Backup software
in [Mac Systems]
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From: Tim Murray on 7 Oct 2007 11:10 On Oct 3, 2007, The New Guy wrote: > So I've got about 10 folders that I want to backup. You'd think that > some program would allow me to say "Backup folder 1 to 10". And back > it up if its been changed, deleted or added since the last backup. I > think this is called incremental backup. > > Anyway, I guess I'm one of the few people that do not use Apple's > designated folder system as I find it time wasting to be scrolling > through many columns to get where I want. All my working folders are > in the first column to the right of the hard drive they are in. I > never use "Users, Documents, My Folders, Etc). My folders are in the > same column that Users are in. But the problem seems to be that > Backup software wants to only backup stuff in the User's folder area. > Or did I miss something? Is there any software that will listen to > the user and allow me to pick which folders I want to back up and then > keep backing them up incrementally from now on not touching the system > or user folders at all? If my system has some major crash, I WANT to > reload the operating system for a fresh start. Later I'll backup all > the Applications with their corresponding Preferences. But I don't > want to bother with the System Files. Is this even possible without > going all Unix and writing scripts? Why is it so complicated? You are making it complicated. > 1: What folders do you want to backup? > 2: What kind of backup do you want? (Incremental is what most people > want). > 3: Where do you want to backup this stuff to? (External hard > drive.....duh.) > So simple. Who is listening? Your technique of keeping folder systems as you do is causing you extra anguish. But in any case Apple Backup will back up anything in the manner you describe. Another very nice one, little known, is Tri-BACKUP. Its interface is circa-1996 .. in fact, if may have very well come from OS 9 ... but it does everything I want, and has a nice "rules" system.
From: Tim Murray on 7 Oct 2007 11:28 On Oct 3, 2007, The New Guy wrote: > All my working folders are in the first column to the right of the hard > drive they are in. I never use "Users, Documents, My Folders, Etc). My > folders are in the same column that Users are in. Bad idea. There is a whole model of permissions and security you doing an end-run around, and in the end, your only gain is pain.
From: J.J. O'Shea on 7 Oct 2007 11:48 On Sun, 7 Oct 2007 10:50:23 -0400, The New Guy wrote (in article <replytogroup-C1DA73.09502207102007(a)news.lga.highwinds-media.com>): > Question: Does it take much more time to update a backup with the > changed user files? It would obviously be very nice to be able to > boot up from the external drive but I'm wondering about the time > difference between updating all the user files that might entail > compared to not bothering and just focusing on my own files. One > advantage of just backing up my own files: I know what has been > changed and if its going to be a long or short backup. I back up the entire system so that if there's a problem, I can just plug in the backup hard drive and go. Also, I can hand-carry the backup hard drive to a different machine and have _all of my stuff_. And, so long as that machine can boot 10.4.10, I can simply boot off my drive and go. The problem with doing a complete backup to a hard drive is that when I do it, I kill the old versions of stuff. Both SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner will sync the backup to look exactly like the current system, which is a Good Thin(tm) except when I might want to keep something older. So I stick stuff I want to keep unchanged elsewhere, usually on CD or on another hard drive, and only run complete backups at long intervals. I do _data_ backups every week. My latest data backup, made last night, has the latest version of my data and can be restored by just copying the stuff back. That's for home. For the office, everything gets backed up to tape, with important stuff on CD or hard drive as well. And every ever so often we pick a random tape set and restore it just to make sure that it's good. And, in any case, once a tape set gets too big we park it offsite and start a new one. The office has tapes going back to way before I was there, including some we can't restore from anymore 'cause we no longer have DDS2 DAT tape drives, but those are 10-15 years old. (Does anyone know where to get DDS2 tape drives? DDS 72 tape drives really don't like DDS2 tape. Wanna guess how I know?) -- email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com.
From: The New Guy on 8 Oct 2007 10:40 > > Question: Does it take much more time to update a backup with the > > changed user files? It would obviously be very nice to be able to > > boot up from the external drive but I'm wondering about the time > > difference between updating all the user files that might entail > > compared to not bothering and just focusing on my own files. One > > advantage of just backing up my own files: I know what has been > > changed and if its going to be a long or short backup. > > You don't know what has been changed. Are you saying you remember every > changed preference in every application you used? No. I was saying I would remember most of the large files I changed IF I was doing daily backups. I'd never remember those if I was doing weekly backups. > With SuperDuper it takes just a few minutes to re-clone my entire HD > using "Smart Update" which overwrites only the changed files. And it deletes files on the backup that aren't there anymore on the source? If so, that's SuperDuper's version of incremental backup I guess which sounds great. So far Silverkeeper's been doing great for me doing just that.
From: The New Guy on 8 Oct 2007 10:41
> > All my working folders are in the first column to the right of the hard > > drive they are in. I never use "Users, Documents, My Folders, Etc). My > > folders are in the same column that Users are in. > > Bad idea. There is a whole model of permissions and security you doing an > end-run around, and in the end, your only gain is pain. So far I haven't run into any problems (that I'm aware of). Is there any way I can check? |