How do you back up your mac?

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Not sure where to put this thread (feel free to move it mods)

I use my powerbook for mainly work, my own business, and backing all my files up seems such a chore that I rarely do it - naughty me!!!

I use DVD's to back my stuff up but it takes at least 6 DVD's (my files are mostly large artwork files) as you can imagine it takes me ages and gives me a mini headache trying to split folders etc!

What do you use to back up your mac - am looking for ideas which would make me back up my files more frequently without much hassle - heaven forbid anything happen to my mac!!

Btw I'm not a mac techie (don't know much about hardware etc) so you may need to explain in simple terms! Also looking for something that doesn't cost a lot of money!

Thanks all!
 
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20" iMac C2D 2.16ghz, 13" MacBook 2.0ghz, 60gb iPod vid, 1gb nano
FireWire Harddrive. Just drag the files you need backed up onto it and the files are there very quickly
 
B

badmojo

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I agree with the mod. If there's a chance you would need to use the backup drive on a PC, then maybe a USB hard drive may be better. If not, then stick with firewire. One like this has both, and it's relatively inexpensive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822161301

By the way, if you would need to use it on a PC, then I think it should first be formatted using the PC. Macs can read PC-formatted drives but not the other way around. Good luck.

Edit: LaCie drives tend to be the preferred brand around here, but they do cost a little more.
 
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2.8Ghz MBP, 4GB RAM, 320 GB 7200RPM HD
I've got a 60GB iPod. I back up all of my docs, photos, music (yes its on the iPod twice). Usually back up once a week. Connect, run back up and go to bed. Wake up in the morning, files are backed up, iPod is fully charged, all new podcasts, music and photos are downloaded to my iPod.

As a bonus. You can use the iPod to listen to music and view photos!!
 
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Biturbo V12 AMG

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external 120gig usb 2.0 HD. plus i use my 40gig ipod. if you have an old pc sitting around you can use that to back up stuff also. but i recommend getting a external HD or an Ipod. i like the ipod the best since no one thinks to look on it.
 
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Darth_Sandwich

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As many others have said, a large external HDD is fine and dandy. If you get a powered Firewire enclosure (which I think you need for desktop drives), you can daisy-chain a bunch together, if you really need to. With disk capacities upwards of 400GB available these days, you can easily, with the 5-device Firewire chain, get upwards of a terabyte of fast, removable storage. If that won't do you, well.
 
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Hmmm ipod ey - that may be a good excuse to buy one at last!

Had a quick look the only ones I can see are only 20GB. Think will buy an external HD.

Thanks very much for your replies tho!
 
I

iPodster

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If you have the budget... this one may suit you best.



Product brochure

I used to use my 40gb iPod Photo to back up my stuff ie programs, reading materials and movies, serials...

Now I use my Lacie 250gb Firewire 800 ... :)

Small giraffe said:
Hmmm ipod ey - that may be a good excuse to buy one at last!

Had a quick look the only ones I can see are only 20GB. Think will buy an external HD.

Thanks very much for your replies tho!
 
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Also recommend the firewire route, but the larger iPods are handy for instant iTunes enabled music and photo library backups...
 
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Right I've bought an 80gb lacie firewire hard drive - which came this morning. Plugged it in and can see it ok. When I try to transfer files its says that the file names are too long. Boyfriend says that I need to format it as its a Fat32 (what ever that means) and I need to format it to the mac standard.

Can someone tell me how to do this?

Thanks
 
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Harryc

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Small giraffe said:
Can anyone help at all?
Open up disk utility, select the external drive, partition it, format one partition as MAC OS Extended Journaled. Select the other partition, format it as FAT32.(or windows compatible, I forget which options are offered)
 
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dumb question, i dont mean to hijack, but do they have the large storage tape backups for mac? i know no one prefers them, but about 3 years ago i had a SCSI one with 12/24 gb tapes....i know now you can get some nice ones, like 80gb per tape

one for each day of the week, plus extras...

gotta tell ya, that came in REAL handy MANY times..i dont trust hard drives, itd be my luck itd crash or something ...DVDR's wear out after long use..maybe i should jsut stock up on DVDRW's or DVDRAMs...but i used to have a tape for each video project..once my raid 0 array went down (thanks alot maxtor) but i was able to extract my raw footage and saved projects no problem
 
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Backup

I just got and external firewire drive and the backup app Superduper 2.1.4. I copied all my files and have scheduled regular backups which will only backup new or changed files.
 
M

MacHeadCase

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I use the same backup strategy, Sergio. SuperDuper! is great.

Dave Nanian, SuperDuper!'s developer, is hard at work making it entirely compatible with Leopard.
 
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I use the same backup strategy, Sergio. SuperDuper! is great.

Dave Nanian, SuperDuper!'s developer, is hard at work making it entirely compatible with Leopard.


I agree...it is much better than Retrospect or Dejavu and other apps I have tried.
 
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Hey Sergio and MacHeadCase,

I'm planning on migrating from PC to my first Mac (MBP) in January and I was wondering which way would be best for backup: Time Machine or SuperDuper?

Does SuperDuper cover all the bases or is there really need to use both methods?

Thanks,
Summer2000
 
M

MacHeadCase

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I was thrilled when I first heard of Time Machine. WhenI saw it in action in a demo and asked some questions about it, I think I will keep my backup solution i.e. using SuperDuper! and this is because Time Machine might be a good solution for users who never think of making backups but I find it restrictive and it doesn't seem like I could configure it as much as I would like.

The way I save my work, for example in Illustrator, is I save a copy of each generation of the file I am working on. If ever I need to go back, I have older generations of those files in the same folder. So to me Time Machine is not an absolute must and besides you can't exactly boot form a Time Machine backup unless you have the restore disk in the optical drive, I read somewhere.

I am thinking here that if this is true, the bootable backup has a definite edge over a TM backup because of your computer becomes unresponsive after you start it up, you can simply press on OPtion and it will find the external hard drive that has your SuperDuper! backup. If you need to insert your restore disk and the computer doesn't boot properly, this gets pretty complicated. :p

So for my needs, I will stick with SuperDuper! but other users might have a different opinion.

Both apps could compliment each other, though as they don't do exactly the same thing.
 

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