What is the current Backup app everyone uses?

[LeandrodaFL]

What is the current Backup app that Mac users have for Mountain Lion?

Currently, Im at Snow Leopard, using both Time Machine and WD Anywhere Backup. The WD software is not supported in Mountain Lion, so I would like to have a recomendation, to use it along Time Machine.

I would like a free recomendation

 

[MisterKeeks]

Not free, but Carbon Copy Cloner is great.

 

[Penn Jennings]

If you are really concerned with backups, Time Machine under Mountain Lion allows multiple Time Machine sources. You could have a local external disk and a LAN Time Machine some place else in your house. Another option, if you have a parent, sibling or close friend nearby, configure two external drives for Time Machine but keep one off site at someone else house and just alternate them from month to month. That way even if your house burns down or is flooded you'll never lose more than a month.

The online options work well *IF* you don't generate a lot of data, or don't have bandwidth restrictions. Comcast used to have a monthly 250 GB soft cap which made uploading backups infeasible... and pricey.

My 2 cents.

 

[Photoshopper]

My Mac Pro at my employer's is backed up to a Time Machine/Capsule (and to our new server), and then I use Super Duper to back up to a drive I store off premises.

My personal Mac Pro with Mountain Lion is backed up via Super Duper to a 2nd internal HDD, and to an external drive, again stored off-site, using SuperDuper. It allows me to back up my 2 drives (System SSD and Data HDD) on a schedule I create. It may be different now, but Time Machine did not allow me to do that when it was first released.

Carbon Copy Cloner is good as well. Whatever method you use, keep a copy in a different location!

 

[LeandrodaFL]

The problem with Time MAchine is that is uses 1-hour backps, while WD Anywhere Backup is more of a RAID 1 thing.

Any change in my Mac is instantly made also in the external HDD. Im looking for a software like this for Mountain Lion...

 

[flynz4]

The problem with Time MAchine is that is uses 1-hour backps, while WD Anywhere Backup is more of a RAID 1 thing.

Any change in my Mac is instantly made also in the external HDD. Im looking for a software like this for Mountain Lion...

I am not familiar with WD Anywhere Backup... but if it is like a RAID 1 volume... does that mean that it does not have revision history? If not... that is pretty crappy backup. RAID is not backup.

I use a combination of Time Machine for local backup... and Crashplan+ for cloud based backup. The combination (IMHO) is unbeatable. I keep CP+ set for 15 minute updates. You can set it to backup more often if you wish.... but I think 15 min is plenty often.

/Jim

 

[zhenya]

I second the recommendation for Crashplan. No, it's not free (although you can use their software for free), but it is dirt cheap and incredibly reliable. I can't imagine not backing up to the cloud anymore.

 

[maflynn]

I use a combination of Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner.

I also use with CCCC a portable drive to take a backup offsite, this is superior imo then those internet backup services as I manage my data and ensure the security. Plus the availability of my data is there instead of waiting eons for a download to complete or the company to send me a series of DVDs so I can restore my data

 

[zhenya]

I use a combination of Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner.

I also use with CCCC a portable drive to take a backup offsite, this is superior imo then those internet backup services as I manage my data and ensure the security. Plus the availability of my data is there instead of waiting eons for a download to complete or the company to send me a series of DVDs so I can restore my data

I would argue that properly encrypted data at a day center is FAR more secure than you carrying around a hard drive for backups.

In the end, the only really reliable backup solution is one that is completely automated. The system should not rely on any regular human interaction.

My backups happen every hour every day every year for years on end. How often do you really update that portable drive?

 

[digitalhen]

I've found Time Machine to be fairly unreliable for massive data sets (5TB+), so I've done two things instead:-

1 - rsync script on my media server that "pulls" the data from my mac at custom times for the type of data (Movies, once a day, Docs, every 30 minutes), and then captures them in dated folders. It de-dupes the files, so only keeps one version of every change.

2 - Backblaze. $5 a month, and it works. Took FOREVER to backup 5TB though, but has saved the day more than once. Worth every penny.

 

[LeandrodaFL]

I am not familiar with WD Anywhere Backup... but if it is like a RAID 1 volume... does that mean that it does not have revision history? If not... that is pretty crappy backup. RAID is not backup.
/Jim

Actually, I have to say that WD Anwhere Backup is the best Backup solutuin I've used, both on Mac and previowslly on Windows. ITs now extinct software, but works flawlessly.

