When using cloud backup, what files does it make sense not to back up?
I have signed up with Zipcloud for cloud back up of files (after both time capsule and seagate external drives failed on me).
It's been a few days and I am very frustrated by what was not explained before I signed up, such as upload times, etc.
I ask my question about what files it might make sense not to back up to the cloud, because at the rate of backing up 4-8 GB a day (which is what Ziplcoud says to expect) it will take 3 months to back up all my data! Seems crazy.
Also, although I have been told by Zipcloud that there software will not interfere with my computer's performance, my experience is to the contrary. Coincidence? Wondering about the experience of others in terms of impact on computer's performance?
I welcome general opiions and experiences with cloud backup as well as the answers to my specific questions. I also am open to suggestions of reliable affordable back-up companies with support.
Zipcloud's email based support could not be much more frustrating! I send a question that doesn't really get addressed with my original question dropped from the reply so that I need to repeat my question—each answer coming from a different customer service person, no continuity within the same issue, no real resolution.
Is cloud back up really worth it?? And back to my original question, for which files and for which files not to bother.
Thanks,
Ani
PS. Final question: have people found data recovery problematic from cloud backup?
I have a MAcbook Pro OSX 10.8.5
Methodologies to protect your valuable data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection approaches
Cloud based storage should not be considered a data archive due to security concerns, and the transient ephemeral nature of cloud storage which can only be quasi-possessed.
There is no such thing as "cloud storage"........ Cloud storage just means 1000s of HD in a building
5. *The above leads to another question, which is for how long to trust an external drive?
Given the second law of thermodynamics, any and all current mfg. HD will, under perfect storage conditions tend themselves to depolarization and a point will be reached, even if the HD mechanism is perfect, that the ferromagnetic read/write surface of the platter inside the HD will entropy to the point of no return for data extraction.
HD life varies, but barring mechanical failure, 3-8 years typically.
Some advantages of a cloned hard drive:
If you do an option key startup at boot you can directly boot to your cloned drive externally and operate from same like normal.
Sandboxing: With the help of the Cloned Drive, you can perform sandboxing, or the testing of new software, their updates and applications before they are installed on your Mac system. Moreover, if there are issues with the system, you can troubleshoot them by booting off the Clone. Many people test new APPS or experiment with a secondary clone and never worry about a failure or serious issue since the internal HD is untouched and the secondary clone can be wiped afterwards if any major issue occurs in testing. This is an invaluable tool in many instances.
If you sell you computer for purchase of a new one, you can take the clone you have on hand and install same or clone it to the new internal drive of your new Mac.
As it turns out one of the huge positive benefits of a clone is that people were seeing faster HD speeds; with APPS booting up from the clone than they had seen with the internal HD. The cloning applications in cloning the drive defragments the data to the clone and remove the “holes” in the cloning process.
With a small portable HD clone you can take your ‘computer’ anywhere to most any other current Mac and boot from your HD clone and have your entire system and its data immediately there for use. In case one is across the world and their macbook gets stolen, or damaged, with another Mac you can be up and 100% in the time it takes to boot to the new or borrowed Mac!
You can clone from your external clone to the internal HD/SSD in case of corruption.
The best thing that can be said, ideally, when your HD crashes with all its data is “so what, I’ve got a clone right here” and you can return to normal operation within seconds (by booting from the clone) or minutes (by swapping drives).
In separating out your system hub (OS) and your data hub, and storing them separately, is if you make only periodic clones (every month or so), and have a HD crash, the worst case outcome is that what is lost on your clone are some bookmarks and preferences since your data hub containing your vital files is constantly archived separately as it should be.
Similar Messages
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What Items Does It Make Senses NOT to Back Up?
I've been muddling through with Time Capsule, having some successes (thanks, in part, to this forum) and some failures. (It's amazing how much information one has to discover on one's on and through others.)
I know one way to cut down on the initial backup time is to exclude some folders and files.
Which items does it make sense NOT to back up? For example, is it pointless to back up System files? Applications? Libraries?
If I somehow lost all files on my desktop's hard drive, what would be essential to have as backups on the Time Capsule?Some other examples of large monolithic files that aren't great candidates to have Time Machine backup are:
Certain mail apps - not Apple Mail, but Eudora, Entourage, Thunderbird?? store mail in large mailbox files so every incoming, every delete, changes the entire mailbox and the whole thing gets backed up.
