Best Options for Backing up/External Storage on a MAC

Rovers_Andy

Rovers_Andy

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Andy
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Currently running 15 Inch Macbook pro 4GB Ram 500GB HDD 2GB Memory.

I have a WD 1TB drive that i back everything up with and a 320GB Mypassport that i use for backing up when im away from home. I also use the Mypassport as a general use HDD - Itunes etc (i want to have the bare minimum on the Macbooks drive to keep it from running slowly)


So what is my best option Ive heard of Time Machine but im new to mac (3 weeks)

Ideally i want something that will automatically back up any changes to files and will be able to operate with more than one Mac (Im looking at getting a mac pro early next year)


What are peoples favoured methods for backing up? do you replicate everything 2-3 times or do you have say RAW, TIFF and JPEG files on seperate HDDs


Many thanks in Advance for peoples time/help

(y):)
 
im currently looking at the nas backup enclosures, like the synology l209. runs off your home router to give you back ups. you can then set it to do a raid1 where it duplicates the info onto both drives thus giving you a backup.

not got too far into looking at it yet though so no idea if they are any good
 
Hi Andy
Rovers_Andy said:
i want to have the bare minimum on the Macbooks drive to keep it from running slowly
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You don't need to worry too much about this. HFS (the apple file system) doesn't suffer from the same fragmentation problems which FAT/NTFS (windows file systems) which are the main causes of performance problems.
There is some more info here if you want a bit more than my word for that though :D
As long as having all your data on your MacBooks internal drive won't fill it to bursting point, you'll be fine.

If you go that route, TimeMachine (TM) has to be the way forward. You can do this in a variety of ways..
  • Use TM to back up to an external drive plugged in via USB
  • Buy a TimeCapsule
  • Plug an external drive into Airport base station (if you use one) and back up to that

I use a disk plugged into airport which works well as it's available every time I turn my Macbook on and connect to my network. I then use OXS disk utility to clone the airport disk onto a second USB driver every week or two, and store this "off site" (well, in my desk drawer at work)

As you also user Aperture, have a look at Vaults. If your Aperture library is managed (it's this by default), rather than referenced, Aperture will let you back up your library (images + metadata) to as manay external locations as you wish to configure.
If you're using a referenced library and the image files are on your internal HDD, these should be managed by TM, but it may be an idea to us a Vault to back up your metadata and adjustments as these are stored in the Aperture library, not in the image files them selves.
 
Onsite back up - Time Machine to Time Capsule
Offsite back up (and on the road back up) - Mozy

Both are fully automatic

Image backing up process (using Lightroom):
Convert RAWs on card to DNG store on local drive and copy on Time Capsule or other external drive. Time Capsule folder and other external drive a syncronised.

So I end up with 2 copies of all files I've taken and a further 3 copies of all my keepers. I don't tend to keep jpegs after then have been used.
 
Ok Guys Thanks for this

I think i will go for Backing up with Time Machine then get time capsule. Then have a couple more Mypassport for RAW and TIFF.


Onsite back up - Time Machine to Time Capsule
Offsite back up (and on the road back up) - Mozy
Click to expand...

Whats Mozy?

Thanks

Andy
 
fletch5 said:
im currently looking at the nas backup enclosures, like the synology l209. runs off your home router to give you back ups. you can then set it to do a raid1 where it duplicates the info onto both drives thus giving you a backup.
Click to expand...

sorry but NO. raid is not a backup device, please do not use it that way.

raid can die and destroy all attached drives the same as any other hard drive. please have a 2nd copy of your data stored on another device.
 
I've got a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo with a pair of Spinpoint 1TB drives on my LAN and use Chronosync to back up whenever it reconnects. I was using time machine but it was filling up the drive pretty quickly. I also wanted to be able to access the files from my PC on occasion.
 
If you are interested in a NAS device then you could look at the freeNAS tips on the top tips page :)

My personal backup would be to drag the entire user home directory to an external drive connected via FW800 (or FW400 or USB2 in that order) about every couple of weeks then every few days copy the documents and photo directory over.

There is file sync software available which will backup your user directory to the NAS or EXT drive in the background. I will be doing a tip about it in the next couple of weeks because it has come up before.
 
Hi

I had been looking at this to use as back up but with the sounds of things it might not be secure...

click here

stew
 
artona said:
Hi

I had been looking at this to use as back up but with the sounds of things it might not be secure...

click here

stew
Click to expand...

It looks ok to me.

RAID0 is most definitely NOT for backing up as has been mentioned above, this is because the data is split between the two drives in stripes this makes it VERY fast because the delay whilst a head is moved is used to read the other drive meaning that you do not have a data gap. If either drive fails you lose everything so effectively you are doubling your chances of data loss!

RAID1 is more secure because it is essentially TWO copies of the same data so if one drive fails the other is ok. This is basically better than a simple external drive and a better backup method but if you accidentally delete something it is deleted from both. I would always suggest a backup in a second location too.

All the other versions of RAID are variations and mixtures of the above :)
 
cowasaki said:
RAID1 is more secure because it is essentially TWO copies of the same data so if one drive fails the other is ok. This is basically better than a simple external drive and a better backup method but if you accidentally delete something it is deleted from both. I would always suggest a backup in a second location too.
Click to expand...

i agree i would not recommend even mirroring as a single point of backup. i have had raid controllers die on me and it has wiped all data on every attached drive, forcing a restore from tape.
 
