I'm ordering you to take a backup!!!

[annk]

I usually only back up my home folder, about once every 4-6 weeks, and I was thinking about backing up my apps as well when I came across this thread.

So now I´m backing up my entire HD with CCC, onto my iOmega firewire external HD. I chose bootable in the CCC prefs, but am a bit confused about the difference between bootable and disk image. (I didn´t mark disk image in the prefs, only bootable.)

I understand that I can boot the computer from a bootable backup and that this is great if my HD dies, and since I chose bootable and am backing up to a FW HD, I assume I´m fine there. But what are the pros and cons of having the backup as a disk image?

 

[big]

During a system crash, you couldn't open the disc image to boot the mac would you?

I assume the disc image could be compressed, or encrypted etc...

 

[annk]

During a system crash, you couldn't open the disc image to boot the mac would you?

I assume the disc image could be compressed, or encrypted etc...

I´m not sure I understand what you´re saying. Isn´t the whole point of having the backup on a separate HD, so that you can do just that - boot from it to your computer, in the case of a system crash (or if the computer´s HD dies)?

And - are you saying that the advantage to a disc image is that you can compress and/or encrypt it? That part makes sense to me, from a space-saving and security standpoint. Are there any disadvantages to a disc image backup?

One thing I wonder about, is to what extent I can extract specific files from the two types of backups. Lets say I lose an app, or one file. I only want to get that specific thing out of my backup, not do an entire restore of everything. Can I extract single files or groups of files from both a disc image backup and a non-disc image backup?

 

[big]

I´m not sure I understand what you´re saying. Isn´t the whole point of having the backup on a separate HD, so that you can do just that - boot from it to your computer, in the case of a system crash (or if the computer´s HD dies)?

Not if its in a disc image, how do you launch the disc image when the Mac's HD crashed, or some other system failure?

And - are you saying that the advantage to a disc image is that you can compress and/or encrypt it? That part makes sense to me, from a space-saving and security standpoint. Are there any disadvantages to a disc image backup?

Yes, you can not boot straight off a disc image, it must be opened for a computer to see what's in it, and recognize that it is usable info. Thus, during a system crash, how can you extract the contents of the disc image, when you need the system to open the image?

One thing I wonder about, is to what extent I can extract specific files from the two types of backups. Lets say I lose an app, or one file. I only want to get that specific thing out of my backup, not do an entire restore of everything. Can I extract single files or groups of files from both a disc image backup and a non-disc image backup?

Depends on your software, I like Retrospect, but if your simply opening an exact duplicate, you should just be able to drag and drop eh? Give it a try and see how it works for you....

 

[Mudbug]

Hi all -
As you all probably know, I'm a big proponent of backing up information on the computer. Enough so that I back up my working jobs and other information nightly as a "just-in-case" precaution.

I got to use the backup today.

This is the second time in less than a year.

On different hard drives.

My main working drive that contains every working job for the last decent amount of time decided it didn't need to be used anymore as of about 10:00 a.m. this morning, giving me a lovely "crunching" sound as it went out. My heart rate increased, as did my blood pressure I'm sure, and I proceeded to vocally ask it nicely to come back to life (insert expletive here). It, as you've figured out by now, didn't come back.

So I'm passing along a little bit of wisdom to you while I wait for the backup to recover to a shiny new hard drive that will become my _new_ backup drive. If you rely completely on the information on your computers, here's some words to live (and recover) by:

1) Always make your newest drive your backup. You need it to be healthier than your older drives.
2) Actually back up. Don't just say you do, and don't do an incomplete job of it.
3) If you use backup software, use one that leaves your data in a state that it can be easily recovered even WITHOUT the program that did the backup. You'll thank me for that later.
4) Have a list of email recipients ready to send a bulk mail to letting them know of the crash so they can stop expecting things from you for the immediate future while you recover.

Have a great day, and thank God, your lucky stars, or whatever that you aren't doing what I'm doing right now.

 

[hana]

Well, a couple of weeks ago the firewire cable got tripped and the LaCie Porsche 250GB ended up getting amnesia!

I bought myself a 320GB Maxtor 1 touch at costco. I am going to set it up this weekend and will take Mudbug's advice to make it my back up drive. The LaCie, which seems to be working now, I've turned off the switch when not using it and will probably use it to store photos for the last seven years...I had it on the LaCie before the crash, but will now restore it from DVD/CD.
I've been told that DVD/CD don't last that long, but they've outlasted my two last external back up drive crashes.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Almost ten years and a couple of terabytes worth of everything — work, emails, music, pictures, accounts — almost wiped away a few days ago in the space of a handful of minutes by a flaky boot drive that, with little warning, started slowing the Mac down and then the ticks of doom... before it stopped working entirely. Some messing around with enclosures just to test the drive... no dice.

