Complete Backup Solution?

[Trey M]

So I currently have a rMBP that I have configured perfectly to my liking, but I decided I'd get 16GB of RAM instead of my base model, and I need to make a backup of this machine, return it, and basically copy all of that over to my new machine when I receive it in about 15 days. Now, I do have Time Machine backups, but after googling, I found several things Time Machine won't backup. I really just want this to be a really easy process that I don't have to spend a lot of time on to get my new rMBP configured exactly like the one I am using now. From what I've seen, SuperDuper can do this, but I wanted to know if there's a better application for this process out there, and if there's anything I should know before backing up and returning my current rMBP. I'd also rather not spend anything for the backup program, apparently the free version of SuperDuper can do everything I need it to do.

Really appreciate any help I can get!

 

[Mac7]

Carbon Copy Cloner

 

[user418]

So I currently have a rMBP that I have configured perfectly to my liking, but I decided I'd get 16GB of RAM instead of my base model, and I need to make a backup of this machine, return it, and basically copy all of that over to my new machine when I receive it in about 15 days. Now, I do have Time Machine backups, but after googling, I found several things Time Machine won't backup. I really just want this to be a really easy process that I don't have to spend a lot of time on to get my new rMBP configured exactly like the one I am using now. From what I've seen, SuperDuper can do this, but I wanted to know if there's a better application for this process out there, and if there's anything I should know before backing up and returning my current rMBP. I'd also rather not spend anything for the backup program, apparently the free version of SuperDuper can do everything I need it to do.

Really appreciate any help I can get!

Carbon Copy Cloner

Don't forget that CCC will clone the recovery partition for you also. Not sure if SD has that option.

CCC -> Window -> Disk Center -> Recovery HD

 

[Weaselboy]

As mentioned, SuperDuper and CCC will clone your drive, but Time Machine is already built in and will do exactly what you want just fine. Run a Time Machine backup on the old machine and when you start the new machine just point the Migration Assistant to the old Time Machine backup and everything will come over.

I'm not sure what you read is not included in a Time Machine backup, but it will backup all your settings and data. Time Machine does exclude some cache and temp files from backup, but you don't need those on the new machine as they are recreated at the first restart.

The advantage to SD and CCC is they do give you a bootable clone if that is your goal, but for backup transfer to a new machine Time Machine will work fine for you.

 

[Trey M]

As mentioned, SuperDuper and CCC will clone your drive, but Time Machine is already built in and will do exactly what you want just fine. Run a Time Machine backup on the old machine and when you start the new machine just point the Migration Assistant to the old Time Machine backup and everything will come over.

I'm not sure what you read is not included in a Time Machine backup, but it will backup all your settings and data. Time Machine does exclude some cache and temp files from backup, but you don't need those on the new machine as they are recreated at the first restart.

The advantage to SD and CCC is they do give you a bootable clone if that is your goal, but for backup transfer to a new machine Time Machine will work fine for you.

Thanks for all the help guys. Weasel, do you know if Time Machine backs up little things such as your wallpapers, folder settings, and stuff like that? I know my applications and such will be backed up but I don't want to spend hours getting my laptop back to the way it is now.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[jonfarr]

Thanks for all the help guys. Weasel, do you know if Time Machine backs up little things such as your wallpapers, folder settings, and stuff like that? I know my applications and such will be backed up but I don't want to spend hours getting my laptop back to the way it is now.

Thanks for all the help.

TM backs up every file. I have reinstalled from a TM backup and it was the exact same computer. When I bought my mac mini last summer, I just used my TM backup of my MBP on it and it was a carbon copy of my laptop. Works great.

 

[BigZ9]

Thanks for all the help guys. Weasel, do you know if Time Machine backs up little things such as your wallpapers, folder settings, and stuff like that? I know my applications and such will be backed up but I don't want to spend hours getting my laptop back to the way it is now.

Thanks for all the help.

Yup, it backs up all your preferences!

 

[daleski75]

I use time machine for all my backups as well as the online backup service backblaze as you can never be too careful.

 

[Trey M]

Maybe I'll just go with a TM backup then since Apple makes it really painless to install from a TM backup. It'd be really easy to backup my HD to my external and just plug and play on the new one.

 

[Weaselboy]

Thanks for all the help guys. Weasel, do you know if Time Machine backs up little things such as your wallpapers, folder settings, and stuff like that? I know my applications and such will be backed up but I don't want to spend hours getting my laptop back to the way it is now.

Thanks for all the help.

It will backup all those things. If you do a full backup with TM and use that to restore with Migration Assistant your new machine will be just like the old one. It works quite well.

 

[Fortimir]

Time Machine is great as long as you don't need your backup drive for anything else.

My local iMac drive gets backed up to a dedicated 2TB external using Time Machine, but my 3TB working archive gets backed up to an 8TB NAS. ALSO on that NAS is my MBPr backup. The problem with Time Machine, at least my understanding of it, is that it will backup until it runs out of room, squeezing out room for anything else.

For that, I use daily backups with SuperDuper.

 

[CosmoPilot]

Wirelessly posted

Time Machine continues backups even if it runs out of room. Once your backup HDD gets full, TM will delete the oldest backup to create room for the next backup. TM is very efficient because it captures delta changed for subsequent backups. So the footprint for backups is relatively small. A good rule if thumb is to have a backup drive that is at least twice the size of the used portion of your HDD being backed up.

