Recommendation for simple backup needs
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From: Tony Hall on 23 May 2010 22:14 Hello, I'm a photographer, and working on the theory that 'if it doesn't exist 3 times, it doesn't exist at all" I'm trying to work out a simple way to backup my photos folder. What I would like to do is have 4 copies of my photos folder: - Main 'master' photos folder on the secondary internal hard drive of desktop Mac, used for storage - this is the folder that needs backing up - Backup on portable hard drive, to live with PowerBook - Backup on external hard drive, main backup - Backup on external hard drive for off site storage (FWIW the primary internal drive is used for the OS, apps, downloads etc. and is being backed-up using a Time Machine external drive) Ideally, when one of the external drives is mounted I'd like the backup program to launch automatically and synchronise changes to the photos folders. Currently, I'm using 'SuperDuper!' and this works well (detects presence of external drive and immediately starts a 'smart' backup). Problem is it deals with volumes rather than folders. So while I'm using a script that tells SuperDuper to only backup the photos folder, it erases all other other data on the recipient drive (found out the hard way - oops!). I'd like to store other stuff on these external drives. So could you recommend a backup application, that will: - Automatically detect mounting of one of these external drives, then perform a backup - Perform 'smart' backups, ie. mirror just the changed files, not copy the whole folder every time (currently it's only 170 GB, but obviously it will continuously increase in size) - Leave other files on the recipient drive untouched - Schedule routine backups, in case one of the drives has not been used recently - Run on PPC Macs under OS 10.5.8 I'm sure there's a simple solution out there. I just haven't found it yet! Any recommendations or advice would be very gratefully received. Many thanks. Cheers, Tony
From: J. J. Lodder on 24 May 2010 02:51 Tony Hall <spam(a)tony-hall.net> wrote: > Hello, > > I'm a photographer, and working on the theory that 'if it doesn't exist > 3 times, it doesn't exist at all" I'm trying to work out a simple way to > backup my photos folder. > > What I would like to do is have 4 copies of my photos folder: > - Main 'master' photos folder on the secondary internal hard drive of > desktop Mac, used for storage - this is the folder that needs backing up > - Backup on portable hard drive, to live with PowerBook > - Backup on external hard drive, main backup > - Backup on external hard drive for off site storage > > (FWIW the primary internal drive is used for the OS, apps, downloads > etc. and is being backed-up using a Time Machine external drive) > > Ideally, when one of the external drives is mounted I'd like the backup > program to launch automatically and synchronise changes to the photos > folders. > > Currently, I'm using 'SuperDuper!' and this works well (detects presence > of external drive and immediately starts a 'smart' backup). > > Problem is it deals with volumes rather than folders. So while I'm using > a script that tells SuperDuper to only backup the photos folder, it > erases all other other data on the recipient drive (found out the hard > way - oops!). I'd like to store other stuff on these external drives. > > So could you recommend a backup application, that will: > - Automatically detect mounting of one of these external drives, then > perform a backup > - Perform 'smart' backups, ie. mirror just the changed files, not copy > the whole folder every time (currently it's only 170 GB, but obviously > it will continuously increase in size) > - Leave other files on the recipient drive untouched > - Schedule routine backups, in case one of the drives has not been used > recently > - Run on PPC Macs under OS 10.5.8 > > I'm sure there's a simple solution out there. I just haven't found it > yet! Tell SuperDuper to copy your folder to a (sparse) disk image. Since you have many copies anyway he usual disadvantages of disk images don't apply. Jan
From: John Hill on 24 May 2010 02:55 Tony Hall <spam(a)tony-hall.net> wrote: > Ideally, when one of the external drives is mounted I'd like the backup > program to launch automatically and synchronise changes to the photos > folders. > > Currently, I'm using 'SuperDuper!' and this works well (detects presence > of external drive and immediately starts a 'smart' backup). > > Problem is it deals with volumes rather than folders. So while I'm using > a script that tells SuperDuper to only backup the photos folder, it > erases all other other data on the recipient drive (found out the hard > way - oops!). I'd like to store other stuff on these external drives. I'm not familiar with superDuper, but might it be possible to reformat the external drive(s) into two partitions, use SuperDuper to back up on to one of them, and use the other for the stuff you want to store there? You could size the partitions appropriately. John. -- Please reply to john at yclept dot wanadoo dot co dot uk.
From: Jaimie Vandenbergh on 24 May 2010 03:37 On Mon, 24 May 2010 03:14:54 +0100, spam(a)tony-hall.net (Tony Hall) wrote: >Hello, > >I'm a photographer, and working on the theory that 'if it doesn't exist >3 times, it doesn't exist at all" I'm trying to work out a simple way to >backup my photos folder. > >What I would like to do is have 4 copies of my photos folder: >- Main 'master' photos folder on the secondary internal hard drive of >desktop Mac, used for storage - this is the folder that needs backing up >- Backup on portable hard drive, to live with PowerBook >- Backup on external hard drive, main backup >- Backup on external hard drive for off site storage > >(FWIW the primary internal drive is used for the OS, apps, downloads >etc. and is being backed-up using a Time Machine external drive) > >Ideally, when one of the external drives is mounted I'd like the backup >program to launch automatically and synchronise changes to the photos >folders. http://www.econtechnologies.com/pages/cs/chrono_overview.html Works really, really well. Also http://www.crashplan.com/ , for off-site storage (free with a willing accomplice). Cheers - Jaimie -- None of this will matter in 20 billion years.
From: J. J. Lodder on 24 May 2010 03:44
John Hill <nemo(a)erewhon.invalid> wrote: > Tony Hall <spam(a)tony-hall.net> wrote: > > > Ideally, when one of the external drives is mounted I'd like the backup > > program to launch automatically and synchronise changes to the photos > > folders. > > > > Currently, I'm using 'SuperDuper!' and this works well (detects presence > > of external drive and immediately starts a 'smart' backup). > > > > Problem is it deals with volumes rather than folders. So while I'm using > > a script that tells SuperDuper to only backup the photos folder, it > > erases all other other data on the recipient drive (found out the hard > > way - oops!). I'd like to store other stuff on these external drives. > > I'm not familiar with superDuper, but might it be possible to reformat > the external drive(s) into two partitions, use SuperDuper to back up on > to one of them, and use the other for the stuff you want to store there? > You could size the partitions appropriately. Yes, possible, but that forces you to fix the size in advance. For a sparse disk image OTOH you only fix the maximum size. It will take up less disk space while not full. While it is filling the remaining free space can be used for other things, Jan |