Mac OS-X Back-Up: Time Machine, Super, Carbon Copy Cloner, Disk Utility?

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Mac OS-X Back-Up: Time Machine, Super, Carbon Copy Cloner, Disk Utility?

Hello,

I am a relatively "new" Mac owner/user, coming from many years of using, (and still do), Windows based computer systems.

My current internal hard drive partition configuration is as follows:

1.) Mac OS-X Lion

2.) Mac OS-X Snow Leopard (for the programs that won't run under Lion).

3.) Windows 7

My initial questions are regarding and resolving around (back-up) methods, preferences, Pros & Cons of each?

I know that the built-in Apple/Mac software choices are:

1.) Disk Utility - to create (DMG) Images

2.) Time Machine (still learning, need more knowledge about this).

The third (3rd) party offerings, that I'm familiar with and have used are:

1.) SuperDuper

2.) Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC)

Ok, basically, as I am still very new to the "World of Apple/Mac" (sounds like a book title) - :) ,
which back-up program (scheme, so to speak), covers the most efficient, and most proficient method do you use and why, or not use and why not?

I'm not actually looking for praising on product over the other, or "cutting down/disproving), any other,
I just wanted to see if I can receive "fast" (relatively simple, but concise advice, tips, and/or suggestions, as to the most chosen program to use?

I know it's generally speaking, a "personal" choice.

I've already succeeded - in backing-up my Windows 7 OS system partition - using "WinClone" successfully,
to back-up (from within the Mac OS-X environment), with great results creating the WinClone image.

I was thinking, (wondering actually) - Does Time Machine create bootable back-ups ("capturing" BOTH of the Mac OS-X systems, together?

Meaning: If I use Time Machine and allow it to "Automatically" run as IT SEES the necessity to do so,
will that produce the overall safest entire (hard drive) including BOTH partitions, and hence therefore: Includes BOTH - Mac operating systems, during the entire Time Machine back-up operation?

Whew! I know, that's a lot to read through...

Please make comments, tips, advice, and/or suggestions?

Thank-You for reading and your contributions.

Have a nice day/evening,

Ed
 
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It really is a personal choice. I use Time Machine for the simplicity and "forget it" factor - I literally have not touched it since the day I set up my Mac, but I see the little icon spinning every once and a while, so I enjoy the peace of mind knowing that my whole system is constantly backed up. I believe Time Machine saves versions also, so I could go back into my history and look at every change I've made to a particular file, undo changes I dislike, etc.

I don't think the Time Machine backup is bootable, although there might be some workaround if you made a separate bootable partition on your external HDD (someone please correct me if so!). However, you can restore your entire backup should you ever reinstall OS X, allowing you to have all your applications, files, and so forth right where you like them.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help regarding the two partitions issue.
 

chscag

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First: Please do not post with an enlarged font as it makes it difficult to read and also takes up quite a bit of space. Normal font should suffice. If you have impaired vision, I understand and apologize for editing your post.

To answer your question....

I use a combination of CCC and Time Machine for backing up. I keep two separate external hard drives; one for CCC and the other for TM. I do not recommend using Disk Utility to create a backup image unless you plan on deploying that image.

Keep in mind that a Time Machine backup can not be booted, however, it's an excellent tool for migrating to a new machine and of course restoring versions of files and other data. CCC on the other hand, creates a bootable backup which is handy if your internal hard drive should go south.
 
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Hello,

Sorry about the larger font, and thanks for fixing it..

Also, thanks for the answers to my questions.

Ed
 
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I am a new mac user but here is what I am doing and it works well. My mbp has a 750gb disk. I bought two 2TB external drives. I partitioned them both with 1250 GB and 750 GB partions. I have the time machine backing up to the 1250 GB partitions and SuperDuper! backing up to the 750GB partitions. One drive I keep at home and back up to it at night, and the other I keep at work and back up to it during the day.

The time machine is always doing its thing but I only do the SuperDuper clone once a week or so. Seems to be the best of both worlds as I have a hourly backup from the time machine and a bootable HD if things really go south. Also I have two copies of each at separate locations.
 
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Hello swstacker,

Sounds like a very wise arrangement the way you've prepared your back-up systems.

I don't have an external drive of that HUGE 1TB capacity, but I can see the way (or at least better understand) your approach...

I have no idea even right now, what the best (cheapest) going prices for a 1TB drive would cost?

Thanks!

Ed
 
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Given that hard drives are still pretty cheap (though going up at the moment, but that's probably quite temporary) ... I'd recommend both. I use TM on one external and CCC on another. Two backups = even more remote chance of losing something.
 
