Best backup for a mac?
November 4, 2010 1:03 PM Subscribe
Backup disk/external hardrive advice for a non-techy with a mac.
Hi folks!
I have a home with two macbooks. My online research seems to say that apple's "time machine" dies too frequently after a year or so. Do you have suggestions for backup hardrives/disks? Most of our memory is related to music and some photos.
Thanks so much!
Anya
Hi folks!
I have a home with two macbooks. My online research seems to say that apple's "time machine" dies too frequently after a year or so. Do you have suggestions for backup hardrives/disks? Most of our memory is related to music and some photos.
Thanks so much!
Anya
Response by poster: this is my ignorance, but are "cloud" storage sites safe? i suppose a physical backup at home could die, too.
posted by anya32 at 1:11 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by anya32 at 1:11 PM on November 4, 2010
Best answer: For reliability, I'd trust the cloud over a USB drive any day.
Mozy's a good suggestion, as long as you remember one key thing- it's good for recovering accidental deletions or overwrites, but it only keeps data for 30 (I think) days. So those pictures you deleted last summer are gone.
Burn your media (pics/music) to DVD. Do it twice, it's cheap.
posted by mkultra at 1:16 PM on November 4, 2010
Mozy's a good suggestion, as long as you remember one key thing- it's good for recovering accidental deletions or overwrites, but it only keeps data for 30 (I think) days. So those pictures you deleted last summer are gone.
Burn your media (pics/music) to DVD. Do it twice, it's cheap.
posted by mkultra at 1:16 PM on November 4, 2010
I've had the 2TB Western Digital hard drive for a few months now and have had no complaints. Definitely recommend.
The only thing is getting used to having to plug in. I ended up moving all our pics and movies to the external HD leaving the music since I use that more frequently. We have an apple tv and movies stream perfectly off of it too!
posted by doorsfan at 1:16 PM on November 4, 2010
The only thing is getting used to having to plug in. I ended up moving all our pics and movies to the external HD leaving the music since I use that more frequently. We have an apple tv and movies stream perfectly off of it too!
posted by doorsfan at 1:16 PM on November 4, 2010
Do you mean an actual Apple hard drive dies? Or Time Machine the programme? You realise that Time Machine the programme will work with any external hard drive you plug in? Then it's just a question of mean time between failures on the actual hard drive.
posted by Biru at 1:21 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by Biru at 1:21 PM on November 4, 2010
Maybe I'm misreading your question, but to clarify, Time Machine is a software feature of OS X. I'm not sure how it would die, but it has worked just fine for me. I would go so far as to say it is awesome. Any external hard drive should be usable as a Time Machine backup disk. Hard drives do die sometimes, but they are quite cheap. If you have two hard drives, you can have both of them as Time Machine backups, which will give you some redundancy.
posted by snofoam at 1:23 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by snofoam at 1:23 PM on November 4, 2010
Mozy's a good suggestion, as long as you remember one key thing- it's good for recovering accidental deletions or overwrites, but it only keeps data for 30 (I think) days. So those pictures you deleted last summer are gone
That is exactly why I use Crashplan. Same price (actually a bit cheaper) and you can set it to never delete anything from the backup. It also versions files better than Time Machine (mine maintains 15 minute versions for a year, then daily after that).
posted by special-k at 1:27 PM on November 4, 2010
That is exactly why I use Crashplan. Same price (actually a bit cheaper) and you can set it to never delete anything from the backup. It also versions files better than Time Machine (mine maintains 15 minute versions for a year, then daily after that).
posted by special-k at 1:27 PM on November 4, 2010
I think you mean "Time Capsule". Like others said, Time machine will work with any drive and if you only plug it in to do backups once a week, that won't amount to much ear and tear over the years.
posted by bonobothegreat at 1:30 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by bonobothegreat at 1:30 PM on November 4, 2010
Best answer: I do this.
I have a hard drive dock connected to my Mac(s) and I buy two large HDs. I just plop a hard drive into the dock and it becomes my Time Machine drive for a month.
At the end of the month, I take the HD out, deposit it into a safety deposit box at my bank and use the other drive for a month. At the beginning of the next month I swap 'em out with each other.
This way:
posted by mazola at 1:32 PM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
I have a hard drive dock connected to my Mac(s) and I buy two large HDs. I just plop a hard drive into the dock and it becomes my Time Machine drive for a month.
At the end of the month, I take the HD out, deposit it into a safety deposit box at my bank and use the other drive for a month. At the beginning of the next month I swap 'em out with each other.