I was planning to use Raid1. Picking up on what neil_g said if the raid fails do you then lose both drives?

stew
 
artona said:
I was planning to use Raid1. Picking up on what neil_g said if the raid fails do you then lose both drives?

stew
Click to expand...

In exceptional circumstances you could do but the most unreliable part is the actual hard drive. SO RAID1 would be MUCH more reliable than a normal external drive. This is what I ran on my servers upto this last one where I have just dumped the second drive completely because I now backup to an external drive PLUS the server PLUS another external drive which I keep at work !!
 
likewise i have 2 separate external drives which sync the data using allway sync. those 2 drives live at work (dont tell the boss) and i sync a 3rd copy of my important files to a portable drive i carry around with me.
 
Looking at the website allway sync is for windows, or will it work on mac or do you know of an alternative for mac.

stew
 
artona said:
Looking at the website allway sync is for windows, or will it work on mac or do you know of an alternative for mac.

stew
Click to expand...

I have been looking for a FREE mac file sync program that is easy to use. There are a few but I have not tested any yet as I plan to do the sync tips shortly.
 
sorry for the slight hijack, would it be better to havethe two seperate drives in the NAS run as two seperate drives instead of raid1 or would this be just as bad?
 
Hmmmmmm, i think its time to swot up on this as i don't know what NAS, RAID etc are.........:shrug:

If anyone wants me i'll be somewhere in the OSX top tips thread or google:geek:
:wave:
 
Superduper works well on macs link

With backup hardware, it really does depend on your budget. I would definitely look at a NAS solution though.

Graham
 
I use:

  • Automatic daily sync of internal disk to external firewire drive (using Carbon Copy Cloner), so I have a bootable backup of entire hard disk, plus access to files that I have deleted off internal disk (sync only updates / adds files to backup drive).
  • Automatic daily backup via internet to Mozy of all documents and photo's.
  • Manual backup via Time machine to USB drive as and when I plug it in. This is stored in a Peli case at the bottom of my garden, just in case house burns down and Mozy servers in the USA are taken out by a tactical nuke.
 
neil_g said:
id be interested to know why? unless youre running gigabit interfaces all round (computer, router/switch and NAS) then the transfer rates will be slower..
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Well, I do but absolute speed is not the priority with a backup. Any decent software will only copy changed files anyway, taking just a few minutes depending on the work done during the day.

I would recommend a nas solution because it can be fault tolerant and easily accessible.

I use a Netgear Readynas NV+ with four disks. One can fail and the unit can continue to run until it is replaced with no loss of data. I also use a UPS to be safe. That's an expensive solution, but there are two disk versions.

The fact that you can access your files anywhere in the world, store your server anywhere convenient and safe/secure out of harms way. You can also write to your hard drive from anywhere you have internet access. Could be a great boon when on an assignment or holiday.

Graham
 
I have a Western Digital MyBook external drive plugged into the Firewire 800 port on my Macbook pro that TimeMachine backs up onto. I have subversion repository on a linux box that holds the history of my website updates (so I can do website maintenance on any machine).
I also have a Buffalo Terastation NAS that I manually copy files onto. It's not a problem if it takes a few minutes to copy files on/off the NAS as it is just a backup, the working files are on the local machine's harddrive.
 
blue max said:
Well, I do but absolute speed is not the priority with a backup. Any decent software will only copy changed files anyway, taking just a few minutes depending on the work done during the day.

I would recommend a nas solution because it can be fault tolerant and easily accessible.

I use a Netgear Readynas NV+ with four disks. One can fail and the unit can continue to run until it is replaced with no loss of data. I also use a UPS to be safe. That's an expensive solution, but there are two disk versions.

The fact that you can access your files anywhere in the world, store your server anywhere convenient and safe/secure out of harms way. You can also write to your hard drive from anywhere you have internet access. Could be a great boon when on an assignment or holiday.

Graham
Click to expand...

thats fair enough.. its nothing that cant be done on the other devices either, but they are good reasons :)
 
Hmmmmmmmm stil not really any clearer. It sounds like NAS could be good but is just as likely to suffer a failure as a portable HDD like the mypassport. And from what ive read about RAID i would need level 1 or 5?

is this right (please bear in mind i really dont have much idea about computing etc)

Thanks

Andy
 
A network attached storage device (NAS) is connected via ethernet. It has it's own IP address, so it can be accessed anywhere there is internet access (if you wish).

A local hard drive is just that. You attach it to your computer. If you have two computers you must disconnect it and take it over the the other one. If you go on holiday, you have to take it with you to access it.

This is probably not going to be clear from any post. You really need to do some research first. To get the most out of a NAS needs a certain amount of background knowledge. To be honest you really need to do some googling to get to understand the technologies. It's not actually too hard to understand (I did it!).

Good luck.
Graham
 
neil_g said:
yeah and you can access a USB/local drive from the internet too if you really wanted..

but thats wandering off topic a little..
Click to expand...

Is that something that is relatively easy to do though? Do you have a tutorial for a mac as I would be interested to see how easy it is to do.

Thank you.
Graham
 
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