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Hey Elsels. Welcome to the Mac community. I'm new myself coming from Windows based PC's my whole life. It's really an amazing machine.

To answer your question, Time Machine is just awesome. I've always had issues with backing up my hard drive. I had a scare a while back where I thought I lost everything that I had that took years to get so I realize how important it is. The problem was that I never found a reliable program on Windows that would run in teh background without really tying up my system so I always used to do my backups manually of any important files....that was until I met Time Machine.

It's just insanely awesome piece of software. Basically you just set it and forget it. It'll make a backup of your initial system and all files once and then will do subsequent backups to any changes hourly.

I would just recommend getting a nice compact 1 tb or higher external drive. I prefer the portable ones becasue they don't require a power source.

The other thing I recommend (because I find hourly backups to be a little overboard) is to download timemachineeditor which will allow you to set up your backups on a weekly, monthly, daily etc basis. I personally set it to backup once a week at night but even when it runs in teh background the system doesn't slow down much.

I don't see the point of using any other software to backup your system with such an awesome (and free) program at your disposal.
 
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SuperDuper is the go for me. Using the registered version, simply use Smart Backup every week to keep cloned external drive same as internal, and it is bootable, something that Time Machine is not.
 
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Hello swstacker,

Sounds like a very wise arrangement the way you've prepared your back-up systems.

I don't have an external drive of that HUGE 1TB capacity, but I can see the way (or at least better understand) your approach...

I have no idea even right now, what the best (cheapest) going prices for a 1TB drive would cost?

Thanks!

Ed

I bought a western digital 2TB external USB for $89 at best buy. They had the same drive and price at wal mart as well. The other drive I have is 2TB as well but it is firewire. It was $159. Both of these drives are the larger units that require a power plug in. The smaller ones that just connect to your computer are more expensive.The firewire drive is faster but honestly probably not worth the cost. The initial backup took like 3 hours on firewire and 5 hours on usb. The superduper clone smart update takes about 20 minutes on either drive and time machine just does its thing in the background without me really noticing.
 
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Thanks all for the useful tips here.

Can someone explain 'bootable' please.

I have had Macs for years, backing them up to an external drive, which I have found to be unreliable. Now that Time Machine has just told me that my disk is too small I wanted to explore other options like the Cloud.

I use DropBox to synch my laptop and desktop, this is a kind of backup right?

Noobie.
 
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Means you are able to boot (startup) from the cloned drive when connected to your machine. Time Machine is a backup only option and is not bootable.
 
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Means you are able to boot (startup) from the cloned drive when connected to your machine. Time Machine is a backup only option and is not bootable.

What he said. When you turn on your computer hold the option key and you can select to boot up your computer from an external drive. I use superduper to make a bootable clone of my mbp hard drive. If my my internal disk ever takes a dump then I can boot up from my external drive and get right to work and then easily clone it back to a new internal drive. Pretty awesome feature really.
 
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Given that hard drives are still pretty cheap (though going up at the moment, but that's probably quite temporary) ... I'd recommend both. I use TM on one external and CCC on another. Two backups = even more remote chance of losing something.

Maybe if your in the states, here in rip off uk drive prices are near fourfold since the floods, the situation is set to get worse with severe restrictions coming in the new year. Latest reports suggest this could take 12 months to rectify.
 
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Latest reports suggest this could take 12 months to rectify.

That is HIGHLY unlikely, to put it mildly. Other companies, or other factories, will jump in to fill the void if Thailand can't get it together quickly. I'm not meaning to demean the suffering people of Thailand -- I'm just talking business here. Capitalism, like nature, abhors a vacuum where there is opportunity.
 
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What he said. When you turn on your computer hold the option key and you can select to boot up your computer from an external drive. I use superduper to make a bootable clone of my mbp hard drive. If my my internal disk ever takes a dump then I can boot up from my external drive and get right to work and then easily clone it back to a new internal drive. Pretty awesome feature really.

Thank you for this explanation.

So now I am going to use TimeMachine and CCC so I can boot if necessary!

EDIT: Is TimeMachine needed if we use CCC?
 
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chas_m

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Depends on how you set CCC up. The main "selling point" of TM for me is the hourly incremental updates so I can recover any work I might accidentally trash or otherwise inadvertently lose.

As I said above, it's easy to have both, so why not have both?
 
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Thats true...I think I will partition my drive to do just that then.

Now, lets say I have a picture on my computer and it backs up to my hard drive, and then I don't want the picture anymore so I delete it, will it delete off of time machine too?
 

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