All (almost) recovered immediately with a clone that I do at least once per day to a matching external with SuperDuper. I've never trusted Time Machine and would hate to wait for hours to restore it to a new drive. However, sorting out a new backup for that has been a pain for various reasons, but I'm now properly up and running again.

Doctor Q and Blue Velvet order you to take a backup. Now. Don't make me come over there.

 

[*LTD*]

Time Machine. It's on.

*Really* important files are backed up to MobileMe. Cloud FTW.

 

[MacDawg]

Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner every night as well
We won't get fooled again...

 

[Heilage]

Back your **** up, people.

I had a customer lose the last pictures of his now dead father a while back, due to a catastrofic drive failure. There are some things that are irreplacable.

Drives fail. Sometimes without any warning whatsoever. One backup isn't enough.

BACK YOUR **** UP!

 

[n8mac]

Yes it is important. I noticed the other day that both my Mac and my dads PC at work had no backups. (They used to but long story short they haven't in months)

So I bought a 250GB external Firewire slim drive and it so handy. I just partitioned it out so that each comp has its own space. Better yet since it's portable I moved it back and forth between work and home and it is safe incase something happened like a fire where the comps are.

 

[KingYaba]

Go get yourself a free 2GB Ubuntu One account.

My stuff is mirrored on two hard drives plus some in the cloud and others on physical media...

 

[roadbloc]

Time machine. 1tb western digital. Easiest backups ever.
I also backup my home folder to my MobileMe iDisk.

 

[steve knight]

OI got you guys beat. use dropbox to mirror my business files work and home plus I bought the version saved forever (that has saved my butt a few times) time capsule to back up the mac at home idrive to back up those work files again (under 2 gigs so free) mozy to backup everything. and mobleme to backup my mail and my business files again. once in awhile I backup all my music about 200 gigs and take that drive to work.

 

[dmmcintyre3]

If it is important, it ends up in 2-3 buildings.

Databases on my web server:
1 has the "live" copy, and one in the same state and another in another state.

Files on my web server:
a server in another state. Standard cPanel full backup.

My computer:
Manual upload of important stuff to my web server.

 

[gnasher729]

Almost ten years and a couple of terabytes worth of everything — work, emails, music, pictures, accounts — almost wiped away a few days ago in the space of a handful of minutes by a flaky boot drive that, with little warning, started slowing the Mac down and then the ticks of doom... before it stopped working entirely. Some messing around with enclosures just to test the drive... no dice.

All (almost) recovered immediately with a clone that I do at least once per day to a matching external with SuperDuper. I've never trusted Time Machine and would hate to wait for hours to restore it to a new drive. However, sorting out a new backup for that has been a pain for various reasons, but I'm now properly up and running again.

Doctor Q and Blue Velvet order you to take a backup. Now. Don't make me come over there.

This must be the record of thread resurrection - a seven year old thread! But this is one that is really worth bringing back once a year. One Terabyte external drive = £50. And every single hard drive ever made _will_ day one day, completely inevitable. Compared to any other way of spending money on a Macintosh, this is by far the best. The cheapest external drive + Time Machine turns complete disaster into a mere annoyance. And remember, that disaster is inevitable if you don't have a backup drive. It's not bad luck, it _will_ happen.

 

[CaptMurdock]

Back your **** up, people.

I had a customer lose the last pictures of his now dead father a while back, due to a catastrofic drive failure. There are some things that are irreplacable.

Drives fail. Sometimes without any warning whatsoever. One backup isn't enough.

BACK YOUR **** UP!

+1. Eight years ago, I had just scanned in photos of my wife's deceased dad (we interred the originals with his ashes) and our five-year-old son erases a whole volume of my drive -- before I have a chance to back those photos up. Arrrrgh.

I'm old-school...I still use CDs and DVDs to backup! (Hey, at least I migrated from Zip disks completely...) I've got files going back almost twenty years, to my first Mac.

 

[Corndog5595]

Stop what you are doing and take a backup right now!

A co-worker of mine lost an important file today, which can happen to anyone at any time. He hadn't taken a backup for months so he couldn't simply restore the file.

I don't want you to suffer the same fate, so I'm ordering (not asking) you to take a backup. Do it now, today, tonite, or tomorrow at the latest. If you had other plans, tell people that Doctor Q didn't give you a choice. You'll thank me later.

If you think you have a valid excuse (no, a note from your mother is not good enough), let's hear it. Otherwise, get to work!

Way ahead of you