backup strategy - which one? off-site?

[pit29]

Hi all,

After reading in this thread about Mozy for the first time, I've been thinking about my backups. I've got a MBP and use SuperDuper to create a bootable backup weekly. TimeMachine is not really an option, at least not unless I get a TimeCapsule for home - someday.

The reason I'm not using TimeMachine is that I don't want to have to connect the MBP to my external hard drives all the time, and I don't want it to use much space of my internal hard drive in between syncing it to the external HD (at least that's how I guess it works).

However, Mozy sounds good - off-site backups, unlimited space, for $50/year. Is this something you can recommend? How does it compare to MobileMe (my feeling is I'd not use the sycing-sharing-stuff that comes with it)? Are there any other comparable services?

Your feedback and opinion is appreciated!
Pit

 

[aristobrat]

If you use Time Machine with an external drive, no extra storage space is used on your internal HD. No backups happen when the external drive is unplugged. Your Mac doesn't keep on doing hourly backups and store them until you plug the external drive in.

Mozy has the advantage that it's offsite.

It has the disadvantage that its limited by the speed of your Internet connection. Backing up a full system via Time Machine to a Time Capsule (which goes as fast as your internal wireless network can go) takes ages. I can't imagine how long it'd take to back an entire system up over the speed of an Internet connection (which is usually a gazillion times slower than the speed of your internal wireless network).

Personally, my MBP uses the Time Machine to backup wirelessly to my Time Capsule. Every so often I use the Time Capsule feature of copying the internal drive to an external drive and store that external drive off-site (at my office). If I ever have a major system issue, I can rebuild with the OS discs that came with my computer, and the Apple install process will restore my personal data from the Time Capsule. Quickly. That's what's important to me. I'd die waiting for my 30GB iTunes library to reinstall from Mozy over my Internet connection!

 

[pit29]

If you use Time Machine with an external drive, no extra storage space is used on your internal HD. No backups happen when the external drive is unplugged. Your Mac doesn't keep on doing hourly backups and store them until you plug the external drive in.

But doesn't TimeMachine stores things on a laptop's internal harddrive, and then transfers that to the external drive once that is connected?

It has the disadvantage that its limited by the speed of your Internet connection. Backing up a full system via Time Machine to a Time Capsule (which goes as fast as your internal wireless network can go) takes ages. I can't imagine how long it'd take to back an entire system up over the speed of an Internet connection (which is usually a gazillion times slower than the speed of your internal wireless network).

I've signed up for a free Mozy account today, and it's slow, indeed - however, it's really really offsite...

 

[aristobrat]

But doesn't TimeMachine stores things on a laptop's internal harddrive, and then transfers that to the external drive once that is connected?

Nope.

Leopard simply keeps tracks of which files have changed so that when you plug-in your external drive, Time Machine can get to work immediately.