Mac BackUp Solutions
Posted on Sunday, June 27th, 2010
Everyone needs to backup their data. With the millions of options out there, what is your preferred method? Personally I use a couple different solutions.
Overall my backup solutions are based on using Carbon Copy Cloner or CCC for short. There is always the default Time Machine app which started coming with Mac OS X with Leopard (10.5). However, from some personal experience and reading of various reviews I am not fully confident in its abilities. Reading about non-bootable backups or backups not working at all scared me. After all that is the point of backing up; knowing for certain your data is safe. The other major drawback in my mind was not being able to constrain the space your backups require. I know there are some partitioning tricks and I had used them for a while. But overall I don’t appreciate Time Machine filling my 2TB drive with 200+ backups.
So with all that said, Carbon Copy Cloner became my choice. CCC is a free Mac OS program that works on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. Having an older Powerbook G4 laptop I needed to back up this was a huge plus. Also Carbon Copy Cloner will allow you to make a bootable backup or simply backup a selected portion of your drive. I like to format my hard-drive and start from scratch every 6 to 9 months to keep my computer fresh and clean so I choose only to backup selected files. Now I’m not going to go into the details of selecting exactly what you want to backup and where you can find all your preferences. However it is important to know your way around library files if you want to backup preferences. Personally I backup files from my desktop, documents, downloads, bookmarks, and music folders. CCC makes it simple and easy to select what you want and schedule backups. I chose the sparse image option so CCC only needs to update my backup with changed or new files.
Another free backup software solution for macs is Super Duper. I found Carbon Copy Cloner to be simpler and easier to use for my needs. Super Duper also has a paid version for $27.95 for the hardcore backup user.
My solution currently looks like this: The majority of files backup from my iMac to the drive on my 500 GB Time Capsule via wireless-N. I backup my music files to an external Lacie 1TB hard-drive via firewire 800. I also backup all my video files to a Western Digital My Book Studio hard-drive. This drive is connected via USB to the Time Capsule for streaming of video content via Plex. My Book Studio drives are specifically make to run efficiently with Apple’s base stations. I only wish my Time Capsule had firewire 800; l the difference in speed for backups is a noticeable increase from USB. Also important to note; your initial backups may take anywhere from 30 minutes to 8 hours depending on the amount of data your plan to backup. Be patient.
Other tips: In my experience I have had the least amount of problems and failures with Lacie and the Western Digital My Book drives. Keep in mind the connection speeds of your devices. If you have firewire 800 it might be worth the extra price to buy a drive that supports that feature. This is particularly important if you are also looking to stream video from the drive.
Backing up is an important part of data management. Overall make sure you are backing up at least on a weekly basis. There are always more secure ways and other solutions depending on your needs. This should get you started. Please feel free post your backup solutions and questions in the comment feed below. And happy data management to you.