How often do you back up?

[superbovine]

Now that we've established how often we back up, can I ask the people who do it regularly whether it's an automated process or whether it's done manually. I'm just wondering because when it comes to backups I trust myself more than an app in most circumstances.

i have a smb server out on my network and my desktop get rsync at a staggered scheduled time. I rsync my powerbook whenever I get a chance to plug in my external hd. my e-mails are the most important to me, and a copy of my e-mail lives on the server, so i am not to worried about it.

 

[adamb100]

I dont backup really because I got the same data(music, pictures) on my windows pc.

 

[Makosuke]

What conditions do you guys have that make it neccessary to back up every day? Just out of curiousity, not being sarcastic.

Writing and work. The work, I can't afford to lose, and the writing, though I could replicate it, takes a LOT of time and effort. Plus, of course, there are less-frequent but equally important things like when I download photos into iPhoto or get/send important emails. Oh, and non-tangibles that cost money like software licences or iTMS music.

Having it daily isn't always necessary, but then you don't have to worry about it regardless of what you're doing, and if my boot drive does go belly up I know I'm not out anything significant in terms of settings changes, app installations, iTunes music ratings, etc.

Peace of mind. And when daily isn't soon enough (writing/coding, mainly), I'll throw a backup copy onto an external server or do a manual backup to a firewire drive.

 

[calebjohnston]

I back it up every time I hear that 'my humps' song.

 

[Macky-Mac]

Well, my main concern here is pictures. I lost over 800 pictures the other day after my hard drive crash that I can never retrieve again. Some where very important to me. So, pictures are VERY important to me. That is why my question was if a month was good enough. I'd say I add about 200 pictures to my library a month give or take a few.

for pictures, I'll do a temporary back up onto an external HD before I erase them from the camera....that gives me a copy on both my internal drive and a backup copy on my external drive......then when I've accumulated enough pictures I burn a CD as an archive.....that gives me a 3rd copy.

for work files and financial records that are constantly changing and being updated, I'll do a back up onto the external HD, basically everyday when I'm in the middle of a project. I dont do incramental backups onto CDs for ongoing project files because those CDs really pile up fast if I do. When a project is done or at major milestones in the history of a project I'll burn a CD as an additional backup

 

[yah00z]

Well

I use SuperDuper combined with a FreeBSD box (my network file server) and backup on the server to a read/write backup. Every other night my MacBook Pro backs up to the server via the network.

 

[quigleybc]

Am I the only one who just burns stuff to DVD's?

Should I not be doing that?

I would like to make a HD clone, but I don't have enough space for that.

 

[Glenn Wolsey]

Once a day at 9AM sharp.

 

[baleensavage]

Not as often as I should

 

[YS2003]

I use .Mac's backup software for a weekly back up for my Macs. I have not done the boot-able back up as of yet as I can use the target mode for my Macs , should such a need arises i the future. So far, the simple back up of the Home folder.

In an event for the sever system crash, I would install my apps one by one to make sure apps are installed properly. There are so many activation-oriented software (from Adobe, Macromedia, and others) and I think the copied apps by Superduper or other back up software won't work on another Mac's HD.

The back up time is set at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday and Apple's backup software automatically back up my home folders to the external HDs.

 

[EGT]

About once a week, sometimes more if I've added/changed a lot, to an external FW hard drive. I use supderduper but I've always set up the process manually. I store my drive in the desk so I have to connect it up every time I want to use it anyway so no automatic schedule. I like to check it's doing it OK at the time.

I use Backup to save some stuff on my iPod and iDisk every now and again too.

 

[Bakey]

Alright there folks.

On the topic of backing-up could anybody recommend an affordable back-up solution that would allow me to write said back-ups to DLT?

I know there are 'enterprise' solutions available but they usually have a ridiculous price tag attached!

Many thanks in advance...

 

[sunfast]

At least once a week using iBackup

 

[61132]

every night before bed, just my users folder. I back up using deja vu to 2 hard drives.

 

[bigandy]

I dont backup really because I got the same data(music, pictures) on my windows pc.

a windows box is in no way an acceptible substitute for a backup!

 

[adamb100]

Well it's also a unix box too with Ubuntu.