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Best way to backup?

S

stark4

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 14, 2008
391
1
Florida
What's the best way to backup your Macbook Pro hard drive? Please share which method do you guys use?

Is there a program that will back up automatically or Should i just buy the external portable drive and backup manually? but i know i'll forget to do it every week..

Thanks
 
You can get a Time Capsule or other NAS based storage device so it will be backed up wirelessly and you don't have to do anything
 
If your only backup is onsite you are taking a significant risk surrounding theft, fire and the like.

I have two external drives. I take a backup every two weeks and swap the drives round after each backup so one is in a safe at home and the other is locked away at work. That way even if my flat is burgled I will have a backup that is, at worst, a month old.

I have a Time Capsule too for in-between backup file recovery.
 
I have a Freenas share that I store an image of my install made with SuperDuper. When I installed fresh I made the SuperDuper image right after I had everything set up how I want.

Note: ALWAYS test backup images.

Also I use Time Machine pointed to that Freenas share for on the fly backup of daily stuff.

Not the best method I'm sure, but my MBP doesn't have ANYTHING important on it. All important files are stored on my Freenas, which Rsyncs daily to an external backup.
 
I have two external drives.
1. a bootable backup using Superduper. I back this up once a week or so.
2. Time Machine. Always connected doing it's hourly backups. Highly recommended.
3. My MobileMe account. Backing up my important work data files offsite.
4. My final low tech backup is a USB flash drive that has my entire documents folder on it. I update this manually each night and stick it in my pants pocket. In case my house is falling down, hopefully I'll grab my pants on the way out.
 
Most people seem to like Time Machine. I use Time Machine to a disk with USB and FW800 connected to a Airport Extreme. I also use CCC to create a bootable image. The nice thing about CCC is that it supports incremental updates. This way if you lose you disk you can be up an running in literally 2 minutes with an external drive that has your latest system and data.

I didn't add CC to the mix until I had a HDD crash about 3 months back. It took me a few hours to restore from Time Machine. Too long for me -- especially if I am in the middle of meeting a deadline.

BTW, I would not use a clone as a backup. They are very different things. Once you delete something from your system it will also get deleted from the clone disk.

If I were only to use one it would be Time Machine.
 
1. Most important files go in dropbox. Free accounts start at 2GB. You can get bonuses to raise it up to 3GB or more.
2. NAS (Synology) performs Time Machine backups automatically. I clone the NAS to another external drive monthly and leave the clone at work.
3. SuperDuper makes a bootable clone on a FW external drive.

For a backup to be effective, follow the 3-2-1 rule:

3 copies, 2 different media, 1 offsite.
 
I use CCC and Time Machine.

TM for the time when I changed/deleted a document that I want to restore.

CCC for those moments when I fully messed up my system. Thankfully that has not occurred to often.
 
robbieduncan said:
If your only backup is onsite you are taking a significant risk surrounding theft, fire and the like.

I have two external drives. I take a backup every two weeks and swap the drives round after each backup so one is in a safe at home and the other is locked away at work. That way even if my flat is burgled I will have a backup that is, at worst, a month old.

I have a Time Capsule too for in-between backup file recovery.
Click to expand...

Yes.

I use Super Duper. It's Super Duper.
 
sbddude said:
For a backup to be effective, follow the 3-2-1 rule:

3 copies, 2 different media, 1 offsite.
Click to expand...

I have a question about this. (BTW I agree with this) If offsite it just not an option, (way too much to put online, nowhere else to store it) would you consider a hard drive stored inside a Fireproof lockbox/safe/whatever to be sufficient?

I guess what my real question is, If your house burned down, would a hard drive survive if inside a fireproof safe, or would temps get too high?
 
Dalton63841 said:
I have a question about this. (BTW I agree with this) If offsite it just not an option, (way too much to put online, nowhere else to store it) would you consider a hard drive stored inside a Fireproof lockbox/safe/whatever to be sufficient?

I guess what my real question is, If your house burned down, would a hard drive survive if inside a fireproof safe, or would temps get too high?
Click to expand...

Depends on the safe. My fireproof safe specifically states it is not certified for that use...
 
Dalton63841 said:
I have a question about this. (BTW I agree with this) If offsite it just not an option, (way too much to put online, nowhere else to store it) would you consider a hard drive stored inside a Fireproof lockbox/safe/whatever to be sufficient?

I guess what my real question is, If your house burned down, would a hard drive survive if inside a fireproof safe, or would temps get too high?
Click to expand...

For me offsite means in my desk at work. Doesn't have to be online. Just physically away from your home (or main location) if you get robbed, fire, etc.
 
sbddude said:
For me offsite means in my desk at work. Doesn't have to be online. Just physically away from your home (or main location) if you get robbed, fire, etc.
Click to expand...

Yea I work out of the home, and don't really know anybody, so out of the home isn't really a simple option for me. I thought of in the trunk of my car, but then I think, well what if my car gets jacked...

Im seriously thinking of digging a hole, putting a waterproof box in it, sticking in a NAS with PoE, and covering it up. LMAO
 
Dalton63841 said:
Yea I work out of the home, and don't really know anybody, so out of the home isn't really a simple option for me. I thought of in the trunk of my car, but then I think, well what if my car gets jacked...

Im seriously thinking of digging a hole, putting a waterproof box in it, sticking in a NAS with PoE, and covering it up. LMAO
Click to expand...

How about at a family/friend's house?
 
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