Apple Releases MobileMe Backup 3.2

[MacRumors]

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Apple yesterday released MobileMe Backup v3.2, bringing several improvements to MobileMe users who use the application to back up data to their iDisk accounts.

Backup 3.2 is recommended for all users of Backup 3. This update improves the reliability of backup restore and uses space more efficiently on your iDisk or local storage (e.g. external hard drive or DVD).

Apple provides additional information on how Backup 3.2 recycles backups over time for various backup frequencies and media options.

Backup 3.2 weighs in at 6.73 MB and requires Mac OS X 10.4.11, 10.5.8, or 10.6 or later. A MobileMe account is also required.

Article Link: Apple Releases MobileMe Backup 3.2

 

[justinfreid]

This new version really simplifies automatic backup of settings and important documents from your home folder to your iDisk. I'll run it alongside Mozy to compare.
Those who are already MobileMe subscribers should definitely download and test this out.

 

[gt1948]

This new version really simplifies automatic backup of settings and important documents from your home folder to your iDisk. I'll run it alongside Mozy to compare.
Those who are already MobileMe subscribers should definitely download and test this out.

Also, I wonder if this has anything to do with the upcoming shipment of 3G iPads?

 

[Data]

Will this work for backing up a iTunes lib of say 7gig big? I met to the mobileme cloud of course.

In the past i found that uploadeng files bigger then a few MB was absolutly usesless it would take hours, and my connection wasnt the bottle neck, may the fact that i live in the EU was it, so thats why i wonderd.

 

[AndyMulhearn]

Red haired step child

With time machine and rsync, isn't this a bit of solution looking for a problem?

 

[jaw04005]

Well, I was going to use it to backup Pages, Keynote and Numbers files but I keep getting a stupid “internal application error” when it’s trying to build an archive.

Since it was introduced back in 2002, this program has never worked consistently for me no matter the hardware.

 

[iJon]

This software has always worked well for me. Since Time Machine has come out I certainly don't have a need for it but it always worked.

What's nice about it that it lets you pick and choose certain things to backup and restoring the data is simple as well.

Good to see them keeping this software up to date.

 

[illegalprelude]

wow. I thought Apple had killed this service/program off a long time ago. Nice to see it alive and outside of Time Machine, this has its nice uses where you just need to backup a particular segment on another drive or something.

 

[DHKaplan]

This could be a dangerous upgrade. Backups to iDisk from Backup 3.2 have the "Recycle" feature that cannot be disabled. This will "recycle" backups older than 30 days/12 weeks depending upon whether you choose daily or monthly backups. Backups to local media are not affected.

Users saving to iDisk might get a shock if they go to look for data older than the recycle period and haven't read the information carefully.

DHK

 

[wizard]

What is wrong with having a plan beyond TimeMachine?

With time machine and rsync, isn't this a bit of solution looking for a problem?

Besides you can't really rely on time machine as your ultimate backup device. That due to most people having their TimeMachine volume at the same site as the computer. Time machine works great don't get me wrong but it isn't an off site solution.

In my case I will have to check out this software. In the pass I backed up really important data by simply copying the data to MobileMe.


Dave

 

[Shoesy]

Doesn't strictly speaking need mobileme - just happily backs up where you ask it to.

 

[DHKaplan]

Very true. I had been using both iDisk & local, but iDisk users could get burnt.

 

[The Stig]

Why would I use this?

Why would I use this to backup my address book, stickies, ical, safari, keychain and all those other items that already sych with mobileme? It is already on mobileme, why would I backup up again to it?

I could see backing up your home folder and ilife and itunes to the cloud, but they don't give you enough space on your mobileme to really do that.

So really it is only good for things that mobileme already backups.

Am I missing something here? If so, could somebody explain?

The Stig

 

[QCassidy352]

Never used this app before, but I'm checking it out now. I like how easy it is to include (or not) any folder or file.

Why would I use this to backup my address book, stickies, ical, safari, keychain and all those other items that already sych with mobileme? It is already on mobileme, why would I backup up again to it?

I could see backing up your home folder and ilife and itunes to the cloud, but they don't give you enough space on your mobileme to really do that.