This way:
- I have three copies of the bulk of my data (original on the computer, 1 on the current Time Machine HD, 1 on the offsite HD)
- I have an offsite backup in case my house blows up or my house is broken into and everything is taken. I might lose up to 1 months data in a worst case scenario, but I can live with that given catastrophic circumstances.
posted by mazola at 1:32 PM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you're going to go the cloud route, I'd recommend Amazon's service. They're not going anywhere.
I do not recommend the cloud route, though. I use a WD external and make nightly backups with SuperDuper. Effortless. If you've got the money and/or inclination, the offsite method described by mazola is ideal. If not, the odds of both your computer's HD and your external's HD becoming unusable are pretty slim.
posted by entropicamericana at 1:45 PM on November 4, 2010
I do not recommend the cloud route, though. I use a WD external and make nightly backups with SuperDuper. Effortless. If you've got the money and/or inclination, the offsite method described by mazola is ideal. If not, the odds of both your computer's HD and your external's HD becoming unusable are pretty slim.
posted by entropicamericana at 1:45 PM on November 4, 2010
I've been using time machine with the same two 160GB external drives for over two years now with no problem.
Like mazola above I use one at home doing its back-up thing and I keep one safe offsite in case of catastrophe. I swap them about once a month and I've never had a problem.
posted by talkingmuffin at 1:59 PM on November 4, 2010
Like mazola above I use one at home doing its back-up thing and I keep one safe offsite in case of catastrophe. I swap them about once a month and I've never had a problem.
posted by talkingmuffin at 1:59 PM on November 4, 2010
The Cloud route helps, because you don't need the hardware yourself - someone else maintains it for you. You pay for it, a bit, but it's mostly worry-free.
The local hardware, either an External HD or Time Capsule, has the major advantages of YOU control the hardware, the backups will be much faster (local, not over the internet speeds), and if you need to get your data back in a hurry, you don't need to worry about downloading a lot of stuff all at once.
The older Time Capsules did have issues with their power supplies burning out - I believe this has been fixed. Since you have two MacBooks, my advice would be to get a single Time Capsule from Apple, and back up both MacBooks to it. Less hardware, all supported by Apple, and you can get AppleCare on the Time Capsule if you need it.
If something catastrophic happens to one of the MacBooks, when you repair or replace it, you can tell the new Laptop to go get the data from the Time Capsule, and it will pull everything in from the last backup, all in one shot. Very simple, easy to do w/o Techie skills.
If you're feeling tech-adventurous, check out a ReadyNAS, and configure it for Time Machine - I have a ReadyNAS Pro with 6 TB of storage space, and it's got all my needs handled. ;-)
posted by GJSchaller at 2:04 PM on November 4, 2010
The local hardware, either an External HD or Time Capsule, has the major advantages of YOU control the hardware, the backups will be much faster (local, not over the internet speeds), and if you need to get your data back in a hurry, you don't need to worry about downloading a lot of stuff all at once.
The older Time Capsules did have issues with their power supplies burning out - I believe this has been fixed. Since you have two MacBooks, my advice would be to get a single Time Capsule from Apple, and back up both MacBooks to it. Less hardware, all supported by Apple, and you can get AppleCare on the Time Capsule if you need it.
If something catastrophic happens to one of the MacBooks, when you repair or replace it, you can tell the new Laptop to go get the data from the Time Capsule, and it will pull everything in from the last backup, all in one shot. Very simple, easy to do w/o Techie skills.
If you're feeling tech-adventurous, check out a ReadyNAS, and configure it for Time Machine - I have a ReadyNAS Pro with 6 TB of storage space, and it's got all my needs handled. ;-)
posted by GJSchaller at 2:04 PM on November 4, 2010
If you're a non-techy and you want a simple solution, you want time machine (the software included with OSX, not the time capsule hardware). The setup below may sound jargon-y but I guarantee it's straightforward and totally painless to set up and use.
My house has two mac laptops hooked up to an airport extreme base station (AEBS) (apple's wireless router that's like a time capsule but without the built-in hard drive). I hook up a large external USB hard drive directly to the airport extreme, and time machine on each of the laptops will automatically connect to the drive via wi-fi to perform periodic backups. It works great, and has saved me several times. When and if the external hard drive dies, just unplug it from the AEBS and plug in a new one.*
That said, if you need *physical* data security (from theft or a fire), then you also want off-site backup. I would recommend mozy or entropicamericana's method.
