MAC Back up questions

[juddy]

1 best method to back up mail for Mac. ( to USB storage )

2 best method for backing up all important, files folders etc, on to USB, ie the fastest method to do this in one go??

cheers

JB

[OffTrack]

Time Machine.

The initial back will take a while, but the incremental backup are then pretty quick. You could alway change the default backup to only your user directory, which will pick up your personal files, docs, settings etc providing you don't save them outside the user directory.

[juddy]

Thank you..er none the wiser, I have never used time machine

Can you explain to novice here what i need to do, its along time since i used a mac ie, LC3/quadra days. and need a few pointers...

[djam1]

Does this help?
Mac 101: Time Machine (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427)

[juddy]

Does this help?
Mac 101: Time Machine (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427)

Indeed it does, all sorted thanks guys....

[Craig K]

Hi Jb,

Time machine is great but only if you are looking to restore individual files and/or folders, if you Mac has a complete meltdown time machine is not ideal. The best thing to do is to have 2 backups-:

1. A Time machine Backup

2. A second hard drive and a piece of software to automatically create bootable backups. The hard drive should be the same size as the internal drive of your Mac. The software is a free program called SuperDuper! This is the link to the site to download it -:
SuperDuper! (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html)

Once downloaded and installed you can program it to create a complete backup of your hard drive, either at selected times or just when you attach the drive. The backup it will create is one that allows you to boot from your external drive if your internal drive dies. It will also, in the event of your whole Mac failing, allow you to create a complete restoration to a new machine essentially getting back in action with nothing lost.

I appreciate this sounds a little over the top but experience has taught me that unless you have 2 backups with one off site or at least hidden in a shed you are not really backed up. The rationale is simple for the second backup. If your house gets broken into they will steal your Mac and the hard drive if it is attached, if the house burns down you will loose both the computer and the backup. You can only be sure if you have another backup secured somewhere else. While it seems a little bit of a hassle it's nowhere as much as a hassle as loosing all your files.

Cheers

Craig

[onesilop]

Hi Jb,

Time machine is great but only if you are looking to restore individual files and/or folders, if you Mac has a complete meltdown time machine is not ideal. The best thing to do is to have 2 backups-:

1. A Time machine Backup

2. A second hard drive and a piece of software to automatically create bootable backups. The hard drive should be the same size as the internal drive of your Mac. The software is a free program called SuperDuper! This is the link to the site to download it -:
SuperDuper! (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html)

Once downloaded and installed you can program it to create a complete backup of your hard drive, either at selected times or just when you attach the drive. The backup it will create is one that allows you to boot from your external drive if your internal drive dies. It will also, in the event of your whole Mac failing, allow you to create a complete restoration to a new machine essentially getting back in action with nothing lost.

I appreciate this sounds a little over the top but experience has taught me that unless you have 2 backups with one off site or at least hidden in a shed you are not really backed up. The rationale is simple for the second backup. If your house gets broken into they will steal your Mac and the hard drive if it is attached, if the house burns down you will loose both the computer and the backup. You can only be sure if you have another backup secured somewhere else. While it seems a little bit of a hassle it's nowhere as much as a hassle as loosing all your files.

Cheers

Craig

I disagree just a little Craig, I have restored at least 3 or 4 times from time machine backups. if the HD fails you replace the HD then reinstall osx from CD or usb and the last step on install is a restore from time machine.

Even if you are using superduper you will loose everything between the last backup and when the failure happens. This is no different to time machine.

I do agree with keeping a second backup though, it is well worth it especially if your timemachine backup drive dies....

[Judo]

I have fully restored from time machine before and it's all too easy and works brilliantly.

Definitely use Time machine for everything.

[OffTrack]

If you are looking for a hard drive to do time machine backups to you consider grabbing a time capsule (http://store.apple.com/au/product/MD032X/A/time-capsule-2-tb?fnode=4d#overview). You can hide the time capsule out of the way and backup wirelessly to it. It's also possible to use external drives connected to the time capsule of additional capacity.

Time Machine Scheduler (http://www.klieme.com/TimeMachineScheduler.html) is also pretty handy if you need more control over time machine backup schedules.

cheers
Paul

[dmdigital]

Another vote for time machine. Also under OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion you can specify two separate disks to backup to simultaneously.

As for copying just you mail folders to a USB stick the easiest way is to select Mailbox > Export Mailbox... from the menu and it will export it where you tell it.
You can also go find the files and copy them but that's a little harder to describe if you are using Mountain Lion.

[Craig K]

I absolutely do agree that time machinen is a great option. Why I think a second backup as a mirror image or bootable copy is essential is that in the event of a complete hard drive failure on your Mac you can boot from this external drive and continue using your computer as before until you get the damaged drive replaced. You can't boot from a time machine drive.

If this backup drive is stored remotely it makes no difference whether you use super duper or time machine. This is because you have to bring the drive on site and physically connect the drive to update the date before once again taking it off site for safety. The currency of the data is the same with either process. The big difference is that you can boot from a mirror image drive but not from a time machine drive. If your Mac is being used for work this could be a big advantage.

In any case it all boils down to how paranoid you are about loosing your data. For me if I loose some correspondence or the like who cares but if I lost my family photos it would be a disaster. This is why I think you need at least 2 backups with one being off site.

Best of luck with it.

[OffTrack]

I find the second back up off site a bit problematic. Unless you are religiously rotating between local and offsite backups on a weekly basis you are setting yourself up for disaster when you actually need to recover data.

It's worth looking at online backup if you have a broadband plan with a healthy monthly data allowance. While it doesn't replace a local backup it can be pretty useful for backing up stuff you really can't afford to lose.

It's worth considering using a product like Crashplan if you want a high level of data protection.

https://www.crashplan.com/consumer/au/store.vtl

A comprehensive solution would be to use the backup to disk option to send a full back up to the company to avoid huge data charges. You'd then do incremental backups to keep the backup up to date.

If you actually suffer a total data loss you can have a full copy of the backup courier to you.

The most attractive aspect is it largely eliminates the human as a factor in data backup. And I reckon if you are relying on a human to ensure data is backed up regularly and taken off site, there is a high degree of probability that when I matters the human will have be found to have failed.

cheers
Paul

[juddy]

Thanks all. some food for thought here....

Now twin monitors for Mac, whats my options......