As I write this post, I’m still unsure of the best way forward for backing up my MacBook Pro (MBP), now that I have a couple of external hard drives.
Essentially, there are two mainstream methods – use Time Machine (TM), and / or clone your hard drive using Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) or SuperDuper (SD).
Earthlingsoft.net has one of the best articles on how Time Machine actually works.
Erica Sadun of ARSTechnica.com chronicles the experience of having a hard drive fail just before MacWorld 2009 and the role Time Machine played in assisting the setup of a new unit.
CCC is donationware, while SD requires a fee if you want to perform incremental backups.
I’m trying out a couple of the suggestions that I’ve found in online discussions and relevant blogs and websites, but in the meantime, I’ll link up to the ones I’ve found to be useful.
Why backups under Mac OS X is not as easy as I thought it was
The CCC homepage pointed to this article, which is a fantastic resource on how the file metadata system introduced with the Mac OS X operating system introduces a ton of complications for those who think all that is needed to back up a Mac’s file system is to do a drag files and directories to another volume.
One of the most interesting points in that article is that Finder (now called Spotlight) comments that you can enter for an individual file is not stored with the file itself, but rather, in the .DS_Store file (invisible on Macs by default, but visible if you copy a directory to a Windows / Linux / UNIX machine) in the parent directory of the file in question.
There is also a good explanation of what ACLs (Access Control Lists) are. I first saw this term in one of the backup options in SuperDuper, but had no idea at the time what they were.
The article is pretty old, so do read the update, which points to a newer set of tests conducted at nik.me.
Backing up – Time Machine, CarbonClone or SuperDuper?
This thread proved to be one of the most useful discussions I’ve read. Specifically, most of the users seem to favor the use of cloning via CCC / SD over Time Machine.
One drawback to the Time Machine approach is that it doesn’t allow full flexibility to dictate which disk gets backed up to which other disks. If you have multiple disks and volume, cloning might be the only way to go. In my case, I have the internal disk in my MBP, and three external hard disks (let’s call them A, B and C). I had wanted to use Time Machine to back up the internal hard disk to external hard disk A, and back up B to C. There’s no way to do this with Time Machine alone.
Tentatively, I’m going with using TM to back up the internal disk to A, and one of the cloning software to back B up to C.
This post by JasonReplica makes for interesting reading, especially for those who take photos on a daily basis.
Other archiving and backup recommendations from photographers:
- Scott Kelby’s photo and computer back-up strategy.
- Paul Barnard prefers hard drives to optical discs for backups.
Instead of using Time Machine, it seems that a better approach would be to use other synchronization and backup tools such as Synchronize! Pro X, Synk or Carbon Copy Cloner.
Discussions on Mac Backup Strategies and Techniques
As I write this post, I’m still unsure of the best way forward for backing up my MacBook Pro (MBP), now that I have a couple of external hard drives.
Essentially, there are two mainstream methods – use Time Machine (TM), and / or clone your hard drive using Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) or SuperDuper (SD).
Earthlingsoft.net has one of the best articles on how Time Machine actually works.
Erica Sadun of ARSTechnica.com chronicles the experience of having a hard drive fail just before MacWorld 2009 and the role Time Machine played in assisting the setup of a new unit.
CCC is donationware, while SD requires a fee if you want to perform incremental backups.
I’m trying out a couple of the suggestions that I’ve found in online discussions and relevant blogs and websites, but in the meantime, I’ll link up to the ones I’ve found to be useful.
Why backups under Mac OS X is not as easy as I thought it was
The CCC homepage pointed to this article, which is a fantastic resource on how the file metadata system introduced with the Mac OS X operating system introduces a ton of complications for those who think all that is needed to back up a Mac’s file system is to do a drag files and directories to another volume.
One of the most interesting points in that article is that Finder (now called Spotlight) comments that you can enter for an individual file is not stored with the file itself, but rather, in the .DS_Store file (invisible on Macs by default, but visible if you copy a directory to a Windows / Linux / UNIX machine) in the parent directory of the file in question.
There is also a good explanation of what ACLs (Access Control Lists) are. I first saw this term in one of the backup options in SuperDuper, but had no idea at the time what they were.
The article is pretty old, so do read the update, which points to a newer set of tests conducted at nik.me.
Backing up – Time Machine, CarbonClone or SuperDuper?
This thread proved to be one of the most useful discussions I’ve read. Specifically, most of the users seem to favor the use of cloning via CCC / SD over Time Machine.
One drawback to the Time Machine approach is that it doesn’t allow full flexibility to dictate which disk gets backed up to which other disks. If you have multiple disks and volume, cloning might be the only way to go. In my case, I have the internal disk in my MBP, and three external hard disks (let’s call them A, B and C). I had wanted to use Time Machine to back up the internal hard disk to external hard disk A, and back up B to C. There’s no way to do this with Time Machine alone.
Tentatively, I’m going with using TM to back up the internal disk to A, and one of the cloning software to back B up to C.
One photographer’s backup strategy
This post by JasonReplica makes for interesting reading, especially for those who take photos on a daily basis.
Other archiving and backup recommendations from photographers:
Kappy suggests abandoning the Time Machine approach
Instead of using Time Machine, it seems that a better approach would be to use other synchronization and backup tools such as Synchronize! Pro X, Synk or Carbon Copy Cloner.