How many people have actually experienced hard drive problems on their Mac? i.e. corrupted files, corrupted Operating System, irreversible system crash, etc.?
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Is it necessary to back up a Mac?
- Thread starter Walt Dizzle
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Its pretty much essential to back up any computer, with macs usually in case of hardware failure but on the rare occasion of a software crash then yes.
Leopard makes backing up easy, so you have no reason not to.
-Omi
Leopard makes backing up easy, so you have no reason not to.
-Omi
Is it necessary to back up any computer? No.
Do you wish you had backed up any computer when your hard drive fails? Frick, yes.
Do you wish you had backed up any computer when your hard drive fails? Frick, yes.
Sadly, this is true.
Thankfully I didn't have anything important on my iBook when the HDD died, and everything relatively important existed on my desktop at the time.
Every computer is prone to HDD issues, as it's a hardware issue more than a software issue (while OS can play a part in hardware stability). It's relatively cheap to get an external HDD and doesn't take much time to run Time Machine every week or so if you don't want it connected all the time.
It's worth it by a long shot.
I resent that due to the fact that I resemble that statement.
I also now have a couple UPS on my setup due to a similar incident.
Mac hardware fails the same as all other computers. And as idiot proof as Time Machine is, why not back up?
8 years ago I never backed up a thing.. then my hard drive stopped spinning and I lost a few projects I was working on.
I now backup every day.
I now backup every day.
It is necessary? Not unless you want to make sure that you can get your data back when the hardware fails (anything with moving parts will fail eventually, now you might get lucky and replace it before the moving parts fail, but then again you might not, why take that chance?)
I backup to external hard drives and an online backup service, I think this approach makes the most sense, if there is a fire or something in the house, I can grab the hard drives quickly and run out the door, as they are what has all of my photos and memories on it.
If something happens and I can't grab the hard drives, I am still protected, as I have a backup online.
This reminds me, I need to check my backups and make sure that they are all working properly (something you should check periodically as well).
I am also considering adding in burning to DVD and mailing them to my parents who live out of state as another backup, I have a lot of data that I would not want to loose.
I backup to external hard drives and an online backup service, I think this approach makes the most sense, if there is a fire or something in the house, I can grab the hard drives quickly and run out the door, as they are what has all of my photos and memories on it.
If something happens and I can't grab the hard drives, I am still protected, as I have a backup online.
This reminds me, I need to check my backups and make sure that they are all working properly (something you should check periodically as well).
I am also considering adding in burning to DVD and mailing them to my parents who live out of state as another backup, I have a lot of data that I would not want to loose.
Yes, it IS necessary. Unless you can afford to lose all your data. My backup strategy:
1. Backblaze online backup ($5/month) -- backs up all the time seamlessly, but only my data, no system files.
2. SuperDuper -- scheduled for daily updates so that I always have an entire clone of my drive. Anything lost between backups I can recover through backblaze.
3. Live Mesh -- I keep essential everyday work files here just as an extra precaution.
Am I paranoid? No. I lost one week of work once and I'll never allow that to happen again. It's worth every minute and penny knowing that i'm pretty much always covered should something happen.
Ultimately, it's your choice whether you can afford losing your data or not.
1. Backblaze online backup ($5/month) -- backs up all the time seamlessly, but only my data, no system files.
2. SuperDuper -- scheduled for daily updates so that I always have an entire clone of my drive. Anything lost between backups I can recover through backblaze.
3. Live Mesh -- I keep essential everyday work files here just as an extra precaution.
Am I paranoid? No. I lost one week of work once and I'll never allow that to happen again. It's worth every minute and penny knowing that i'm pretty much always covered should something happen.
Ultimately, it's your choice whether you can afford losing your data or not.
If you wouldn't mind losing, in the very next second, all your settings, from e-mail to bookmarks, and every thing you have created or stored on the computer, then don't back up. If you would mind, back up as frequency determined by the extent you would mind losing everything changed or made since the last backup. These are machines, after all, and they are not themselves virtual. And they and everything they contain, in any second, can be destroyed not just from within, but from outside causes, or stolen, or lost.
And they and everything they contain, in any second, can be destroyed not just from within, but from outside causes, or stolen, or lost. 
it is not necessary to back up a mac unless (insert witty phrase here).
but srsly, do it. i never backed up, but now i do as of like a week ago.
now i kinda hope my HDD crashes or something just so i can feel good about myself.
but srsly, do it. i never backed up, but now i do as of like a week ago.
now i kinda hope my HDD crashes or something just so i can feel good about myself.
Mac's will never ever crash. When the iMac HDD partition map went nuts, I knew it was a user error. When my friend's mac mini wouldn't read the HDD anymore, I knew it was her fault.
How do I know this? Simple. Neither of my mac's have had hard drive issues, so ergo mac's don't get hard drive issues, just issues somewhere between the chair and keyboard.
Ironically enough, I'm the only one who bothers to make backups.
But don't worry, your mac will never crash, or get a virus.
I can't believe I just wrote that, but then again I can't believe an OS could prevent hardware damage.
How do I know this? Simple. Neither of my mac's have had hard drive issues, so ergo mac's don't get hard drive issues, just issues somewhere between the chair and keyboard.
Ironically enough, I'm the only one who bothers to make backups.
But don't worry, your mac will never crash, or get a virus.
I can't believe I just wrote that, but then again I can't believe an OS could prevent hardware damage.
I received a Mac support call few months ago. The conversation went a bit like this:
"My Macbook started acting all weird and now it won't boot. It just shows a folder with a question mark on the white screen. Should I take it in for a service?"
"Yes you should. It's most likely a failed hard disk."
"Is it possible all my data is gone?"
"Yes it is."
and then came the deep, long sigh a person gives when he hasn't backed up, even though he knows he should've.
Seriously, you should backup, especially since it's a Mac and Time Machine makes it easy enough for anyone. The only exception I could see would be that if you used your computer only for warez & pr0n.
"My Macbook started acting all weird and now it won't boot. It just shows a folder with a question mark on the white screen. Should I take it in for a service?"
"Yes you should. It's most likely a failed hard disk."
"Is it possible all my data is gone?"
"Yes it is."
and then came the deep, long sigh a person gives when he hasn't backed up, even though he knows he should've.
Seriously, you should backup, especially since it's a Mac and Time Machine makes it easy enough for anyone. The only exception I could see would be that if you used your computer only for warez & pr0n.
God please back up your computer. Dunno about what you think, but i think mac HD's might be MORE prone to failure than on pcs. Wasnt there an entire series of imacs that had bad drives?
Oh wait there was... thank god i backed up mine before it died!
Oh wait there was... thank god i backed up mine before it died!
Always, always, always back up your computer, don't trust that a hard drive isn't going to fail even if you've never had it happen to you, the one time you don't do backups, is going to be the time that it bites you in the butt!
Mac drives are no different than others. They have moving parts and will most likely crash at some point (might be years, might be days). No operating system is crash prone and file corruption will happen.
With this in mind, whether you personally need to back up is a question only you can answer.
i'd say to only backup when u have ur stuff on there, if u use it purely just for the internet, iming, dvd player etc, dont bother, but if u have ur on music, doucuments etc, then do it.