Back Up Solution

[Graemezee]

I have a mac pro with the 4 HD Bays. I have hundreds of gigabytes of current work/projects spread over two of discs, not on the root disc. I propose to fit one of the bays with a two terabyte drive to back up my work. I don't mind backing up the computer(home docs apps etc.) but its not essential as I do the light weight stuff online.

Is Time Machine suitable for this or is there a better simpler package that will meet my needs.

 

[Jolly Giant]

check out ChronoSync.

 

[balamw]

check out ChronoSync.

I might consider that better, but not simpler. (At least in setup and recovery).

B

 

[mysterytramp]

Is Time Machine suitable for this or is there a better simpler package that will meet my needs.

TM should work fine, though what kind of work do you do? Do you have a separate archiving system? Hundreds of GB? 2TB might not be enough ...

Let's say you do lots of video work. Chances are a few projects consume most of your time then you're on to the next group of projects. These are huge files that after you're done, stay stationery (unedited) on your hard drive.

As your TM backup grows, it'll need to cull old files to make way for important new files. Then boom! your hard drives crash. When you try to restore, you find out important old projects -- maybe ones you wanted to use for a portfolio -- are gone.

That's not a LIKELY scenario, but it is a potential one.

mt

 

[Graemezee]

TM should work fine, though what kind of work do you do? Do you have a separate archiving system? Hundreds of GB? 2TB might not be enough ...

mt

My work is mainly graphics. Have lots of projects that stay live for several months if not years. Each project has large amounts High res photos which are kept with each project. I also archive and catalogue the images separately for easy retrieval once the project is complete and archived.

I work for a company and for myself, both work folders average about 300 to 400 gigs. Lots of projects stay dormant for months then spring into action for a short period. So most of the files will remain the same. I archive the project to DVD once they have completed or at appropriate break points

 

[mysterytramp]

I archive the project to DVD once they have completed or at appropriate break points

So long as you have good archiving procedures in place you should be OK.

TM is a good set-it-and-forget-it solution.

mt

 

[mchalebk]

TM should work fine, though what kind of work do you do? Do you have a separate archiving system? Hundreds of GB? 2TB might not be enough ...

Let's say you do lots of video work. Chances are a few projects consume most of your time then you're on to the next group of projects. These are huge files that after you're done, stay stationery (unedited) on your hard drive.

As your TM backup grows, it'll need to cull old files to make way for important new files. Then boom! your hard drives crash. When you try to restore, you find out important old projects -- maybe ones you wanted to use for a portfolio -- are gone.

That's not a LIKELY scenario, but it is a potential one.

mt

Time Machine does not “cull old files”, it culls old backups. As long as you haven’t deleted the files from your computer, they will not be deleted by TM. Even if you haven’t touched a file in years, TM will not remove it from its backups as long as you don’t delete the file.

When the TM HDD fills up, TM will start dropping the oldest backups. Let’s say it deletes the ones older than a month. Any files you deleted from your computer more than a month ago will be deleted from the backups. However, every file that TM has been backing up will remain in the backups as long as they remain on your computer.