Certain photo apps. like Adobe Lightroom and IView maintain large catalog files that change every time you do anything - then the whole thing gets backed up. (I don't know about the inner workings of Aperture or iPhoto so I can;t comment on them)
You do want to back these things up, and while Time Machine will work with then, they chew up space very quickly. Probably better to make/update copies of these files periodically.
There is a valuable App - [Time Tracker|www.charlessoft/TimeTracker.zip].
It is useful, particularly when getting started, or anytime it looks like some backup is unusually large.
It will tell you for each backup exactly what was backed up and how much space was required for each drive, folders within drive, files within folders etc....
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Hello everybody,
I have updated from Snow Leopard to Lion over the App Store and now my iMac (the 27" one from last year) seems to suffer from several slowdowns. Quite unusual for a new Mac. So I decided to try a clean install. Of course I would like to keep my data, my programs and stuff. I am doing daily backups with my Time Machine, so this should not be a problem.
But thats my question: Does it make sense to put back all data from the Time Machine from a backup on a clean install? Doesn`t it possibly put back all the old problems with all the slowdowns I experience right now?
The following I intend to do:
- backup all data with Time Machine
- create a Lion install disc
- boot from the disc, delete the HDD
- install Lion from the disc
- boot the new OS and put back the Time Machine backup
I hope someone can verify that this would work. Since those slowdowns became really annoying I would give it a try.
greetings
Michaelthe_whispering wrote:
So I decided to try a clean install.
I'd recommend against starting with the "nuclear" option.
First, is there a "pattern"? Does the problem seem to coincide with any particular app(s)?
How full is your internal HD? If it's over about 85%, that can contribute to slowness.
Check for directory damage, by Verifying your internal HD, per #6 in Using Disk Utility.
Check for unusual log messages that can indicate a problem. See the tan box in OSX Log Files to locate your system.log, then the blue box there to decipher it, especially the Other Problems section.
If you suspect a problem with your installation of OSX, download and install the "combo" update, per Installing the"combo" update and/or Reinstalling OSX.
If that doesn't help, try installing a fresh version of OSX (that won't disturb anything else), per the same article.
The following I intend to do:
- backup all data with Time Machine
- create a Lion install disc
- boot from the disc, delete the HDD
- install Lion from the disc
- boot the new OS and put back the Time Machine backup
If you want to restore everything from your Time Machine backup, all you have to do is start up from your Recovery HD and do the restore. That will erase the HD and copy everything, including OSX, from the backups. Thus, it's unlikely to help, unless you had unrepaired directory problems.
Or, after you install Lion, use Setup Assistant to transfer everything except OSX from your backups. See Using Setup Assistant on Lion. Functionally, that's pretty close to just installing a fresh copy of Lion as above. -
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Corrupt data error when using Windows backup on Oracle
Our SAP servers include a SDLT internal tape drive that we use for doing a complete system backup. When using Windows Backup we get the following message in the backup log:
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Gale S.Especially no backup tool would know about the
fact
that a Oracle block had been changed after it was
copied.
Now I have to contracdict
There are backup tools (e. g. OpenFile Manager from
Legato/EMC), that track the filesystem changes and
makes sure, the backups are consistent in sense of
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I just wonder, how the database would deal with such
"inconsistent" files. Given the fact, you start a
backup at filesystem block 0, the database is being
backed up and a transaction is committed and
something is written to block 100, 200 and 500. The
backup is on block 300. If you now restore the
database, it has the already commited block 500 in
the file but 100 and 200 are not yet written in the
database file. The redo will then find an already
commited transaction on 500. What magic will tell the
engine, that this is due to an online database
backup? I mean, if you set the tablespace to backup,
the engine "knows" the state - but if you just backup
the file, the engine is unaware of that... I´m just
curious how this is handled...
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2. The UNDO-information is not only written out to the UNDO/ROLLBACK-Tablespace but additionally to the REDOLOGS. So, for the time where the tablespaces are in BACKUP mode, we have all information needed to make a block consistent again - regardless if a transaction had been commited or rolled back - in the redolog. So a full recovery of all changes is possible with
that.
That's basically the "magic" behind this.
If the copy of the datafile is done without this - well, then there's no magician in the world that would been able to get it consistent again. Online Backups with Oracle are only possible with BACKUP mode or RMAN (ok, and possible some 3rd party hacks...).
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