Backups

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I have a new MacAir (first Mac) and want to figure out an optimal approach to backups.

My plans are:

1. Use an external 500GB drive (small passport) as a SuperDuper clone drive and make it bootable. I would manually update this drive on a periodic schedule.

2. Use an external 1TB passport drive (would be my travel drive too) that would contain
  • Manual TimeMachine Backups
  • Data files (some to be copied from existing Windows PC)
  • Photo images

Drive 1 would be for catastrophic system recoveries.

Drive 2 would be for file recovery and data storage.

Is this a reasonable approach?

I read something about TimeMachine eventually taking over a drive. I would like to manage the backups manually and be able to a do a periodic consolidation. I am not too sure about TM.

Is there a good alternative to TM?

Thanks

Mike
 
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Mike,
Your approach is good.
I would suggest one small change and that is replace the word " manual " with " automatic " when it comes to Time Machine.
Time Machine is a life saver, just set it and let it do its thing.... no need for manual interventions.

My 2 cents.

Cheers ... McBie
 

chscag

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With a MacBook Air it's actually better to leave the Time Preference to Manual rather than Automatic. You might ask why? Because Time Machine behavior has been changed with Lion. TM will continue making backups whether or not the external hard drive is attached. The backups will be copied to the internal hard drive. This can quickly suck up valuable drive space which is sparse on an Air.
 
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Really do not want TM sucking up my drive space.

I booted from my external drive to test it. That was interesting.

Thanks

Mike
 
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Another with no TM! The registered version of SD with Smart Backup weekly is the go Mike.
 

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