suggestions how to back up hard drive

[furcalchick]

more specifically, how should i back up my data, seeing that i have one 350 gb external hard drive and two boots i want to keep. it's a bit long so stay with me.

about seven months ago, i purchased a new 320 gb internal hard drive, which i installed snow leopard on fresh. i then removed the 80 gb internal hard drive that came with the macbook which had tiger (never snow leopard). on my external, i have two partitions as of right now, one with the superduper! clone of tiger, and the other of random data i want to keep. the other day, i noticed that it's been a while since i last backed up my computer, and i would like to do it again, but i'm debating how to do it, and plus, i thought i was going to get a second external hard drive by this point, but that's not going to happen for a while at least.

i have two options i'm debating (i'll take suggestions from others as well). all the solutions have my 10.4 backup still around and 10.6 being backed up.

1. bring back my first internal, copy the 10.4 backup to that internal and store it away, and use the external as a time machine only.
pros: i don't need 10.4 around much, but it insures that it's there in case i need it (but 10.6 has worked well for me in seven months).
issues: i would have to use a screwdriver every time i want to access 10.4, concerned if 10.4 would boot on it's own due to the nature of this backup.

2. put the extra data over to 10.6 and have the backup containing 10.6 and the extra data, with 10.4 remaining on the external hard drive.
pros: can easily boot to 10.4 if need be.
issues: less space to back up 10.6 as i'm lagging on 10.4.

thanks again.

 

[Hellhammer]

#1 and just get a cheap 2.5" SATA enclosure (~20$) and your problem is solved

 

[sjinsjca]

You really should be using two alternating external hard drives for backup. So maybe your best option would be to accelerate your acquisition of a new external drive.

Pending that, yeah, what the other poster said: get an external housing that will accommodate your old SATA drive. Or, check out http://www.google.com/search?q=sata+usb+adapter... very versatile and handy to have.

 

[furcalchick]

You really should be using two alternating external hard drives for backup. So maybe your best option would be to accelerate your acquisition of a new external drive.

Pending that, yeah, what the other poster said: get an external housing that will accommodate your old SATA drive. Or, check out http://www.google.com/search?q=sata+usb+adapter... very versatile and handy to have.

i'm hoping to get a second external eventually and getting the setup i want, but this is more of a short term solution until i get the second one.

 

[Fishrrman]

1. Get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Syba-Connecla...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1253062702&sr=1-22

2. Get a 500gb or 1tb "bare" hard drive (I like Seagates) from a place like newegg.com

3. Use Disk Utility to partition the bare drive (in the SATA dock) into as many partitions as you will need

4. Use CarbonCopyCloner to dupe the contents of your existing partitions to the backup drive.

5. For even more "backup protection", get a SECOND bare drive, and do a second "partition & dupe" for all your existing partitions. Store the second backup off-site (in a different location than where your computer is).

With a "docking station" setup, you are freed from the problems one encounters with an "external hard drive in an enclosure". That is to say, what if the enclosure goes bad? Do you send it back (with all your data on it)? What if only the drive itself goes bad?

By "breaking the bond" between drive and enclosure, you are protected against such dilemmas. If the docking station seems to be malfuntioning, use your good drives in ANOTHER docking station. If one of your drives is having a problem, you still have a good docking station AND a backup second drive.

 

[furcalchick]

i read the suggestions, but i'm not getting feedback about my current situation. another external hard drive is in the plans, but it's not going to happen for a little while, so i need a stop gap until then.

 

[spinne1]

more specifically, how should i back up my data, seeing that i have one 350 gb external hard drive and two boots i want to keep. it's a bit long so stay with me.

about seven months ago, i purchased a new 320 gb internal hard drive, which i installed snow leopard on fresh. i then removed the 80 gb internal hard drive that came with the macbook which had tiger (never snow leopard). on my external, i have two partitions as of right now, one with the superduper! clone of tiger, and the other of random data i want to keep. the other day, i noticed that it's been a while since i last backed up my computer, and i would like to do it again, but i'm debating how to do it, and plus, i thought i was going to get a second external hard drive by this point, but that's not going to happen for a while at least.

i have two options i'm debating (i'll take suggestions from others as well). all the solutions have my 10.4 backup still around and 10.6 being backed up.

1. bring back my first internal, copy the 10.4 backup to that internal and store it away, and use the external as a time machine only.
pros: i don't need 10.4 around much, but it insures that it's there in case i need it (but 10.6 has worked well for me in seven months).
issues: i would have to use a screwdriver every time i want to access 10.4, concerned if 10.4 would boot on it's own due to the nature of this backup.

2. put the extra data over to 10.6 and have the backup containing 10.6 and the extra data, with 10.4 remaining on the external hard drive.
pros: can easily boot to 10.4 if need be.
issues: less space to back up 10.6 as i'm lagging on 10.4.

thanks again.