What it does is to make a copy of every file in your computer to a external HDD, so if crash happens, you can take this HDD and plug into any Mac or PC and have your data readable.

You dont have to select your entire computer, you may select individual folders, and of course, multiple destination too. You backup what you want to. And its INSTANT. The moment you rename a file, it gets renamed in the external HDD. Same if you delete, or create something new. Even if the HDD is sleep, the app wakes the HDD and make the changes.

so if a crash happens, its the only backup assured to have ALL your data, even the data that happened after your last time machine backup, wich takes 1 hour to run again


So....I need something like this for Mountain Lion.....once more, to use in pair with Time Machine. BTW, WD Anywhere Backup is from "Memeo" and I got it bundled with Western Digital HDD. Memeo did a special version of their software for Western Digital.

 

[zhenya]

Note that unless you have extremely aggressive file versioning enabled, having software that backs up in real time often causes more problems than its worth. You usually don't notice you need your backups while working on the file, but somewhere down the road. In that case, the corrupted or wrong version of the file will already be the one in your backup.

Is every 15 minutes or hour really not good enough?

In any case, Crashplan does offer both real time backup and unlimited version history.

 

[tootall]

My home computer backed up by time machine to an external HD;
Same thing for my office computer.
Both are synced together via DropBox by using Syncovery (formely known as SFFS - SuperFlexibleFileSynchroniser).

This gives me an offsite backup and 3 independent backups.

 

[maflynn]

I would argue that properly encrypted data at a day center is FAR more secure than you carrying around a hard drive for backups.

How will you know its properly encrypted and secure - the vendor's word and guarantee. A guarantee is worthless if they lose your data.

The bottom line is you're trusting a third party company with your data, that's a risk I'm not willing to take. What happens if they used servers that were seized like what happened to megaupload. Plenty of valid customers lost access to their data no fault of theirs (or the company suddenly went bankrupt or was hacked). I'm not saying that will happen but you are now transferring responsibility of your data from yourself to a company that you may not have a lot of knowledge of.

I don't carry a hard drive around, but I what I do is take offsite and lock it up.

 

[zhenya]

How will you know its properly encrypted and secure - the vendor's word and guarantee. A guarantee is worthless if they lose your data.

The bottom line is you're trusting a third party company with your data, that's a risk I'm not willing to take. What happens if they used servers that were seized like what happened to megaupload. Plenty of valid customers lost access to their data no fault of theirs (or the company suddenly went bankrupt or was hacked). I'm not saying that will happen but you are now transferring responsibility of your data from yourself to a company that you may not have a lot of knowledge of.

I don't carry a hard drive around, but I what I do is take offsite and lock it up.

I never consider any single backup type adequate. I do both local and offsite backups, but all of my backups must be completely automated and hands off.

If you are concerned about security, take the time to educate yourself about the method they use. It isn't just the vendors guarantee in most cases as the encryption requires a key only known by you. In general, it is an unlikely attack vector compared with how many easier methods there are. In the end, I'm also not that concerned about losing a backup - it's just redundancy - I always have the data somewhere else.

 

[jojoba]

I use SuperDuper (they have a free version) and Time Machine.

 

[flynz4]

Actually, I have to say that WD Anwhere Backup is the best Backup solutuin I've used, both on Mac and previowslly on Windows. ITs now extinct software, but works flawlessly.

What it does is to make a copy of every file in your computer to a external HDD, so if crash happens, you can take this HDD and plug into any Mac or PC and have your data readable.

You dont have to select your entire computer, you may select individual folders, and of course, multiple destination too. You backup what you want to. And its INSTANT. The moment you rename a file, it gets renamed in the external HDD. Same if you delete, or create something new. Even if the HDD is sleep, the app wakes the HDD and make the changes.

so if a crash happens, its the only backup assured to have ALL your data, even the data that happened after your last time machine backup, wich takes 1 hour to run again


So....I need something like this for Mountain Lion.....once more, to use in pair with Time Machine. BTW, WD Anywhere Backup is from "Memeo" and I got it bundled with Western Digital HDD. Memeo did a special version of their software for Western Digital.

So it sounds like (from your description)... that it is a real time clone... very much like RAID 1. I still contend that is NOT a backup. It is a clone. What happens if you inadvertently delete a folder of important work... and 3 months later you discover it is gone? If it is a clone... then there is no way to get it back.

