Is my Backup Strategy Sufficient?

[jaybar]

Hi

I currently have two means of backup. I am using:

1) Time capsule
2) Crashplan

Am I missing anything?

Would it be a good idea to alternate a second drive for Time Macine? Do I need a bootable backup? If so, I can use Super Duper. Which is a better use of an external drive-Second drive for Time Machine or SD?

Thanks

Jay

 

[satcomer]

Well you could do a clone in OS X and when your internal goes boot from that clone.

 

[richwoodrocket]

Seems good to me. I only have an external HDD with my data on it.

 

[jaybar]

Are you suggesting a clone is more important that an alternate disk for time macine ?

Jay

 

[Weaselboy]

Are you suggesting a clone is more important that an alternate disk for time macine ?

Jay

It depends on your needs. If you have a clone and your internal drive dies, you can option key boot to the clone and finish the days work if you want.

With a TM backup to a local disk and no clone, if the internal drive dies you have no way to actually run the computer until you get the internal drive replaced and restore everything back from the TM drive.

So if having a clone you can operate from if the internal disk fails is important to you, it might be something you want to do. Otherwise the second TM to an external will meet your needs.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I'd go with a bootable clone that you update and take offsite in addition to your TM back up. Keep it offsite (car or office) and you have protection in the event of a fire or burglary. I'm not a big lover of cloud based solutions as I'm a bit of a control freak and like to keep things in house so to speak.

 

[Tumbleweed666]

There is no harm usinga second HD for backup but little to be gained by using the same mechanism, TM (or anything else0, to both. A bug in the mechanism, and there for example have been TM bugs which either prevented restore or made it problematic, and yours econd drive is equally screwed.

So; TM to one drive, clone to another = yes, clone to two or TM to two = no.

 

[bdj33ranch]

I travel frequently between two locations with a rMBP.
I carry a small USB3 external with me which has a Time Machine backup.
At each location I have a USB3 external to which I make a bootable clone using CCC.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP asked:
[[ Are you suggesting a clone is more important that an alternate disk for time macine ? ]]

I believe that it -is-.

Consider:
With a cloned backup, if you ever get into an "I can't boot!" situation, all you have to do is:
- Connect the cloned backup
- Reboot to the startup manager (restart and hold down option key until startup manager appears, then select the cloned drive, hit return)
- ... and you'll be back up and running - WITH FULL ACCESS TO THE FINDER AND ALL YOUR FILES (shouting intentional) - in a couple of minutes.

With only a TM backup, you'll be forced to:
- Boot to recovery partition
- Be faced with a very limited set of options (If Disk Utility can't repair the drive's directory, about the only choice you have left is to do a full re-install)
- You will NOT have "finder access" to any of your stuff when you are booted from the recovery partition.

Most folks simply aren't going to understand the differences in the above scenarios UNTIL they have that "I can't boot!" moment. Then, reality sinks in quickly!

 

[satcomer]

I travel frequently between two locations with a rMBP.
I carry a small USB3 external with me which has a Time Machine backup.
At each location I have a USB3 external to which I make a bootable clone using CCC.

Sounds like you could get a Synology DS214Play or it's bigger bother DS 412+. You could use that NAS with VPN described in this video:

 

[IlikeMacsSoMuch]

Well, I believe that you are already covered as it is. Offsite with crash plan and onsite with the time capsule.

for my part I have a time capsule and a 200Gig Dropbox. I will soon change dropbox for a 2TB google drive and I will eventually change my router but I have a mac mini that serves as a media server and I'll plug into it a good external drive that I will then use for time machine since my new router won't be from apple. All of my work files and my iphoto library are in my dropbox folder, that dropbox folder is backed up on the time capsule and it's also on my mac mini. So I'm pretty much covered

 

[jdechko]

Your backup strategy seems sufficient to me. At the least, one should follow the "3-2-1 Rule", and it seems you have.

3 Copies of your data (Mac, TC & CP)
2 storage medium (HD and Cloud)
1 offsite (cloud)

 

[bdj33ranch]

Sounds like you could get a Synology DS214Play….You could use that NAS with VPN….

Thanks for the link. Interesting product.
But it requires the internet to work which which can be a bit spotty for me at times.
The joys and challenges of rural areas.
My "low tech solution" was also about $145 cheaper (3 750Gb USB3 External Hard Drives at about $75 each vs $370 for the Synergy DS214Play using current amazon prices)

Back to the OP.
I would suggest adding an offsite bootable clone to which you have fairly rapid access.
Keep in mind that if you have corrupted data on your main hard drive that you will transfer that corrupted data when you do a clone. So it's important to not only test the clone but also have the ability to go back to an earlier version of your files. That's where the Time Capsule / Time Machine comes into play.