Thank you for filling in. I was previously using Backblaze (unlimited backup for 5$/month), but I've read somewhere that it does a less than perfect job at maintaing the all the files metadata. Hence I switched.
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Please help me find a backup solution
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Thank you for filling in. I was previously using Backblaze (unlimited backup for 5$/month), but I've read somewhere that it does a less than perfect job at maintaing the all the files metadata. Hence I switched.
CCC now has the ability to "archive" older versions of (changed) files. So you can still "go back to earlier versions", if that's what you wish.
I keep just about all of my "important" files on a separate partition, "away from" the OS. Thus, a crash of the OS partition may leave the "work files" intact (even though it's on the same drive).
While writing this post, I did a CCC incremental backup of my "Main files" partition. It took all of 21 seconds. Very time-consuming!
I keep just about all of my "important" files on a separate partition, "away from" the OS. Thus, a crash of the OS partition may leave the "work files" intact (even though it's on the same drive).
While writing this post, I did a CCC incremental backup of my "Main files" partition. It took all of 21 seconds. Very time-consuming!
I agree that CCC is a great program. I have several automated jobs that run daily... plus a few that run when I attach either of a set of HDDs that I use for off-site backup. It is blazing fast.
I am less thrilled about its "archive" features. It is very primitive and for complex restores, it would be unmanageable. Still, for simple restores of individual files... it can work. I just use Time Machine and Crashplan as my two "go to" backups if I need to to back in time.
/Jim
Can you explain the importance of 2 backup methods? For Windows I run my backups on a RAID drive so if 1 fails I have the other one ready to go. For my Mac I've only ever used Time Machine.
I'm just wondering if I should have another backup to TM.
Any backup program can introduce errors. Any medium can have errors. Any user can introduce unintended errors. Any individual location is subject to catastrophic errors.
By having multiple programs running backup, to different destinations, all without user intervention is the best way to provide redundancy across the above mentioned error mechanisms.
Probably the most common is human errors. A user can inadvertently set any backup program wrong. If any step requires human intervention.. the user may just forget to do it. Even simple backup solutions are easy to screw up if (for example)... a new disk is added to the machine, and the user forgets to add it to the backup set. etc.
Consider a backup architecture that solves as many of the problems listed above... redundancy is key.
/Jim
there are three reasons why I maintain 2 backups:
1) HFS+ corruption: the state of HFS+ is well disappointing. It is not a modern file system. It doesn't have error detection. Therefore I prefer to have an alternative over Time Machine.
2) If someone breaks into my house, or the my desk gets damage (water leak, earthquake, etc.) while my computer AND my time machine drive are on it, I lose my computer and my backup. Having my data encrypted on an Amazon server in N. Virginia makes me way less paranoid
3) If I'm not at home for long periods of times (i.e., visiting relatives, attending conferences), my computer is still being backupped.
Ok guys, I bought the 500Gig hard drive recommended by a couple people earlier in the thread.
Over the past couple weeks it has been working fine with Time Machine, I like having it automatically backup my iMac and I like the way I can go back to a particular time to find files that I may have deleted by mistake.
One question, I have about 50gigs on my hard drive. When I first started using Time Machine the external hard drive showed that 50 gigs were being used. But now, a couple weeks later, only 45 gigs are being used.
So what happened? Why did it need 50 gigs to backup my iMac but now only needs 45 gigs?
Over the past couple weeks it has been working fine with Time Machine, I like having it automatically backup my iMac and I like the way I can go back to a particular time to find files that I may have deleted by mistake.
One question, I have about 50gigs on my hard drive. When I first started using Time Machine the external hard drive showed that 50 gigs were being used. But now, a couple weeks later, only 45 gigs are being used.
So what happened? Why did it need 50 gigs to backup my iMac but now only needs 45 gigs?
Even is your backup disk is not full, Time Machine purges off some old backups. Here is the criteria is uses. So for example, if there were a bunch of files that got backed up as daily backups and you have since deleted those files, they would get purged in a month. Sounds like that is what happened with you.
If you bring up Console and type "backup" in the filter at the top you can see Time Machine log entries for this.
My TM disk is nowhere close to full, and you can see here some files were removed from the backup disk. If you look in the log just below this entry it will show what day the purge was from.
Also... there are some cache and swap files that TM does not backup, so usually the initial total backup will be smaller that the total space used on your internal drive.
Arq backup to Google Drive
Arq 4.5 is released, it now is backing up to Google Drive
Arq backs up to Google Drive storage
Arq 4.5 is released, it now is backing up to Google Drive
Arq backs up to Google Drive storage
I would buy 2 x 3 or 4TB drives given the cost is around $100ea these days. Encrypt both drives and run a full time machine backup to each drive. Then rotate one offsite per week with a friend if possible. That way you have two drives to protect against drive failure and they are encrypted so peace of mind that your data is secure and if there is a fire/theft you still have a copy offsite. Your new imac will probably come with a larger internal drive so its best to keep that in mind when purchasing an external for backups. Cloud is also doable as others have said as a second copy. Would you encrypt your data before sending to the cloud or are you ok with a cloud provider indexing your data?
So I am very happy using Time Machine. I ended up buying a MBA and I will continue to use Time Machine with it.
Unlike the iMac in which the external hard drive was connected 100% of the time, I will be connecting the drive to the MBA once a day or so. Is this OK? Is there a set procedure to do when using Time Machine with laptops that are removed from the desk often? Or do I just plug it in and wait for the backup to complete and then unplug the drive?
Unlike the iMac in which the external hard drive was connected 100% of the time, I will be connecting the drive to the MBA once a day or so. Is this OK? Is there a set procedure to do when using Time Machine with laptops that are removed from the desk often? Or do I just plug it in and wait for the backup to complete and then unplug the drive?
That will work just fine with Time Machine. If you don't want to wait, you can click the Time Machine menu icon then select "Back Up Now" and it will start right away.