Mac Pro and Time Machine

[nater.]

I just recently upgraded to Leopard and would like to take advantage of Time Machine. My backup system currently is just burning files to DVDs. I'd like to stop doing that - waste of money and time.

I currently have 2 drives in my Mac Pro (2x2.66). The stock 250 it came with and a 500 extra. I don't feel I will need much space beyond that but I want to get some advice.

What's the best way for backing things up? Is it safe to just throw in another drive just for backups? If something terrible happens to my Mac Pro would an external firewire drive work better?

I do have an ibook and ipod touch that I sometimes use wireless - would a time capsule be my best bet?

Thanks a lot!

 

[GotPro]

I just recently upgraded to Leopard and would like to take advantage of Time Machine. My backup system currently is just burning files to DVDs. I'd like to stop doing that - waste of money and time.

I currently have 2 drives in my Mac Pro (2x2.66). The stock 250 it came with and a 500 extra. I don't feel I will need much space beyond that but I want to get some advice.

What's the best way for backing things up? Is it safe to just throw in another drive just for backups? If something terrible happens to my Mac Pro would an external firewire drive work better?

I do have an ibook and ipod touch that I sometimes use wireless - would a time capsule be my best bet?

Thanks a lot!

Internal drives or external drives for Time Machine... I'm not sure it matters either way. What type of "horrible thing" would happen to your mac that wouldn't affect the external drive as well?

 

[nater.]

I have no idea on the "horrible thing"... maybe if a missile hit my computer only and missed the external? No idea...

Looks like I will just pick up another internal drive. Will I feel any slow down with Time Machine backing stuff up in the background? I know I can just turn it on and off but just curious... haven't had a chance to use Time Machine.

 

[darthraige]

e. Will I feel any slow down with Time Machine backing stuff up in the background? I know I can just turn it on and off but just curious... haven't had a chance to use Time Machine.

I don't notice any slow with Time Machine. Although, I have the new Harpertown and 6GB memory. I don't think you will notice a slow down. I mean, at first Time Machine backs up everything off the bat. After that, whatever you modify, it will back up every hour. Not a huge huge fan of Time Machine yet, but it works good.

 

[nick9191]

Just a bit of Advice, if you have the stock Apple hard drive in their as the boot drive, I would swap it for the other 500gb drive and use that as the boot drive, as the stock Apple hard drives are pretty slow for cost reasons + ultra low noise.

 

[nater.]

Thanks for the advice. I will do that.

I will probably get another hard drive (maybe 750 or 1tb) back everything up and redo the setup.

Plus, buying just another internal drive is probably the cheapest solution.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[Virgil-TB2]

Thanks for the advice. I will do that.

I will probably get another hard drive (maybe 750 or 1tb) back everything up and redo the setup.

Plus, buying just another internal drive is probably the cheapest solution.

Thanks again for the help!

I guess you've already decided, but just to chime in ...

I have the same machine with the same drives and I use the 2nd 500 GB drive as my Time Machine drive and it works fantastically.

Also the person that dissed the drives that Apple uses in the Mac Pro is mistaken about there being anything "wrong" with them or that cheaper better drives are available elsewhere. Noise is an important issue to a lot of people, and a ****-hot fast drive that rattles like a machine gun is not necessarily a "better" drive. It's a personal preference issue really.

 

[absurdio]

I've got a related question that perhaps someone can help with:

I've got a year old Macbook Pro, and I'm considering getting a Mac Pro. What I'd really like to do is have have the MBP wirelessly do Time Machine backups to an extra HD in the Mac Pro. (In my head, this would work exactly the way the MBP would work with a Time Capsule or [questionably] an airport base station with HD attached. The only difference, of course, would be that the backup drive would be in the Mac Pro...). Is this a possibility? I see no reason it shouldn't be, but a solid confirmation would be nice...