I don't understand either option. Neither makes sense to me. Firstly, you need to go through your computer and clean out all the garbage you don't want. Second, you don't need to backup or keep a copy of your Tiger install any longer. Get rid of it.

What you should do:
1. Copy all data (not apps!) that you want to keep from your external Tiger partition to your new internal drive.
2. Gather all your serial numbers, passwords, etc. in preparation for reinstalling any programs you paid for.
3. Reinstall any such programs from scratch on your new internal drive. Do not just copy from your old drive. Some programs may not work because of preference files and other such files not being copied over.
4. Now, copy all data you want to keep from your external NON-Tiger partition to your internal drive.
5. Reboot your internal drive and check to make sure it functions properly and that all your data has been successfully copied (open some pictures and files to be certain.)
6. Once ALL your data is now on your internal drive, open Disk Utility and reformat your external drive, wiping it clean. Make it into one partition and use Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
7. Download either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner and use them to make a duplicate of your internal drive to your external drive.
8. Boot from the external just to see that it works (and then boot back.)
9. Set up the duping program to automatically back up your internal drive.
10. You now have a local backup.
11. You need to get CRITICAL data offsite. Therefore, either burn DVDs, use the old internal drive (with a dock--buy one off ebay!!), or use an online backup (Carbonite for example) and get it offsite. You DO NOT need to back up your system off-site, or your apps off site. Only your important files/pictures/movies/etc. Yes, it would be far easier to get up and running again after a disaster with a bootable, current, and complete system backup, but to constantly keep up with that is burdensome. You'd have to have an extra external that you brought in to backup and then got out of the house right away. Not an easy option.
12. Get rid of the old internal. Get it out of the loop. It simply messes up your backup strategy of keeping a clone of your internal drive. Sell it on Craigslist or ebay and maybe you'll get some $$ (unless you want to use it for your offsite backup.)

 

[furcalchick]

I don't understand either option. Neither makes sense to me. Firstly, you need to go through your computer and clean out all the garbage you don't want. Second, you don't need to backup or keep a copy of your Tiger install any longer. Get rid of it.

What you should do:
1. Copy all data (not apps!) that you want to keep from your external Tiger partition to your new internal drive.
2. Gather all your serial numbers, passwords, etc. in preparation for reinstalling any programs you paid for.
3. Reinstall any such programs from scratch on your new internal drive. Do not just copy from your old drive. Some programs may not work because of preference files and other such files not being copied over.

i did steps 1-3 about seven months ago when i initially put snow leopard on my then new internal hard drive. there is no brand new drive, and the drive i'm working on now is what i'm going to use.

4. Now, copy all data you want to keep from your external NON-Tiger partition to your internal drive.
5. Reboot your internal drive and check to make sure it functions properly and that all your data has been successfully copied (open some pictures and files to be certain.)

i plan on doing this in the next few days, but my biggest concern is that my old internal hard drive was acting a bit crazy, but seeing that snow leopard has been great for me since i installed it with few problems, it won't be a huge concern.

6. Once ALL your data is now on your internal drive, open Disk Utility and reformat your external drive, wiping it clean. Make it into one partition and use Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
7. Download either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner and use them to make a duplicate of your internal drive to your external drive.
8. Boot from the external just to see that it works (and then boot back.)
9. Set up the duping program to automatically back up your internal drive.
10. You now have a local backup.
11. You need to get CRITICAL data offsite. Therefore, either burn DVDs, use the old internal drive (with a dock--buy one off ebay!!), or use an online backup (Carbonite for example) and get it offsite. You DO NOT need to back up your system off-site, or your apps off site. Only your important files/pictures/movies/etc. Yes, it would be far easier to get up and running again after a disaster with a bootable, current, and complete system backup, but to constantly keep up with that is burdensome. You'd have to have an extra external that you brought in to backup and then got out of the house right away. Not an easy option.
12. Get rid of the old internal. Get it out of the loop. It simply messes up your backup strategy of keeping a clone of your internal drive. Sell it on Craigslist or ebay and maybe you'll get some $$ (unless you want to use it for your offsite backup.)

i know how to do all of this, as i did this to my tiger backups for some time, but my main question is should i use time machine at all or no?

but i see that in short, you're wanting me to go with option 1 with some modifications.

 

[furcalchick]

update: bought an enclosure today for just 10 bucks today at tigerdirect (aka compusa).

 

[furcalchick]

after thinking about it for a bit, i decided to use the old internal hard drive to back up 10.6 (at least for the time being), and leave the bigger external hard drive alone. what i'll probably end up doing eventually is buying a time capsule-esque hard drive for all of the computers and rework the setup a bit.