Time Machine alternative

[schpongo]

Hey guys, I recently built a small home server so I can always make backups.
After about I week I got an error from Time machine saying that the verification of the backup failed.
I didn’t think much of it so I started over with my backups.
Today I got the error for the second time and did some research.
As it turns out Time Machine doesn’t work so great when not locally connected.

I really like Tm. I used it several years with a frewire drive and it saved my butt several times but if I can’t trust the Tm backups it is useless to me.

Now I’m looking for an alternative to Tm.
I don’t really need bootable backups as I can always boot from the recovery and do a fresh install and then restore my data.

I’m much more interested in being able to restore individual files that I lost or deleted and now need again.

Many people suggest programs like carbon copy cloner or SuperDuper! .
But as far as I have understood those don’t give you the ability to restore single files .

Any suggestions?

 

[maflynn]

Carbon Copy Cloner will do what you're looking to accomplish.

 

[schpongo]

Oh ok.

I will look into that.
I always thought you could only make bootable backps.

Thank you.

 

[maflynn]

Oh ok.

I will look into that.
I always thought you could only make bootable backps.

Thank you.

It does do that, but it is a full fledged backup application, which allows a lot of flexibility.

 

[MacDawg]

It does do that, but it is a full fledged backup application, which allows a lot of flexibility.

I've used CCC for years along with a TM backup to give me flexibility
CCC has always been dependable and will give you the ability to do whatever you need with a backup strategy

 

[schpongo]

So if I wanted a specific file from a specific time I would mount the .sparesbundle image and go to the "CCC SafetyNet" folder and look for the appropriate date and in that folder would then be the file?

 

[Fishrrman]

OP asks above:
[[ So if I wanted a specific file from a specific time I would mount the .sparesbundle image and go to the "CCC SafetyNet" folder and look for the appropriate date and in that folder would then be the file? ]]

There are no "sparsebundles" with CCC.

It creates fully bootable backups in POFF (plain old finder format).

If there's anything you need on a backup -- whether it be a single file or the entire backup -- just connect the drive, it will mount in the finder as does any other drive, and .... go.

By the way, CCC can do -more than- just "clone" -- it can now create "archives" of older files no longer on your source volume, etc.

CCC is FREE to download, and it's FREE to use for the first 30 days with all functions enabled.

If you've never tried a cloning app (CCC or SuperDuper), I suggest you GIVE it a try, and just by doing so, by observing what it does, most of your questions will be answered.

If for some reason you don't take to it, just erase the CCC cloned backup, and go back to whatever you were doing before...

 

[schpongo]

I had the same idea and installed ccc.

If you want to backup to a network drive ccc suggests you use a sparsebundle, so I did that.
I just wasn't sure if the "CCC SafetyNet" folder is my archive. But I think it is.

 

[r-m]

...

As it turns out Time Machine doesn’t work so great when not locally connected.
...

How so? Is this just non-local backups to non-Apple destinations?
I have a time capsule (2-3 years old), and my backups work fine on that.

I ask because I was considering replacing the time capsule with something like what you seem to have tried (although, with a Raspberry Pi, just sharing a folder, mounting on the Mac and backing up to that) - my time capsule keeps randomly rebooting itself, so I think it might be dying.

I've never actually tried backing up to a destination other than the Time Capsule.

 

[schpongo]

Time Machine seems to bee very picky when it comes to backing up over the network.
If you google it you will find countless stories of people having problems with all kinds of nas systems, even with time capsules.

I never had a Problem with my firewire backup. I fully trusted those backups.
But if I can't trust my back ups what use do they have.

By the way I have tried time Machine with a Raspberry pi for a Month and that worked at least for that time. But the pi is pretty slow 5Mb/s max.

Ah and about that time capsule, I have had routers which also always rebooted and was able to solve the problem by replacing all of the non smd capacitors. If you like diy approaches and have got a bit of spare time you could look into that.

 

[r-m]

By the way I have tried time Machine with a Raspberry pi for a Month and that worked at least for that time. But the pi is pretty slow 5Mb/s max.

Ooh that's good to know. Was it the slowness that stopped you, or the verification error?
It may be a good excuse for me to upgrade to the Pi 2, could hopefully speed things up a little. I'm not too fussed about the slowness though, as the backups are fairly background. If I ever need to restored something huge, I'd probably shutdown the pi and plug the drive in.

Ah and about that time capsule, I have had routers which also always rebooted and was able to solve the problem by replacing all of the non smd capacitors. If you like diy approaches and have got a bit of spare time you could look into that.

Hmm, maybe, one day. I might wait until it's doing it a lot more frequently.

 

[cruisin]

It may be a good excuse for me to upgrade to the Pi 2, could hopefully speed things up a little.

The new pi 2 still uses 100Mbps ethernet, so any speed increase will be slight. Maybe if it supports a 1000Mbps USB ethernet adapter you could improve things.

10 GB of small files will take much longer to transfer than a single 10 GB file. Since TM copies files and not the whole disk, the process will likely be slow anyway.

As for me, my Time Capsule is successfully backing everything up.

 

[r-m]

The new pi 2 still uses 100Mbps ethernet, so any speed increase will be slight. Maybe if it supports a 1000Mbps USB ethernet adapter you could improve things.

10 GB of small files will take much longer to transfer than a single 10 GB file. Since TM copies files and not the whole disk, the process will likely be slow anyway.

As for me, my Time Capsule is successfully backing everything up.

Good point on the Ethernet speeds. I'll do some read/write tests tonight to see how both perform.
It's for my MacBook backup - wireless performance around my house is generally poor anyway, so I'm interested to see what the difference will be there between the two.

Thanks!

 

[schpongo]

I got the verification error on my new home server.
I stopped using the pi for backups because I didn't really trust the setup.
I mean when you have to follow several guides in order to setup time machine support you might not feel 100% on the safe side.

But if you would still like to dable with your pi give openmediavault a shot.
I really like it because it is simple to set up.

 

[Donfor39]

Good point on the Ethernet speeds. I'll do some read/write tests tonight to see how both perform.
Thanks!

please post your speeds via ethernet/time machine backup

I purchased a Thunderbolt-ethernet cable and found no difference in speed

the cable is in a cupboard as an emergency backup if wireless fails -though if that happens it would mean my broadband is not working

 

[cruisin]

please post your speeds via ethernet/time machine backup

I purchased a Thunderbolt-ethernet cable and found no difference in speed

the cable is in a cupboard as an emergency backup if wireless fails -though if that happens it would mean my broadband is not working

Speed depends on size of files, speed of link, and speed of storage. If you have a bunch of small files and/or you have a strong WiFi signal you might not see a difference.

Your broadband is not used for local TM backups.

 

[glenthompson]

I got the verification error on my new home server.
I stopped using the pi for backups because I didn't really trust the setup.
I mean when you have to follow several guides in order to setup time machine support you might not feel 100% on the safe side.

But if you would still like to dable with your pi give openmediavault a shot.
I really like it because it is simple to set up.

What server software are you using? Time Machine is only officially supported on Mac Server and Time Capsule. Some of us have used it on a Synology NAS with no problems. I have run backups to a Mac Server for almost 3 years and never had a hiccup. Tested complete restores too.

 

[schpongo]

I'm running open mediavault on a small pc.
Many os's "support" Time Machine backuos an so does openmediavault.