*most hard drives you'll buy are preformatted for PC, so you'll first have to reformat the drive to use a "GUID partition table with MacOS Extended (Journaled) (HFS+)" filesystem. An apple genius or the teenager next door can help you with this.
posted by Chris4d at 2:16 PM on November 4, 2010
My house has two mac laptops hooked up to an airport extreme base station (AEBS) (apple's wireless router that's like a time capsule but without the built-in hard drive). I hook up a large external USB hard drive directly to the airport extreme, and time machine on each of the laptops will automatically connect to the drive via wi-fi to perform periodic backups. It works great, and has saved me several times. When and if the external hard drive dies, just unplug it from the AEBS and plug in a new one.*
That said, if you need *physical* data security (from theft or a fire), then you also want off-site backup. I would recommend mozy or entropicamericana's method.
*most hard drives you'll buy are preformatted for PC, so you'll first have to reformat the drive to use a "GUID partition table with MacOS Extended (Journaled) (HFS+)" filesystem. An apple genius or the teenager next door can help you with this.
posted by Chris4d at 2:16 PM on November 4, 2010
Mozy or Carbonite are great, as long as you have less than 200GB to backup. After that, your data will still upload, but EXTREMELY slowly. They throttle you. Do some investigation on your own if you have more than 200GB of data. Otherwise, those backup services are excellent.
posted by santaliqueur at 2:27 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by santaliqueur at 2:27 PM on November 4, 2010
Response by poster: ahh, i get the time capsule v. time machine difference now (slightly embarrassed but i'll get over it!) - thank you for that clarification and all of the information, too.
posted by anya32 at 2:30 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by anya32 at 2:30 PM on November 4, 2010
I've been pretty happy with Backblaze and an external drive that Time Machine talks to. (I do both cloud and directly connected storage - if your house burns down, the fire's going to burn down your external hard drive too.)
with a decent external drive, you pretty much hook it in and click "Use for Time Machine" and it's done. (I recommend getting one that says "Mac-compatible" on it - something like a drive from Other World Computing or the Apple Store - because it'll be pre-set optimally for Macs. most drives come set up for Windows PCs, and they'll still work on Macs, but not as well with Time Machine.) Backblaze is similarly easy to set up - install, pay, and then let it do its thing.
posted by mrg at 3:19 PM on November 4, 2010
with a decent external drive, you pretty much hook it in and click "Use for Time Machine" and it's done. (I recommend getting one that says "Mac-compatible" on it - something like a drive from Other World Computing or the Apple Store - because it'll be pre-set optimally for Macs. most drives come set up for Windows PCs, and they'll still work on Macs, but not as well with Time Machine.) Backblaze is similarly easy to set up - install, pay, and then let it do its thing.
posted by mrg at 3:19 PM on November 4, 2010
I use superduper to back up to an external HD. Since I have a laptop, I simply have a task to back up the hard drive once a week. Superduper is super easy to use and creates a bootable clone.
If my files were super important I'd add a cloud backup as well (and I'd backup daily). But going with just one, I'd rather be in control of my own backup. It's also faster.
As long as you buy a external HD from one of the typical vendors, such as Lacie, there's no need to look for a 'mac-compatible' drive. They work fine right out of the box.
posted by justgary at 5:08 PM on November 4, 2010
If my files were super important I'd add a cloud backup as well (and I'd backup daily). But going with just one, I'd rather be in control of my own backup. It's also faster.
As long as you buy a external HD from one of the typical vendors, such as Lacie, there's no need to look for a 'mac-compatible' drive. They work fine right out of the box.
posted by justgary at 5:08 PM on November 4, 2010
I can't believe that DropBox hasn't been mentioned!!! It's BY FAR the best backup software out there.
I'ved used it for a couple years now. Basically, it syncs your files anytime you're online with a secure location in the cloud. If you update a document, it sends the diff (e.g. only what's changed) to your backup as soon as you close it. That way, you NEVER have to remember to actually back up your computer, because you're ALWAYS backed up!
I started using DropBox to sync files between multiple computers (work and home). Basically, you can load the same DropBox account onto multiple systems so that every change is automatically sync'd with other computers. You can even sync files between Macs, PCs, and Linux boxes.
Also it's simple to share files in your DropBox. My buddies and I share tons of music this way.
Once the data is in the cloud, you can access it from your computer, a web browser, or even a smart phone.
The only downside is that it has a ceiling of 99GB on the big plan, so if you're looking to backup your music library it may not be sufficient.
posted by kryptonik at 5:57 AM on November 5, 2010
I'ved used it for a couple years now. Basically, it syncs your files anytime you're online with a secure location in the cloud. If you update a document, it sends the diff (e.g. only what's changed) to your backup as soon as you close it. That way, you NEVER have to remember to actually back up your computer, because you're ALWAYS backed up!
