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What Is Best BackUp Program?!

Sweener88

Sweener88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 27, 2006
426
1
Im EVERYWHERE!
Ok i just got a ministack to back up all my stuff on my macbook pro as well as use it to expand my HDD and Itunes size, anyways i was wondering what you guys recommend as the best way to backup my mac on a schedual? somewhere (not sure where) i herd about backity mac but havnt tried it, thanks!!
 
i've heard good things about Super Duper! but i don't yet have a large enough external drive to attempt to use it. i hope to get one by year's end. other people, i've read, like apple's Backup, which comes with .Mac but a trial version is available but only lets you backup 100MB worth of data.

there have been threads on this, so make sure you search the forums, too.
 
I use the .mac Backup software. Current size of archived files is 13.14 GB. Don;t think there are any limits (beyond the space available).

I also use Carbon Copy Cloner to make a full bootable backup of my sysem to an external firewire drive, but that is a manual process that I perform before software updates.

Now I'm waiting for Time Machine. If Apple want to do something real impressive they need to get it to go forwards in time too. That way I can get the document I'm going to write next week and avoid all the pain of actually having to write it... :D
 
I use Carbon Copy Cloner as well. Easy to use as far as backing up goes. Knock on wood, I've never needed to to restore from it (although I can't imagine it would be TOO difficult, it basically just copies your drive contents). :rolleyes:
 
i use silverkeeper by lacie, you van still download it even if you don't own a Lacie HDD
 
Sweener88 said:
Ok i just got a ministack to back up all my stuff on my macbook pro as well as use it to expand my HDD and Itunes size, anyways i was wondering what you guys recommend as the best way to backup my mac on a schedual? somewhere (not sure where) i herd about backity mac but havnt tried it, thanks!!
Click to expand...

Depends what your objective is - do you want to back up folders and files, or do you want to maintain a clone of your hard disk that you can boot from in the event of a hard drive failure?

For folder backup, both Synk and Chronosync are good, and several other utilities exist that I haven't personally tried. For a full system clone, I use SuperDuper, but I gather Carbon Copy Cloner is also highly regarded
 
I have seen SuperDuper recommended over and over. Correct me if Im wrong but doesnt the external hdd have to be firewire? Seems when I tried to use it said something like the drive I was trying to use wasnt firewire (its usb2)
 
VoodooDaddy said:
I have seen SuperDuper recommended over and over. Correct me if Im wrong but doesnt the external hdd have to be firewire? Seems when I tried to use it said something like the drive I was trying to use wasnt firewire (its usb2)
Click to expand...

it doesn't have to be firewire, but they recommend firewire. firewire is a better technology for moving large amounts of data for a long amount of time (i.e., backing up your computer). usb2.0 is faster only for small files, but for moving big files, firewire maintains its transfer speeds better and is therefore more consistent.

you can use usb2.0 without any problems.
 
I agree with nosen. Carbon copy Cloner. And yes, I have had to run booted from said backup for a few days. Then cloned back to the new drive. Pretty easy - though it helps to run from the root account.

Ergo, need Firewire (can't boot from USB)
 
pianoman said:
it doesn't have to be firewire, but they recommend firewire. firewire is a better technology for moving large amounts of data for a long amount of time (i.e., backing up your computer). usb2.0 is faster only for small files, but for moving big files, firewire maintains its transfer speeds better and is therefore more consistent.

you can use usb2.0 without any problems.
Click to expand...

another vote for super duper.

my 75gb of data is copied down to a 40gb file on my external. it has an option where it doesn't transfer non-user files, so any system stuff that you can get off the disc isn't copied. makes it quicker, easier, and doesn't take up much room on the external.

i use usb 2.0 on my macbook pro and really doubt you'd see that much difference on firewire. plus, it's a backup utility, runs in the background and can be scheduled. it's not like you'd even notice if it transfered 15 minutes faster on firewire than usb.
 
iBackup is my favourite. It's not massively featured but it's free, lightweight, and does everything I ask of it.
 
VoodooDaddy said:
I have seen SuperDuper recommended over and over. Correct me if Im wrong but doesnt the external hdd have to be firewire? Seems when I tried to use it said something like the drive I was trying to use wasnt firewire (its usb2)
Click to expand...

I can even back up onto my slow-as-watching-paint-dry NAS if I have the patience. I like the no-brainer aspect of SuperDuper.
 
I'll give SuperDuper another try I guess. Whatever the message was, can't remember exactly, it seemed to suggest firewire only.
 
SuperDuper! is agreat app. I use it every night to automatically clone my HDD and backup my user folder. It's really easy to use and it's quite powerful. It's also very explicit about what it's going to do, so there's never any confusion about your backups.
 
VoodooDaddy said:
I'll give SuperDuper another try I guess. Whatever the message was, can't remember exactly, it seemed to suggest firewire only.
Click to expand...

Were you trying to make it bootable?

thats what I think might do that.

I have SuperDuper and love it!~
 
If you're willing to pay for a professional quality back up system, it's Retrospect. It was originally Mac only but works on Windows machines as well. Client software is available so that you can back up all machines to one drive and it supports tape, as well as hard drives and DVD, etc.
 
Yea I hear SuperDuper is pretty good. But ermm Time Machine? lol It's in Leopard, yes, But that will be the King of Backup apps soon lol ;) Then again, we all knew that :D

For now though use SuperDuper ;)
 
iBackup also gets my vote -- its easy to use and fast.
thanks for the link, sunfast!
 
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