Comments on: Backup, backup, backup!

By: Cristiano Betta

Cristiano Betta — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:11:15 +0000

Why can’t you use a versioning system as a backup solution for just those small documents? Isn’t it a good thing to know that your code also resides as a backup on the SVN/CVS server before you managed to backup your entire drive?

How are your thought about rsync?

Furthermore I totally agree: when you got a proper strategy you will know because your most important data will be backed up most and you least important data will be backed up the least (or won’t be backed up at all).

I think the hardest thing though for some people to understand is what their most important documents are. Although important, documents you created in the last week aren’t the most important. They are still fresh on your mind and can with some pain and sweat be “recreated”.

Documents from a year back that you might one day need are way more important as they are often impossible to recreate.

By: Reinier Zwitserloot

Reinier Zwitserloot — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:05:19 +0000

First of all, SVN/CVS/Any version control system are NOT BACKUP SYSTEMS. You should just nix that from this article.

I do have some advice though: Usually the actual data that you really cannot possibly go without isn\’t too large. If that\’s true, back that stuff up over the internet. Simple example: All the source code I ever wrote exists on my macbook, on both backup partitions of my backup drive, the house time capsule, and on our server. Even if the entire house falls down, that server will still have the data.

This is a lot harder if you want to keep your videos around, obviously. Documents, your emails, and your favourite pictures, that\’s reasonable to upload to a remote server via the net.

By: Cristiano Betta

Cristiano Betta — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:27:31 +0000

@caz Well I obviously highlighted some of the Mac solutions here, but in general my talk above is a non-platform-bound story. Maybe you would like to share what software you use for your backups on PC?

You burn to CD as a second backup??? good job! I just don’t like CDs and DVDs (they have failed to often on me) and in general I can justify upgrading my largest HDD to a new one to have another disk left for off-site backups.

By: Caz Mockett

Caz Mockett — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:19:44 +0000

Well I’m a PC girl (so shoot me), therefore these Mac solutions aren’t feasible for me. But what I do have is two external USB hard drives which I use for general data and my photographs. Once there are enough files from the photo drive to burn a DVD, that’s a second backup. The discs live in a fireproof box (I should probably move them to my parents but haven’t got round to it yet). Just my 2p

By: Cristiano Betta

Cristiano Betta — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:26:46 +0000

Excellent questions. The “problem” with Time Machine is that it will only back up to a external USB/Firewire hard drive, or over the network to a Time Capsule. There are some hacks to get it to back up to a network share as you are proposing but this has some issues.

I tried this and the biggest issue are the speed of the network (I take it you want to do this wireless), and the fact that it is NOT a one-on-one backup. I like one-on-one backups as they are bootable and enable me to play around, trying to get a Ubuntu install to work on my MB, etc. So, I chose for SuperDuper!.

By: Hani

Hani — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:54:42 +0000

I read your post with interest since I am currently deciding on how to backup the data on my MacBook. I would like to use Time Machine, but I never physically connect the MB to my external HD at home. That external HD is connected to my MacMini and shared on my home network.
It would be perfect if it was possible to use a shared network drive (one of the partitions) as the Time Machine backup drive.

Also, I was wondering about the reasons that made you choose SuperDuper over Time Machine.