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Please recommend best external Hard Drive/Software for backing up MacBook/software

T

TOYBOYROYJOY

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 10, 2009
5
0
Ontario, Canada
In case my computer is stolen again, I need to back-up /duplicate my hard drive. Any recommendations for best/proven products? Looking at Seagate Free Agent but unsure of software unless it comes with it.
Thanks!!!!:)
 
TOYBOYROYJOY said:
In case my computer is stolen again, I need to back-up /duplicate my hard drive. Any recommendations for best/proven products? Looking at Seagate Free Agent but unsure of software unless it comes with it.
Thanks!!!!:)
Click to expand...

In my research, that Seagate line seemed good too. My parents have one.

For software, if you're running OS X Leopard (and I recommend upgrading if you aren't) then the built-in Time Machine backup system is the ultimate. It backs up every little change throughout the day, giving you a history--a way to recover even if the drive didn't fail but you merely made a mistake, deleting or changing a file that you later want to get back. Or, if you don't want to back up automatically, Time Machine (when turned "off") still lets you back up manually via an icon on your Mac's menu bar. Your choice. Very easy either way, and you don't need any particular brand of hard drive.

I recommend getting a drive significantly larger than your Mac's drive--it will be able to keep a longer history, and/or leave you more room to put data on there manually. (A Time Machine backup drive is still available for you to use yourself to store files--it's not exclusively dedicated to Time Machine.)

I personally went the wireless Time Capsule route: Apple's wireless hard drive. It's great, but obviously costs more than a regular wired hard drive. (But it also has a built in AirPort wi-fi N base station, and can do wireless printing by connecting many USB printers.)
 
I've had a Seagate Free Agent for almost a year now and not had any problems with it. Its used daily. As the poster above said, Time Machine is fantastically simple backup, which means you do it. Anything to complex and you just put it off.
 
Thank you for your replies. :) My main reason for wanting a good back up system is to be able to replicate my computers hard drive should my computer be stolen. Is separate software required to 'duplicate' my hard drive or does good software come with either Time Capsule or Seagate Free Agent?
 
TOYBOYROYJOY said:
Thank you for your replies. :) My main reason for wanting a good back up system is to be able to replicate my computers hard drive should my computer be stolen. Is separate software required to 'duplicate' my hard drive or does good software come with either Time Capsule or Seagate Free Agent?
Click to expand...

If you have OS X 10.5 Leopard, you already have the software you need: Time Machine does what you want, automatically.

Time Machine = software
Time Capsule = hardware
 
If I were you I would just use Time Machine. It's built in and it works amazing and it's super easy to use... you just plug it in and it does the rest.

You can also do a full system restore from Time Machine as well if your computer ever gets stolen.

There are others like SuperDuper! that create a byte-for-byte clone of your HDD if that's what your after.
 
My Time Machine got stuck

about 20% into the hard drive. Then it aborted. Can anyone help for a remedy?

I suspect it was due to a bad file, but I don't know how to identify nor fix it. Does OSX have a hard disk check feature like in DOS ?

Thanks in advance
 
Thanks everyone. :D I will get either Time Capsule or Free Agent and use Time Machine (since its sitting unused on my laptop!).
Will look at the other posts as suggested! Thanks.
 
I may go with Seagate FreeAgent Desk but can't seem to find it in Canada. The Apple store offers it but not in Canada. Any suggestions?
If not, I'll go with Time Capsule.
 
TOYBOYROYJOY said:
I may go with Seagate FreeAgent Desk but can't seem to find it in Canada. The Apple store offers it but not in Canada. Any suggestions?
If not, I'll go with Time Capsule.
Click to expand...

Do you need it to be wireless? What size are you looking for?

The drive that I use for Time Machine is a OWC 500GB HDD.

Here is a link to it. Hard to beat $128 for 500GB. Comes with a 3 year warranty.
 
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