data-saving nirvana. With only a few clicks, you can schedule automatic backups of your iTunes music, your photos, and all your documents. It's free for anyone with a .Mac account or someone who creates a free .Mac trial account. (For more details, see Apple's tour video of the new Backup software in action.)

So where does Delicious Library fit in all of this? One of the excellent new features of Backup 3 is "QuickPicks" - an easy way to grab documents and settings to back up without having to worry about individually locating or finding files on your hard drive - and Delicious Monster is happy to announce the immediate availability of our very own "QuickPick" that makes it easy to back up all your Delicious Library data with just one checkbox.

Download (requires Backup 3):
Delicious Library Backup "QuickPick" Plugin

Using Backup to keep your Delicious Library data safe is easy:
  1. Join .Mac or sign up for a free .Mac trial account.

  2. Download the new Backup 3.

    Backup 3

  3. Download and install the Delicious Library Backup "QuickPick" Plugin.

    QuickPick Installer

  4. Install and launch Backup 3 and press "Continue" to get to the main Backup window.

    Continue

  5. Press the + button to create a new backup plan and choose "Custom."

    Add Backup PlanCustom Plan

  6. Under "Backup Items," press the + button to add an item.

    Add Backup Item

  7. In the "QuickPicks" tab, choose "Delicious Library" and press "Done."

    Delicious Library QuickPick

  8. Set up a destination and schedule and you're done!


Of course, you don't need Backup 3 to keep a copy of your Delicious Library database, although it does make the process easy and automated. If you'd prefer to back up your database by hand the old-fashioned way or you use another backup tool like SuperDuper, just make sure that you're backing up from the following two paths, both located inside your home folder:
~/Library/Application Support/Delicious Library/
~/Library/Preferences/com.delicious-monster.library.plist

No matter how you choose to back up, just make sure to back up early and back up often. It's absolutely the best way to protect yourself from the unexpected.