I started using DropBox to sync files between multiple computers (work and home). Basically, you can load the same DropBox account onto multiple systems so that every change is automatically sync'd with other computers. You can even sync files between Macs, PCs, and Linux boxes.
Also it's simple to share files in your DropBox. My buddies and I share tons of music this way.
Once the data is in the cloud, you can access it from your computer, a web browser, or even a smart phone.
The only downside is that it has a ceiling of 99GB on the big plan, so if you're looking to backup your music library it may not be sufficient.
posted by kryptonik at 5:57 AM on November 5, 2010
I use the time capsule as well as mozy. The first is useful for quick restoration and acquiring files potentially older than 30 days, while the latter will save my bacon in a real catastrophe (theft, fire, kids, etc) that takes out both my computer and the backup drive.
Incidentally, I had my time capsule serviced under warranty and I too have read some tales of woe about this device. My impression is that it is mid-range hard drive but the enclosure seems to be prone to overheating issues. You may be better served with a regular external drive that you can still use with the time machine software.
posted by dgran at 7:50 AM on November 5, 2010
Incidentally, I had my time capsule serviced under warranty and I too have read some tales of woe about this device. My impression is that it is mid-range hard drive but the enclosure seems to be prone to overheating issues. You may be better served with a regular external drive that you can still use with the time machine software.
posted by dgran at 7:50 AM on November 5, 2010
Best answer: It is incorrect that 'Time machine" dies after a year.
TL;DR - Time machine is fine. Time Capsule is fine. Just have two backups, not one. Buy a second hard drive and use SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner to 'mirror' your hard drive.
There have been incidents of Apple's Time Capsule failing. Some. They get replaced, but yes, there have been incidents.
Let me be the first to tell you that every hard drive you ever buy will day at some point after you buy it. Every. Single. One. They tell you it right on the box. It's called the MTBF, or Mean Time Between Failures, it's an average, and it's measured in hours.
Who uses the most hard drives? How about Google. Here's their study of the hard drives lifespan. Drives die more frequently, on average, around 24 months.
Time Machine (apple's built in backup) is great. It's set and forget. But you should use something else as well.
You just need a second hard drive backing up your system. SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner are both great 'one button press' tools that will do what you need.
Even safer? Mozy, BackBlaze or some other backup at an offline location. But TWO Backups are the 'safe' way to work.
posted by filmgeek at 8:09 AM on November 5, 2010
TL;DR - Time machine is fine. Time Capsule is fine. Just have two backups, not one. Buy a second hard drive and use SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner to 'mirror' your hard drive.
There have been incidents of Apple's Time Capsule failing. Some. They get replaced, but yes, there have been incidents.
Let me be the first to tell you that every hard drive you ever buy will day at some point after you buy it. Every. Single. One. They tell you it right on the box. It's called the MTBF, or Mean Time Between Failures, it's an average, and it's measured in hours.
Who uses the most hard drives? How about Google. Here's their study of the hard drives lifespan. Drives die more frequently, on average, around 24 months.
Time Machine (apple's built in backup) is great. It's set and forget. But you should use something else as well.
You just need a second hard drive backing up your system. SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner are both great 'one button press' tools that will do what you need.
Even safer? Mozy, BackBlaze or some other backup at an offline location. But TWO Backups are the 'safe' way to work.
posted by filmgeek at 8:09 AM on November 5, 2010
I've been very satisfied using SuperDuper and external hard drives. (I have multiple backup drives, in case one dies.)
And I've just recently added CrashPlan to my backup mix; a friend raved about it, and this review provided another rave. The SuperDuper/hard drive solution is great in that I can restore my entire system in about an hour, but I also wanted something out in the cloud - and out of my general location in an earthquake-prone area. I haven't tested restoring files from CrashPlan yet, though, so I can't really vouch for it, personally.
I also use Dropbox to sync selected files to my iPad, but I don't use it as a primary backup mechanism - although I know some do.
posted by jeri at 3:59 AM on November 7, 2010
And I've just recently added CrashPlan to my backup mix; a friend raved about it, and this review provided another rave. The SuperDuper/hard drive solution is great in that I can restore my entire system in about an hour, but I also wanted something out in the cloud - and out of my general location in an earthquake-prone area. I haven't tested restoring files from CrashPlan yet, though, so I can't really vouch for it, personally.
I also use Dropbox to sync selected files to my iPad, but I don't use it as a primary backup mechanism - although I know some do.
posted by jeri at 3:59 AM on November 7, 2010
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www.mozy.com
$5/mo for unlimited storage. Takes a bit to upload everything (i..e, leave your computer on for a week) but once it's uploaded you're good.
posted by mcschmidt00 at 1:07 PM on November 4, 2010