 

[Fortimir]

Wirelessly posted

Time Machine continues backups even if it runs out of room. Once your backup HDD gets full, TM will delete the oldest backup to create room for the next backup. TM is very efficient because it captures delta changed for subsequent backups. So the footprint for backups is relatively small. A good rule if thumb is to have a backup drive that is at least twice the size of the used portion of your HDD being backed up.

I agree, but that's not what I said. If you are using a single drive for two purposes (two backups in my case), Time Machine will expand until the drive is full, not playing nicely with keeping room open for the other.

 

[icewing]

I agree, but that's not what I said. If you are using a single drive for two purposes (two backups in my case), Time Machine will expand until the drive is full, not playing nicely with keeping room open for the other.

So why don't you partition the drive?

 

[Fortimir]

So why don't you partition the drive?

Pain in the butt and not flexible. It's really not a big deal because I use SuperDuper which creates sparse bundle images.

 

[Trey M]

Just to clarify- I'm returning my rMBP tomorrow- if Time Machine successfully backed up to my external, then there should be no issue with restoring from the drive, correct? I'm wondering because I know the drive is formatted as a FAT32 drive and I don't want that to cause any issues restoring.

 

[Trey M]

Anybody?

 

[marvin4653]

I can't speak to the process of restoring from a Time Machine backup and I can't assure you that your Time Machine backup is intact, but I would really recommend using SuperDuper for this process. I switched from one 2010 Air to another, and used SuperDuper to clone one Air's drive to the other.

SuperDuper has two big advantages:

(1) Speed. To copy your existing rMBP's drive to an external should take around twenty minutes or less. Copying the cloned image on the external to your new rMBP will take about the same time. From what I've heard (keeping in mind that I haven't personally done it), migrating from a Time Machine backup is usually measured in hours.

(2) Ability to verify that your data on the external is intact before returning your rMBP. Once you've used SuperDuper to copy your existing data from your rMBP to an external, you can leave the drive plugged into your rMBP, restart the computer, boot from the external (instead of your rMBP's internal drive), and verify that the computer functions perfectly and that the OS and all of your data is intact. That's a nice bit of peace of mind to have before returning the rMBP to the store.

If your external hard drive is big enough, as in twice the size of your rMBP's hard drive (or if you have another external lying around), you could always backup using both Time Machine and SuperDuper to be extra-careful. First, you would erase your external drive. Then format the drive to have two partitions, both at least as big as your rMBP's hard drive (you could probably get away with two partitions that are each smaller than your rMBP's internal drive [because I believe SuperDuper copies files, not hard drive blocks], but this would be the abundantly cautious method). Point Time Machine to one partition and allow it to complete a current backup, then point SuperDuper to the other partition and make a copy of your rMBP's internal drive.

 

[Weaselboy]

Just to clarify- I'm returning my rMBP tomorrow- if Time Machine successfully backed up to my external, then there should be no issue with restoring from the drive, correct? I'm wondering because I know the drive is formatted as a FAT32 drive and I don't want that to cause any issues restoring.

I'm confused... what drive is formatted as FAT32? It can't be the Time Machine drive because Time Machine requires HFS+ format.

The answer to your question is, assuming you have a proper and complete Time Machine backup on an external drive, it will restore all your data to the new machine and you won't lose anything.

 

[Trey M]

I can't speak to the process of restoring from a Time Machine backup and I can't assure you that your Time Machine backup is intact, but I would really recommend using SuperDuper for this process. I switched from one 2010 Air to another, and used SuperDuper to clone one Air's drive to the other.

SuperDuper has two big advantages:

(1) Speed. To copy your existing rMBP's drive to an external should take around twenty minutes or less. Copying the cloned image on the external to your new rMBP will take about the same time. From what I've heard (keeping in mind that I haven't personally done it), migrating from a Time Machine backup is usually measured in hours.

(2) Ability to verify that your data on the external is intact before returning your rMBP. Once you've used SuperDuper to copy your existing data from your rMBP to an external, you can leave the drive plugged into your rMBP, restart the computer, boot from the external (instead of your rMBP's internal drive), and verify that the computer functions perfectly and that the OS and all of your data is intact. That's a nice bit of peace of mind to have before returning the rMBP to the store.

If your external hard drive is big enough, as in twice the size of your rMBP's hard drive (or if you have another external lying around), you could always backup using both Time Machine and SuperDuper to be extra-careful. First, you would erase your external drive. Then format the drive to have two partitions, both at least as big as your rMBP's hard drive (you could probably get away with two partitions that are each smaller than your rMBP's internal drive [because I believe SuperDuper copies files, not hard drive blocks], but this would be the abundantly cautious method). Point Time Machine to one partition and allow it to complete a current backup, then point SuperDuper to the other partition and make a copy of your rMBP's internal drive.

I'm confused... what drive is formatted as FAT32? It can't be the Time Machine drive because Time Machine requires HFS+ format.

The answer to your question is, assuming you have a proper and complete Time Machine backup on an external drive, it will restore all your data to the new machine and you won't lose anything.

Thanks both of you for your answers.

Marvin, I think I will backup using SuperDuper just to be extra cautious. I'll rely on my TM just because it's easier, but I'll also do a SuperDuper backup.

Weasel, thanks for your numerous responses and help with this issue. If TM can't write to a FAT32 drive, my mac must've automatically reformatted it when I told it to backcup to the drive.

Again, thanks both of you and everyone else for helping with this issue!

 

[Weaselboy]

If TM can't write to a FAT32 drive, my mac must've automatically reformatted it when I told it to backcup to the drive.

Yes, as I recall when you plug in a new drive you get a popup that says something about "Do you want Time Machine to prepare this drive..." or some such. Looks like you have it working.