How to BackUp Your Livejournal

If you've used a computer for any amount of time, you know by now that you should always back up your important files. But did you know that there are ways to back up your LiveJournal entries as well?

This how-to article shows you how to back up your Live Journal using a program called LJ Migrate. These instructions are for Mac OSX- Leopard. It might look a little scary at first, as you'll be getting into the Terminal program. But don't worry- it's not hard! (I'm not all that Terminal-savvy either, but got through it with no problem).

Here we go....!

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• LiveJournal account
• Password for your LJ account
• Mac OSX (Leopard) (or any computer with Python installed)

1. 1

   Go to http://antennapedia.livejournal.com/266462.html

2. 2

   Download the file where it says: "Zipfile: ljmigrate.zip" and save it to your desktop.

3. 3
   
    

   Once it downloads, you'll have a folder on your desktop called "ljmigrate". Double-click it.

4. 4
   
    

   Inside there you'll find a file called "ljmigrate.cfg". Right-click on the file and:
   
   Open With > Other > Applications > Text Edit

5. 5
   
    

   In there, if you're just backing up your journal to your computer, you'll just be concerned with the [source] section:
   
   
   [source]
   # The host of the journal you're backing up.
   server: http://livejournal.com
   # Your user name.
   user: USERNAME
   # Your password. Will not be sent in the clear; this tool uses the challenge
   # response authentication mechanism.
   password: PASSWORD

6. 6
   
    

   Put in your username and your password there where it says and save the file. (CTRL+S or File > Save)

7. 7
   
    

   Open the Terminal application:
   Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal

8. 8
   
    

   Type the following in the terminal screen:
   
   cd ~/Desktop/ljmigrate (then press Enter)
   
   (Note: The "~" is found next to the "1". The code above is telling the Terminal is that you want to Change Directories [cd = move to a folder] to the ljmigrate folder on your Desktop.)

9. 9
   
    

   Run the tool in the Terminal by typing the following:
   
   ./ljmigrate.py (then press Enter)
   
   (Note: The "./" tells the terminal to stay in the directory, or folder, that it's already at.)

10. 10

    At this point, the program is going to start saving your livejournal. Don't close the terminal window until it's done. You'll see updates being posted in the window about the status of what's going on. When it's all done, you'll have a folder inside the "ljmigrate" folder named your user name. Go into that folder and find the folder called "html". And then find the file called "index.html". Double click on it and voila! All your backed-up entries (AND comments) indexed on your computer in a nice, neat html file.

Tips & Warnings

• "Right-click" on a Mac means to CTRL-Click ;)
• If you're transferring your LJ to another journal (like Wordpress, for example, I think), then you'll just do the same thing, but edit the server+user+password fields of the [destination] section in the "ljmigrate.cfg" file.
• You can also use LJ Migrate with other operating systems such as Linux and Microsoft. Since this is a Python program, Python must be installed on your computer to run LJ Migrate.

Resources

• Antennapedia's LiveJournal Migrate Tool
• Livejournal
• Social Media Marketing

on 9/12/2009 Thanks for the advice.

on 7/25/2009 hi, I can't seem to find the Terminal application on my WIndows Vista. I type in "terminal" and a bunch of terminal icons come up (like in your picture) but no actual application... Is there another way to back up your files from LJ? I remember a few years ago I backed all my entries through Livejournal somehow but I don't remember how.

on 2/27/2009 thanks for the step by step instruction

on 2/8/2009 This is great. I don't use Live Journal, but have recently started reading some friend's journals. That sounds bad. Backing up is always a good idea.

on 2/1/2009 great article 5*