Backing up

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Hello everyone, im confused how to back up my system, to time travel or not?

The only stuff i need backed up is really photo's and Music, maybe a few doc's and movies that i have made but i store some of that online!

So i brought myself a Iomega Ultramac desktop hard drive from the apple store as my primary back up and also have a lacie little disk for mobile bkup!

q's

1. If i use time machine can i transfer my system effectively to another laptop?
2. Is it easy to back up the backup?
3. Should i leave my ext HD constantly on (i know i would have to do this with time machine), is this ok for the life of the HD?
4. What connection should i use, the firewire 400 or usb 2.0??
5 Is there another way to just add just my new pictures to my HD like you would sync an iPod with iTunes?
6 Finally should i partition the 500g ultramax drive or just leave it all for time machine if i do use time machine?

Thanks in advance, thats quite a few q's!

Cheers Paul
 
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If you just want to backup a few folders, might I suggest just getting an external drive and using backup software like Memeo AutoBackup to backup those specific folders whenever it detects a change. This allows for you to be able to access the backups from any machine much more easily than the ones created by Time Machine.

With backups, it doesn't matter which connection you use. Both USB and Firewire will do well. Just buy whichever drive you can afford.
 
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coolies, yeah i already have 2 drives dude! So do u use this program then, whats it like? Any other auto backup programs that i should consider? cheers for the reply Kash!!
 
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sometimes i wish i read the box first, it comes with rectrospect express bkup software :Smirk: ignore me
 
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Black MacBook- 2.2GHz, 1gb RAM, 160GB, Double-Layer Superdrive.
And if for some reason you do want to use Time Machine, you can set it to exclude certain files and folders so it doesn't back up everything, hope you enjoy your Mac :)
 
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think i'll just work out how the autobk up works, time machine looks good but dont think i really need it, did read you could choose not to bk up certain files tho which is cool!
Love my mac, infected my family, 3 macs in the house now ...and counting..
 
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Mac Pro 8 core 2.8Ghz, 12GB RAM, 2.3TB HD; MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM, 200GB HD
I've become a huge fan of Time Machine. I love backups I don't have to think about and TM gives you that. As Vindicat3d said, you can exclude files / folders from TM too if you are concerned about backing up too much. Good luck!
 
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2 iMacs 17+20" 2.16GHz 2GB RAM 500MB HDD 256MB Graphic card. 60Gig 5th gen iPod with Video
Your Question #3 I took this from Western Digitals FAQs for my My Book
Western Digital recommends that external hard drives be powered off when not in use, although it is safe to leave a hard drive running continuously. The hard drive should be placed away from any electronic devices and in a well ventilated area to allow airflow to the hard drive. Western Digital also recommends that the drive's power supply is connected through a surge protector. In the case of a power surge, or brown/black out, the hard drive's sensitive electrical components will not be damaged.

The initial power-on process is generally harder on the internal components of a hard drive than spinning for extended periods. However, Western Digital drives are designed to handle either scenario. Most users outgrow their drive before repeated turning on and off becomes a problem. Turning on the drive a few times per day is considered normal usage and should not pose any problems. If a drive is turned on and off excessively on a daily basis, this could affect the longevity of the hard drive’s components.

#4 My WD My book has several options Fire wire $00 and 800 and Usb 2.0 and SATA .. Get one with options if you can

#5. You could just Drag your iPhoto album to your new disk. Launch iPhoto when you launch iPhoto it will tell you it can't find your pictures folder You can then point to it via a menu you will see. You can do the same for your iTunes too

#6. I read somewhere that TM likes to have the whole drive for itself. I however have patitioned my 1 TB with 500GB for TM and the other patitions for my Bootable backup and a Misc disk for odds and ends


I've got into back-up sice I got Leopard and I have adopted a kind of Belt and Braces approch to the whole Back-up thing.

I have invested in SuperDuper which makes a bootable copy of my Hard drive. This I put on a partion on my My book Ext disk
 
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Superduper is great for instantly bootable backups (handy to have if you need to get some work done and can't wait to restore you files on a new drive).

But I think Time Machine works best for incremental backups. It's reliable, nonintrusive and also does versioning...
 
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External hard drives are so big, and USB2.0/Firewire connections are now so fast, that I simply don't think any unique backup software is necessary any more. Here is what I do (apologies to long time members, who have seen me post this before):

I get an external hard drive. To back up, I plug it in, turn it on and then create a new folder in its root called todays_date_backup. Then I simply use Finder (or PathFinder in my case) to drag my home folder into my newly created backup folder. This copies ALL of my personal data. It does not create a full blown image of my current disk, but I tend to view the system setup as transient. It is my personal stuff (music, photos, files, etc.) that I want to keep.

To make this really useful, I use a system of two hard drives, which I rotate between work and home. Each time I do a backup, I take the hard drive with the fresh backup to work and exchange it with the one there. That way, I always have two full backups at two different locations. Hence, even if some terrible disaster should befall my house (tornado, flood, fire, whatever), I still have a full backup "off site".

Note that no incremental backup software is involved or needed. Hard drives are so big and so fast these days that this works great and it is so simple. It has always been my philosophy that in order to be done regularly, backing up must be easy. Apple clearly agrees with me - I think that this is the whole premise behind Time Machine.
 

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