Time Capsule and Mozy

[CEB12345]

Hello,

Im new to the Mac OS having just purchased my Macbook Pro 13 2.53 a few weeks ago. Im learning my way around and trying to figure out how to eventually switch everything over to the laptop.

Currently, I use Mozy to back up my PC and all my files. It has worked well over the last few years and saved me a few times after hard drive crashes.

I need a new router so I like the idea of getting a time capsule and adding in an on site back up to my set up. I also want to use it as an archive of old photos and videos so that I dont have to fill up the hard drive on the lap top.

My question is: Can I just have Mozy back up the contents of time capsule thereby backing up time machine back up content and what ever other files I have stored on the time capsule hard drive.

This way, if the time capsule hard drive dies, I can get a new one, and restore from Mozy.

I understand the danger of backing up a back up. I just want to know if it will work and if anyone is doing this.

I know mozy supports networked drives. I asked their customer support if this set up would work and they were evasive.

Thanks

 

[flynz4]

Hello,

Im new to the Mac OS having just purchased my Macbook Pro 13 2.53 a few weeks ago. Im learning my way around and trying to figure out how to eventually switch everything over to the laptop.

Currently, I use Mozy to back up my PC and all my files. It has worked well over the last few years and saved me a few times after hard drive crashes.

I need a new router so I like the idea of getting a time capsule and adding in an on site back up to my set up. I also want to use it as an archive of old photos and videos so that I dont have to fill up the hard drive on the lap top.

My question is: Can I just have Mozy back up the contents of time capsule thereby backing up time machine back up content and what ever other files I have stored on the time capsule hard drive.

This way, if the time capsule hard drive dies, I can get a new one, and restore from Mozy.

I understand the danger of backing up a back up. I just want to know if it will work and if anyone is doing this.

I know mozy supports networked drives. I asked their customer support if this set up would work and they were evasive.

Thanks

Since you understand the disadvantage of backing up a backup... then you know enough to not want to do this.

Mozy is a great product. The combination of two completely independent (local plus cloud) backup solutions is ideal.

/Jim

 

[macaco74]

What are the dangers of backing up a backup (I know this must be a common knowledge thing)?

 

[flynz4]

What are the dangers of backing up a backup (I know this must be a common knowledge thing)?

At the most fundamental level... any data corruption that occurs within the first backup, would just be duplicated into any subsequent backups. Hence, you might believe that you are "safe"... only to be surprised when you need to recover data. By contrast, two completely independent backups, would not propagate errors.

My general advice for backups would be:

1) Keep the original copy of all important data on one single machine (I use my 27" i7 iMac w/2TB drive... and back up that single machine.
2) All backups must be completely automatic without any human involvement. (ie: does not involve carrying a disk offsite)
3) You should have two independent backup solutions... at least one of which must be offsite.
4) Ideally, one of the two backups would be stored locally (for ease of recovery)
5) At least one of the two backups should support a deep level of versioning

• For local backups, I use Time Machine for all of the Macs, and I use a WHS (HP EX495 MediaSmart Server) for all PCs
  
• For offsite backups, I have used both Mozy, and Crashplan. Both are great products.
  
• I use a combination of Mobile Me, and Dropbox to ensure that all data generated on my laptops are synced back to the home iMac, so that the data become part of my backup set.

Of the cloud backup solutions, I trust Mozy the most, largely because they are owned by EMC which is the industry leader in enterprise storage. OTOH, Crashplan supports unlimited versioning... including never removing a deleted file from its backup set. Mozy only versions for 30 days, and of course it is quite possible to not notice an unintentional file/folder deletion for a long time. I love the fact that Mozy supports 448b encryption... which means that the cloud is much safer than anything you will probably ever implement locally. The free version of Crashplan only supports 128b encryption, but if you upgrade to Crashplan+ (highly recommended), then you get 448b.

/Jim

 

[macaco74]

Thanks so much for the information - I had not heard of mozy before and now am looking into it to have an additional backup solution.

Thanks!