2T iMac drive is very nice. Now what about backup?

[Sir Cecil]

I'd be interested in hearing what people are doing about backup with their huge iMac drives. Time Machine needs a drive somewhat bigger than their iMac HD, but not many of us want to shell out $500+ for 4T backup drive.
I've been thinking of partitioning the iMac and backing up only one, smaller volume via Time Machine. Anyone else doing that?

 

[The General]

So I ordered my iMac with a 1TB harddrive, but I also have a 2TB drive to put in it when I get it. I will have three 1TB external harddrives, all FW800. I can connect them all by daisy chaining them. I'm going to set up a software RAID and use that volume for Time Machine.

 

[Matthew Yohe]

Time Machine doesn't need a volume larger than what it's backing up. Only if the data the drive you're backing up is larger than your backup drive. Until then (well before that but you get the idea), you can use Time Machine.


Also, your idea of partitioning is pointless, unless you just want old versions of files. Because if your drive goes, well, all of those versions of those files goes as well.

You should get an external hard drive to backup essentials, and then exclude the rest.

 

[Sir Cecil]

So I ordered my iMac with a 1TB harddrive, but I also have a 2TB drive to put in it when I get it. I will have three 1TB external harddrives, all FW800. I can connect them all by daisy chaining them. I'm going to set up a software RAID and use that volume for Time Machine.

That's something I wouldn't have thought of. Still an expensive route though isn't it? 3x, say, $180 is $550. And space-consuming? Are you choosing that method because you already have the drives, or would you also choose that route if you were starting from scratch, because of some particular benefit over using one large (4T) drive? I see G-Tech do one of the latter at around $550.

 

[The General]

That's something I wouldn't have thought of. Still an expensive route though isn't it? 3x, say, $180 is $550. And space-consuming? Are you choosing that method because you already have the drives, or would you also choose that route if you were starting from scratch, because of some particular benefit over using one large (4T) drive? I see G-Tech do one of the latter at around $550.

Yeah, but I already had two 1TB drives and the third will be the one I take out of the iMac, so I only really costs me the external enclosure.

 

[mocsharp]

Whs

I'd be interested in hearing what people are doing about backup with their huge iMac drives. Time Machine needs a drive somewhat bigger than their iMac HD, but not many of us want to shell out $500+ for 4T backup drive.
I've been thinking of partitioning the iMac and backing up only one, smaller volume via Time Machine. Anyone else doing that?

The best backup solution on the market, IMO, is the HP MediaSmart Server. Supports Mac with TimeMachine and Windows. It sports 4 hot-swappable HDDs. You can find out more @ http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

 

[Sir Cecil]

Also, your idea of partitioning is pointless, unless you just want old versions of files. Because if your drive goes, well, all of those versions of those files goes as well.

What I was toying with was partitioning into three volumes: A 1x 1T volume (which would be my all-purpose drive and which I would backup continually with Time Machine via, say, a 2T external drive), plus 2x500gb volumes that I could use for other more specific purposes, backing up files manually as and when needed. Not sure I've thought it through very well yet, but that's the kind of thing I meant.

 

[Matthew Yohe]

What I was toying with was partitioning into three volumes: A 1x 1T volume (which would be my all-purpose drive and which I would backup continually with Time Machine via, say, a 2T external drive), plus 2x500gb volumes that I could use for other more specific purposes, backing up files manually as and when needed. Not sure I've thought it through very well yet, but that's the kind of thing I meant.

If you're going to get a 2T external drive, then just keep a single partition on your iMac, and then exclude (in Time Machine options) any folders you don't want to backup.

 

[ntrigue]

You just need to micromanage your TM backups. It is not necessary to have a drive even 50% of your current HDD. Files are compressed and a 1TB backup would save several months of a full 2TB internal.

 

[Sir Cecil]

Thanks for the pointers above. Seems I've overlooked some of Time Machine's possibilities in terms of selectivity.

 

[Ecoh]

I have my 2 TB drive backed up on a 500 GB drive with Time Machine, so I know the TIme Machine drive can be a lot smaller than the internal drive. I got the 2 TB drive because I have a 700 GB Aperture Library. The Aperture Library is backed up up on another drive on it's own Vault system. Everything runs very smooth this way. Time Machine allows you to selectively exclude items from backing up.

 

[The General]

You just need to micromanage your TM backups. It is not necessary to have a drive even 50% of your current HDD. Files are compressed and a 1TB backup would save several months of a full 2TB internal.

Wrong.

 

[TheBearman]

The best backup solution on the market, IMO, is the HP MediaSmart Server. Supports Mac with TimeMachine and Windows. It sports 4 hot-swappable HDDs. You can find out more @ http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

Um, stop me if I'm wrong but doesn't this thing require a Windows system to do administrative activities? I went with the ReadyNAS because of its Linux OS and the ability to manage from just about any system.

 

[Xtremehkr]

It probably wasn't necessary but I got a 2TB Time Machine with the new iMac. It's mostly out of convenience, part of it was to extend the longevity of the Time Machine.

There are cheaper drives available, but my Airport Extreme was an older model and the Time Machine has the most recent wireless tech. The Time Machine is significantly faster than the old Airport Extreme.

But then, I'm also one of those people who likes a clean desk and an iMac without 200 cables coming out of the back, so a lot of it is probably just what appeals to you.

 

[ntrigue]

Wrong.

What I intended to point-out is that supposed the user has 500GB of actual files, 50GB of that is applications, 50GB of that is GarageBand sounds and system files that go unmodified. Then the user would make an initial 400GB backup and using the method below would allow many days perhaps weeks of backups.

Time Machine creates disk images for network backups (unlike backups to a local Macintosh hard drive). Network backups create a new kind of expandable "sparse" disk image developed for Leopard, a "sparsebundle."

The sparsebundle format uses many small files, instead of one huge file, to more efficiently manage disk capacity. Each of these files, or "bands", is 8 MB in size; a large disk image will have thousands of bands. (The 110-GB backup of our test MacBook contains over 14,000 bands!) Sparse bundle disk images are readable by any Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" system, but not by 10.4 "Tiger" and earlier versions.