Thoughts on using WD Anywhere Backup?

[jnyepu]

In anticipation of (finally) upgrading to Leopard, I finally broke down and picked up a WD My Book Studio Edition 500GB (FW 400/800/eSATA/USB) to have as an external backup for my MBP. BestBuy has them for $230 in the store, and I had a $100 gift certificate so thought I'd pull the trigger.

(Probably should have waited till Black Friday but there were only two left in the store near me, and that would have involved going to Best Buy on Black Friday )

Anyhoo, I had SuperDuper all downloaded and ready to use when I discovered a piece of software called "WD Anywhere Backup" all ready to install when I connected the drive to my MBP. It took a while to scan and process all the files, but the actual backup of about 34.5GB took between 30-40 minutes. Seemed pretty effortless, but was annoyed that it is a 30 day trial piece of software (haven't been able to find enough documentation on it to figure out if that's for the Premium version, and if it will just default to a Basic version after the trial is over, or if it becomes nonfunctional).

My thought was to use this software to backup before I take the Leopard plunge. Then, if the Leopard upgrade goes smoothly and I don't need to access the backup, wipe the external drive and start using Time Machine from scratch (would also uninstall the WD Anywhere Backup software as well).

But, if the WD Anywhere Backup is actually a decent piece of software, maybe it's worth keeping around do the "big backup" and have TM just do certain key files.

I guess my questions are:

1. Is WD Anywhere Backup a reasonable alternative to SuperDuper? -- like I said, I haven't been able to find ANY reviews or helpful docs on the software, so I don't even know if it works with Leopard
2. Is the backup made with WD Anywhere Backup bootable like SuperDuper?
3. Was using WD Anywhere Backup a bad idea and should I have just used SuperDuper?
4. Can I wipe the external after a successful Leopard install and start using Time Machine, and if yes (drum roll --> stupid question, how would I do a clean wipe?) The drive is HFS formatted already, so that's not an issue.
5. Are there any caveats or pitfalls to what I plan on doing that I'm not anticipating?

Thanks in advance.

 

[MacMan123]

Why don't you just use the free SuperDuper trial? It isn't limited in any way you can do a backup like normal but it won't be incremental like it would be if you purchased the software, just one straight backup.

 

[d wade]

i have same hd. the serial for the backup software is on a small sticker on the white instructions paper. i had trouble finding it too.

 

[jnyepu]

i have same hd. the serial for the backup software is on a small sticker on the white instructions paper. i had trouble finding it too.

Nice. Very much appreciate that find. What do you think of the software -- are you using it instead of SuperDuper or not really using it at all? Any thoughts on if SuperDuper is better or if this software is on par?

BTW, did you have about 465GB free when you first hooked up the drive -- just curious if that amount is pretty standard in this size drive.

 

[pjallabais]

i have same hd. the serial for the backup software is on a small sticker on the white instructions paper. i had trouble finding it too.

Was the sticker already in place when you unpacked the disk? I've just bought one, and on my instruction paper there is just a box saying "SOFTWARE LICENSE KEY GOES HERE", and I am unable to find any such sticker in the box.

 

[Midroz]

WD Anywhere Backup

I bought the same backup device. A few comments. First, i learned yesterday that Best Buy had reduced the price of the drive to $120. Needless to say I went back and got the credit for the price reduction.

Second, I bought this to backup my photos and documents. I do not have Leopard, but even if I did, I still want a discreet backup separate from the computer. Call me old fashioned, but I trust this more.

Finally, I am glad I found this post as I had no idea the product key was pasted to the instruction sheet, as noted by another person in the forum. Thanks for the tip!

I hope this helps.

 

[moneypenny]

Was the sticker already in place when you unpacked the disk? I've just bought one, and on my instruction paper there is just a box saying "SOFTWARE LICENSE KEY GOES HERE", and I am unable to find any such sticker in the box.

I have the same problem - no product key!

Anyone know where I can get one?

 

[pjallabais]

Call the shop/webshop.

I have the same problem - no product key!

Anyone know where I can get one?

In my case, I had to call the shop where I bought it, and they supplied a product key. After explaining what the product key was never applied ("Place product key here" still visible on the sheet) they were very helpful.

I also registered a case on the product support support site, but never got any reply on that. Well, not exactly true; After about a month I got an email saying something alon the lines of "We're way behind on support cases, so please reply to this if you still need assistance".

Not to impressive.

 

[kfordham281]

I'd suggest using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to create a bootable clone of your hard drive onto your external drive. CCC is donationware and SD has a free mode too. Give them a try.

 

[bryanjones]

I know this reply is a little late, but I got my fist Mac in November last year and started using WD Anywhere Backup straight away. This is an amazing piece of software that I would recommend to all.

I originally wanted to use Time Machine, but I've read that time machine doesn't work if you're using file vault. I'm using file vault not because I have anything to hide, but because I have no idea how to open an iMac (and wouldn’t dream of it while its under warranty) and remove the hard drive and the idea of anyone every having access to my hard drive while I'm not there creeps me out.

Anyway to get to the point, in the last 5 months I'm on iMac number two (although 3 rebuilds from scratch due to incompetent 3rd party engineers used by apple for repairs) and MacBook number 3. With each new machine I've brought Leopard up in a vanilla state (just done the basics to get to the first log in) then installed WD Anywhere Backup and run restore. It's been perfect! Like nothing had ever changed! Even when I was without my iMac for a while I restored my iMac to my MacBook and its was awesome.

As for WD Anywhere Backup support, they’ve been great too. I lost the serial number sheet almost immediately, but within 2 days the WD Anywhere Backup support people had me a new serial number (all I had to do was email proof that I'd bought the drive, then tell me dont loose it again!).

To sum up WD Anywhere Backup is awesome and well worth the price if I had to buy a copy, which you dont as those nice people give it for free when you buy the drive.

....sorry if I waffled