So really it is only good for things that mobileme already backups.

Am I missing something here? If so, could somebody explain?

The Stig

I mostly agree, but what I'm backing up is just the documents portion of my home folder, a little over 2 GB. Can't back up all the music, pictures, and movies, but saving the documents is still pretty worthwhile.

 

[AndyMulhearn]

Besides you can't really rely on time machine as your ultimate backup device. That due to most people having their TimeMachine volume at the same site as the computer. Time machine works great don't get me wrong but it isn't an off site solution.

In my case I will have to check out this software. In the pass I backed up really important data by simply copying the data to MobileMe.

Dave

Which is why I mentioned rsync as well as time machine. rsync is a more general purpose tool - OK so it's command line - but it's a lot more efficient at getting content up to a shared network disk.

I ran a backup of my home directory (excluding music and movies) and it took on the order of 3 hours to backup 2GB. Still remarkably slow...

 

[The Stig]

Never used this app before, but I'm checking it out now. I like how easy it is to include (or not) any folder or file.



I mostly agree, but what I'm backing up is just the documents portion of my home folder, a little over 2 GB. Can't back up all the music, pictures, and movies, but saving the documents is still pretty worthwhile.

Yeah the documents folder I guess, but that is about it. If you care about real off site backup then this wouldn't be a good solution.

The Stig

 

[DHKaplan]

I have offsite backup using "Backup"... I use time machine on an external drive for daily safety... have backup do a weekly incremental to a raided G-Tech system, and then swap out/replace one the pair and take it offsite...

 

[redsteven]

Why would I use this to backup my address book, stickies, ical, safari, keychain and all those other items that already sych with mobileme? It is already on mobileme, why would I backup up again to it?

Because backing up is all ABOUT redundancy

But seriously speaking, there are major advantages to backing up this way. Since first becoming a mobileme member in 2003 (well... it was dot mac then) I've had more than 1 instance where my address book has become corrupted. The problem is, this corruption (whether it started on my mac, my iDisk, or somewhere in between) was synchronized, so that ALL sources of my data were corrupted. In that case, something like Time Machine or Backup.app will allow you to revert to a copy of your address book from a few days ago, before the data got corrupted.

If you're already using Time Machine, then just look at backup as an automated way to get your data offsite.

No, it's not a good enough application (nor is there enough space on my iDisk) to back up everything that I'd like to. However, I do have my most important documents backed up (in addition to the personal settings like bookmarks, keychain, address book, etc.)
To back up your documents without totally filling up your iDisk, I'd recommend opening up your Documents folder in the Finder and sorting by Size, and seeing which folders are enormous. Go to Backup and make a backup plan for your Documents folder, excluding the specific folders/files that are enormous.

Unfortunately, you'll still have the keep an eye on your Documents folder for those times in the future when you add MORE huge files/folders to it, but for the most part, this is a workable, and LARGELY "set it and forget it" solution.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

Backup 3

I have been using Backup since it came out to have off site storage of my Filemaker Pro databases and MYOB accounts files. It has saved me on more that one occasion when my hard drive died. I use time machine now also but if you have a fire or get ripped then your out of luck.
All I had to do was install Filemaker Pro again and download my databases.

It has always been a bit buggy as you have to quit Filemaker or you get an upload error. I'm hoping 3.2 works a little better that way.

You also have to periodically go to your idisk and delete old backups to free up space and that always takes a while.

Is there a better app for off site storage to idisk?

Brendan

 

[Weaselboy]

You also have to periodically go to your idisk and delete old backups to free up space and that always takes a while.

It looks like this version added a feature to address this issue. You can tell it how long to keep old versions. For example, I have mine set to run weekly and keep old versions of backups for four weeks. Obviously, the new version has not been out long enough for me to see how this works... so I guess we will wait and find out.

 

[drmacnut]

Thought it was Defunct

I had almost completely forgotten about Backup! Haven't used it a bit since Leopard and Time Machine, not to mention MobileMe syncing of course.

To whom is Backup targeted? Is it just there for Luddites not wanting to upgrade beyond Panther or Tiger? (bad joke, sorry. I'll go now.)