Still mulling over back up options...a few more questions

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EightmanVT

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Yes - I'm making this much more complicated than I probably need to...

So - I'm starting to abandon the idea of setting up a Time Capsule replacement - largely because I don't think I want to buy a Time Capsule - and there doesn't seem to be that many great alternatives...yet. Not unless I want to get really nerdy about my home network - but there are too many other things demanding that kind of attention right now. Perhaps later.

I'm back to just considering a wired connection - and then I started looking at performance. It seems that FW800 is considerably slower than eSATA and USB 3.0 - but for my MBP 15" - I don't have either of those faster options available to me. It could be that at the end of the day - I can live with FW 800 - but since I do have a mini-display port...err...port - which theoretically has significantly more available BW than does FW 800 or any of the other interfaces on my MBP - why don't I find any display port drives? I realize that interface was probably meant for another purpose - but I'm trying to come up with a way to overcome the fact that this MBP doesn't have USB 3.0 nor an upgrade path. Thoughts?
 

RavingMac

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Thoughts -- Yes you are making this too complicated

Get a small external HD. They're not too expensive, get their power from your USB or FireWire port and uncomplicated.
I have the Seagate Go drive FireWire version. It works. I keep it handy beside my recliner for periodic use, and am thinking of picking up a second one to keep off site and swap out from time to time.
 
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EightmanVT

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Yes - I'm sure at the end of the day I'll end up doing something along those lines...i was just curious to find a higher bit rate solution...hence my curiosity regarding the display port.
 
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chas_m

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Firewire 800 is TECHNICALLY slower than USB3, but frankly giving the bald-faced lying about USB2's speed (and some disappointing tests I've seen around regarding USB3), I'll wait for more real-world testing before I genuinely believe it.

But yes, at least on paper eSATA is clearly faster than either. But here's the thing -- hard drives don't *necessarily* benefit from a wider pipe (beyond a certain point). The drives themselves are speed limited on how much data they can consistently (key word) pump out. Any pipe that exceeds that average data speed is going to give you the exact same performance.

FW800 is fast enough to play and record uncompressed 1080p video. To me, that's fast enough. It's twice as fast as the solution I'm using now for Time Machine (FW400), which takes all of 30 seconds to do its hourly update.

Bottom line: I really wouldn't waste much time on this. The only place where a fatter pipe is really going to make any difference is in that initial backup, which you can do while you're asleep so even then it's utterly irrelevant.
 
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If you want back up options have a read of the Sticky Mcbie wrote

Backups, backups, backups.
A lot of good info in that sticky :)

Cheers
 
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I am with chas_m on this ....

There is no need to start comparing data throughput ....
What is your backup window ? Unless you are operating in a 24/7 environment, you will have a backup window of several hours. ( even if it is at night )

I wouldn't bother too much if it were FW, eSATA or USB ... I would first ensure I have a backup and if my backup windows becomes too small I will reconsider the backup mechanism.

Cheers ... McBie
 
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EightmanVT

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Firewire 800 is TECHNICALLY slower than USB3, but frankly giving the bald-faced lying about USB2's speed (and some disappointing tests I've seen around regarding USB3), I'll wait for more real-world testing before I genuinely believe it.

But yes, at least on paper eSATA is clearly faster than either. But here's the thing -- hard drives don't *necessarily* benefit from a wider pipe (beyond a certain point). The drives themselves are speed limited on how much data they can consistently (key word) pump out. Any pipe that exceeds that average data speed is going to give you the exact same performance.

FW800 is fast enough to play and record uncompressed 1080p video. To me, that's fast enough. It's twice as fast as the solution I'm using now for Time Machine (FW400), which takes all of 30 seconds to do its hourly update.

Bottom line: I really wouldn't waste much time on this. The only place where a fatter pipe is really going to make any difference is in that initial backup, which you can do while you're asleep so even then it's utterly irrelevant.

Yes - I know I'm starting to over complicate it - I was just reading on another site the performance comparison between eSATA and Firewire 800 and USB 3.0 and it got me thinking. I'm certain Firewire will suffice for now - it's just that once you start researching something - you want to reach for the sky - I'm sure most members on here think similarly.

I am still curious to know if some forum engineer could render an opinion regarding the mini-display port. Just curious why there seems (at first glance) to be a high bit rate pipe sitting there - which I realize was intended for one purpose - but potentially could be repurposed??
 

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