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Any suggestions on a redundant backup setup?

N

neoelectronaut

Cancelled
Original poster
Dec 3, 2003
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My new Macbook Pro is on the way and while replacing my iMac I've decided that I'll be moving my Time Machine backup from a hard-wired connection to a Airport Extreme-powered wireless connection for convenience. (So I don't need to plug in the Macbook Pro for backups...this wasn't an issue with my previously desk-bound iMac)

Along the way I've decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and purchase Apple's iCloud backup service...if anything else at least for my iPhoto library.

And hell while I'm at it I may as well go for a third solution as well and this is where I'm looking for the most advice. I figure a hard drive cloning program is the best way to go, maybe set to back up on a weekly schedule. Since the program would be cloning the computer's entire hard drive I assume a wired connection would be best, though if you guys think the Airport Extreme connection would suffice I could always set up a second drive just for that. Any suggestions on setup and software to use for this, or a different third option altogether?

Thanks!
 
In my experience Time Machine works best when used with external drives. While Airport Extreme works backing uo and restoring will be slower.

I'm not saying you can't use Time Machine it just that I wouldn't rely on it. In my experience its not reliable enough for serious use.

Using external drives is probably easier and faster regardless of what software you decide to use.

As for iCloud you might want to consider how practical restoring would be in the worst case. If you have slow connection and large amount of data it will take days to restore everything.

Third option would be something else such as cloning, using other backup software in addition to Time Machine. You can find lots of discussions on the subject on the Mac Apps and Mac App Store forum.
 
Time Machine is still going to be used with an external drive, it's just going to be connected to an Airport Extreme's USB port instead of the Macbook Pro's USB port, that way the MBP doesn't need to be physically tethered to a hard drive to back up hourly.
 
I use TechTool Pro for cloning. A cheaper (maybe free?) option is Carbon Copy Cloner. I've seen it recommended here, never used it.
 
neoelectronaut said:
I figure a hard drive cloning program is the best way to go, maybe set to back up on a weekly schedule. Since the program would be cloning the computer's entire hard drive I assume a wired connection would be best, though if you guys think the Airport Extreme connection would suffice I could always set up a second drive just for that. Any suggestions on setup and software to use for this, or a different third option altogether?
Click to expand...

https://bombich.com

I use Carbon Copy Cloner for exactly this. It can be automated with a weekly schedule like you want. You will want to do this with a direct attached not over ethernet through the router... that would be so slow you will want to kill yourself.

CCC has a free 30 day trial if you want to test it out.
 
Weaselboy said:
https://bombich.com

I use Carbon Copy Cloner for exactly this. It can be automated with a weekly schedule like you want. You will want to do this with a direct attached not over ethernet through the router... that would be so slow you will want to kill yourself.

CCC has a free 30 day trial if you want to test it out.
Click to expand...

I think I've used an older version of Carbon Copy Cloner years back, so I'll probably start with them.

I'm still gonna stick with Time Machine via the Airport Extreme but maybe I'll pick up a little 512GB portable external drive specifically for Carbon Copy Cloner, since that's the size of the SSD in the Macbook Pro, and I assume it'll just be rewriting the entire backup every time, no?
 
Weaselboy said:
CCC will of course write everything over the first time, but subsequent runs will only be changes and new items, so it runs pretty quickly.
Click to expand...

Awesome, I'll still probably go with the portable hard drive route and just shove it in a desk drawer until I need to do my weekly clone.
 
neoelectronaut said:
the portable hard drive route and just shove it in a desk drawer
Click to expand...

Modify this slightly: take that drive somewhere else (work, Mom's house, etc). It isn't going to help you at home if you have a fire, theft, etc. (Hope that never happens!)

Also, have a look at rsync if all you're gonna do is clone. No need to pay for software when a three or four line script will get the job done just as well if not better.
 
cbdilger said:
Modify this slightly: take that drive somewhere else (work, Mom's house, etc). It isn't going to help you at home if you have a fire, theft, etc. (Hope that never happens!)

Also, have a look at rsync if all you're gonna do is clone. No need to pay for software when a three or four line script will get the job done just as well if not better.
Click to expand...

Well ideally the cloud backup would be in case of Fire...the clone is just in the event that Time Machine ends up flaking out during a restore.
 
I use three different methods to backup. Time Machine to multiple destinations, CCC to USB drives, and CrashPlan for offsite backup. Only one I had to use was a CCC clone to roll back a botched OS upgrade.

I chose CrashPlan because of their family plan that provides offsite storage for up to 10 computers.
 
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