To be honest, I'm not upstanding all of the jargon, sorry!
I'm a real "greenhorn" here,
So far, time machine appears to be accepted along with a more "robust" back-up if I have read correctly
Regards,
Gary
Yes, a Time Machine backup is absolutely a good place to start. Start using it now, and figure out how to recover in case of a complete failure of your hard-drive. There is no point in backing up your files if - when you need them the most - you don't know how to restore the backup. I've read too many threads on this forum where someone had a good backup but couldn't/wouldn't use it because they didn't know how. You might want to print the instructions on recovering from a TM backup and file it since you won't have access to the internet unless you have a second computer. Start with the Apple Knowledge Base pages...
As you've noted - there is a difference of opinion regarding what should be your 'primary' backup (i.e. your first backup). But note that everyone is suggesting more than one. You have to ask yourself - how important is the stuff you are storing on your computer? If you suffer a total loss of data, how bad is that? If all you have are iTune purchased music and applications, then you can get those back easily enough. If you have a bunch of family photos that exist no where else - then those are impossible to recover in the event of a total loss. Most people here have lots of irreplaceable 'stuff' on their computers, so they have multiple and redundant backups.
Using just Time Machine is a good place to start, but there are too many ways to lose both the computer and the backup at the same time. There are the catastrophic failures of a house fire, burglary, and a big flood, etc. But these are occurrences. However is your stuff is 'irreplaceable'. Then there are the much more likely minor 'accidents'. Your kid sister leaves the tub running upstairs and the water drips through the ceiling and onto your desk. Less than a litre of water (
much less if you are unlucky) could short out your TM and your computer. Your cat could decide to redecorate your desk, and toss everything to floor. If the hard drives were writing at that particular moment you could have two crashed drives... i.e. no computer and no backup. A lightening strike nearby could zap things. A shelf could collapse. Any backup that is physically close to your computer is vulnerable to the same sorts of damage that your computer is.
So... A TM is a good place to start, because the odds are that the worst thing that will happen is that your computer's hard-drive will fail. But how 'irreplaceable' is your stuff?
I like a cloned backup (SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner) because I get an exact duplicate of the system. A TM machine backup makes getting back an individual file very easy, and you can 'reach back' in time and get back a file you deleted or accidentally overwrote weeks ago. It's great for fixing user errors. But TM is not so easy to make a full recovery from. (It can be done, but the cloned backup is
easier to recover from). You can also boot from a cloned backup if you need to... there are several diagnostic and repair scenarios where this is very useful.
Also, if you have access to a second computer you can boot that second computer from your cloned backup and use it as if you were on your primary computer (with some hardware limitations). As an example, if your primary computer goes into the shop for repair - for a week - you can borrow your kid sister's Mac, and boot from your cloned backup. Your desktop, your files, your email, etc etc will all be there and it will be as if you are on your own computer. Though slower. You can get your vital work done with little to no interruption. When your own computer comes back you simply copy the contents of the drive you have been using back to your computer (new emails, new documents, etc) and carry on.
So, TM and a cloned backup are each part of a more complete backup strategy. There is a difference of opinion about which one to do first, but very few argue that having both is better than just one. But.... a cloned backup that sits next to the computer is still vulnerable to the same physical dangers as a TM drive and the computer. So the final aspect of a full backup strategy is put a copy of your stuff - at a minimum the 'irreplaceable' stuff - 'off-site'... that is, away from your house. Some people use the Cloud. They upload their content from their computer to a company on the internet that stores it for them. Easy to use, they take care of all the physical stuff, etc etc... Personally - I find this slow and expensive... but do your own research. Other people find them the best thing since sliced bread. Though I do use Dropbox to store documents - however, that is more for sharing than backing up.
Personally, I have several external HDDs that I use for my cloned backups. Periodically I take the current one and put it into a safety deposit box, and bring the one there home. If I had a bigger box I'd leave two in the box. I leave one plugged into the computer at all times and it gets written to every night. The 3rd one I store, ready to be used in case the current external HDD fails. That is to say, if the external HDD that is plugged into the computer fails one night, I can easily put a working HDD in its place to ensure that my nightly cloned backup still occurs while I wait for a new external HDD to replace the failed one.
I have heard of a group of photographers who happen to live on different continents. Every month they FedEx each other their photographic library on external HDDs to protect their images in case of a continental disaster. So if North America is wiped out by the super volcano in Yellowstone, the American photographer's images will safe in Europe and/or South America and/or Australia. The photographer's safety is of course another matter.
Hope this helps.
"I agree that a clone is only a partial backup.."
Definition of "clone":
"clone |klōn|
...
How can a clone be a "partial" backup, when it represents EXACTLY what exists on the source volume (at the time of cloning)?
...
Sorry. I was writing in shorthand and assumed people would fill in the blanks. I've edited my post to reflect that I meant that a cloned backup is only part of a complete backup strategy. OK?
