Backup Advice Please!

I'd get a 1.5TB external hard drive (for future proofing, so even if you do fill up your hard drive you can still do a full backup) and then use Time Machine.

 

The first thing I'd do is not put all my eggs in one backup HD. You may think you are getting better protection but its marginal because one HD failure obviously nukes both.

I also don't understand the comment about backing up once a week since the Mac is for personal use? Even with TM running and backing up every hour, its not going to take any more appreciable space than a weekly backup, and it would mean, for example, that you could get back several days worth of perhaps painstaking photoshop edits after a problem. TM only steps down to daily backups after 24 hours, so even if you edited a photo over the entire course of a working day, the next day there will just be the last version of it backed up, not say 10-12 copies.



You might also wish to consider offsite backup, there are various online providers, or you could just take a weekly backup which you leave somewhere else - might be a friend or relatives house. I

 

You won't need it to be any bigger than the space you use on your HD, so I would just go with 1TB.

 

In your original post, you wrote:
"I usually back up once a week since I am retired and use my computer for personal use and storage: music, photos, etc. Thus, no need to do constant backups."

If that's the case, my advice is to STOP using Time Machine, period. You already have a SuperDuper clone "at-hand". Since you don't need "constant backups", increase you incremental backup using SD _twice_ weekly, and you should be fine.

TM wastes space on [often unecessary] backups upon backups upon backups. Neither is the TM backup bootable in a moment of need.

Others will chime in and say "TM and SD do different things". Indeed they do. But you've already stated above what YOUR needs are, and SD fulfils them much better than TM.

My suggestion for a backup solution for the new iMac?
1. Get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Syba-Connecla...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1253062702&sr=1-22
(that's what I bought -- there are many, many other USB/SATA docks available)

If you absolutely have-to-have Firewire 800, Other World Computing sells their "Voyager" dock with USB2 _and_ Firewire 800. It's more expensive, though.

2. Pick up one or two "bare" 1tb drives. Newegg.com is a good source, other drive deals can be found at dealmac.com.

3. Set up the dock and drive, and clone your iMac internal to the external using SuperDuper (just as you use it now).

4. Do incremental backups twice weekly.

5. For "extra protection" get a SECOND 1tb bare drive, and do a clone to that one, too. Keep it either "offsite" (different building than the computer is in, such as a safe deposit box), or, if that's not possible, it might be worth buying a small "fire-resistant data box" that you can keep down in the basement.

Do "rotating backups" between the two bare drives, and you're probably more "protected" than 95% of the other retired personal computer users in the world.

BTW, lately, I like CarbonCopyCloner better than SuperDuper. Just seems a little easier to set up and use. And of course, it's free.

 

I beg to differ, the OP says he doesn't , but he'll realise he did need constant backups about 3 seconds after he accidentally realises he just lost, days worth of detailed photoshop edits. All because he wouldn't plug a disk drive into a port, select "yes", and leave it alone.

First law of computing=There is no such thing as an unnecessary backup.
In any case, TM does not take backups of backups of backups. It doesn't even take backups of backups. It just takes backups of changed files.
Re bootable, of course its not either/or. Use both.

"TM and SD do different things"
He just doesn't realise yet he needs frequent backups but he will when he's 13 days after his last backup (because he forgot one), and ooops there goes the music, the edited photos, that email from 6 days ago he needs, etc.
Disk space is cheap. Time isn't.

Indeed he would, but wouldn't it be even better to be more protected than 99% of the other retired personal computer users in the world?


One other KEY thing you should do, however and whatever your backup strategy is. Test it occasionally by making some restores. You really don't want to discover that you backups haven't been working for the last 3 months, when you come to use them in your moment of need

 

Opinions on external drive reliability?

Does anyone have any opinions on most reliable external drives? On these forums, OWC drives are often recommended, and diglloyed is a veritable OWC evangelist.

But OWC has some of the lowest average reviews on Amazon. Of the better reviewed drives (Seagate, LaCie, Western Digital), up to half of the comments are complaints about drives failing after just a few days or weeks.

Are there any specific models that you can rely on to have a life expectancy for at least as long as your computer itself? I would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.

EDIT: Just want to qualify my comments about OWC on Amazon. There are very few reviews, so I understand the low average isn't really saying much. So what are your reviews on OWC? Thanks.

EDIT: NEVERMIND!! 4 hours after I posted last night I found the External Hard Drives buyer's guide. (I forget about the "Guides" tab!) I decided on the 1.0TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL PRO QUAD eSATA/FW800/400+USB2 Performance Dual Drive. Now I just need to decide on a Mac.