Clones are valuable... especially if you need to be up and running immediately. However... I believe it should be in addition to true backup... which saves the history of your work.

/Jim

----------

How will you know its properly encrypted and secure - the vendor's word and guarantee. A guarantee is worthless if they lose your data.

I've read your posts countless times... and I really value your opinion on most topics... i.e.: with me... you have very high credibility.

In this area, I think you are not correct. With good cloud based backup... the data is encrypted on your own machine... with a key that you control. Fore example, with Crashplan+, there are three choices in your key generation. Method #1 (least secure)... lets you trust your key with the provider. I do not use, or recommend that option for the reasons that you mention. However, methods #2 and #3 are completely secure... and the company has no possible way to get at your data... because they do not have access to your key. With 448b blowfish encryption... you data could be put on a public website, and it would remain completely safe "forever" (as measured in human lifespans).

/Jim

 

[mic j]

Time Machine to a network drive, for quick recovery of "oops" stuff. Then SuperDuper once a month, switching between 2 portable HD's. Keeping most recent at home and the 1 month old version in a safety deposit box.

 

[LeandrodaFL]

Note that unless you have extremely aggressive file versioning enabled...Is every 15 minutes or hour really not good enough?

I apreciate your hint, I will take a look at Crashplan! Just to conclude, WD Anywhere Backup does offer you to keep up to 3 versions of a file. And you can mark it to not delete a file in the backup when you do in your PC. Having said that, I already run Time Machine along with WD Anywhere Backup. So I just dont do that, I'm carefull with my files, and whenever I delete a file in my PC, I want it deleted in the backup right away. Moreover, I dont need multiple versions of my file, and if ever I do, I have Time Machine. And yes, 1 minute is already too much for me.

So it sounds like (from your description)... that it is a real time clone... very much like RAID 1. What happens if you inadvertently delete a folder of important work...
/Jim

Perhaps you are right, but I dont think its a clone, beacuse I dont clone the entire Hard Drive, just the folders I want, for example, the Picture folder, or a specific folder in the desktop..... Anyways, I run this type of real time backup together with Time Machine, I was simply looking for a similar software compatible for Moutain Lion. This type of solutuion keeps you save for the 1 hour window time Machine doesnt cover, and I have the advantage of simply taking the external HDD and plugging into any computer, including a Windows Machine, and I have instant acess to all my files, or at least, the ones I care enough not to lose.

 

[fhall1]

The problem with Time MAchine is that is uses 1-hour backps, while WD Anywhere Backup is more of a RAID 1 thing.

Any change in my Mac is instantly made also in the external HDD. Im looking for a software like this for Mountain Lion...

Install Time Machine Editor...I have it set to run Time Machine at 6AM and 6PM every day instead of every hour.

I also use CCC to clone my drive before any OS update (major or minor).

 

[Phil A.]

I am not familiar with WD Anywhere Backup... but if it is like a RAID 1 volume... does that mean that it does not have revision history? If not... that is pretty crappy backup. RAID is not backup.

I use a combination of Time Machine for local backup... and Crashplan+ for cloud based backup. The combination (IMHO) is unbeatable. I keep CP+ set for 15 minute updates. You can set it to backup more often if you wish.... but I think 15 min is plenty often.

/Jim

Another vote for Time Machine / Crashplan - I've only got a slow internet connection and it was painful waiting for the initial backup, but once that was done, it works brilliantly.

If you're in the USA you can use a seed disk to kick start your crashplan backup, but unfortunately, that's not available in the UK

 

[sponch]

Time machine syncing to a NAS.
Chronosync to backup data on an external USB 3 drive and to make a bootable image of my mac mini on a second external hdd.
Chronosync also pulls backup of my iTunes media library that is on my Nas.
Happy with that.

 

[MCAsan]

TM writing to Time Capsule

 

[hboon]

Crashplan is both easy to use and relatively inexpensive. I like that it backups to a remote location.

 

[hakuin]

I have the files I am currently working on in a folder that is synced using Dropbox. I then create a clone of my entire drive about once a week using SuperDuper.

If something happens I can start using the clone and all the files I was working on will sync to the most recent versions. For me the 2 GB you get free at Dropbox is enough space to make this method work.