Backup drive choice

I am not sure that I am at right place to ask this but there is no better one on the list of forums.
First, I upgraded all Macs we use to Leopard. Also, I am kind of disappointed how TM turned out. From advertising I expected more, trouble free, easy backups but it looks like that will have to wait a bit.
So I want to ask about good old Backup software. I still want to use it on all Macs. I have 1TB WD MyBook drive connected to Airport Extreme via USB. I am totally disappointed with that one. It shuts down or goes to sleep easily and then backup cycle skips in error. As result MyBook goes to trash can.
Here is the question. Should I buy network drive or again USB drive to connect to Airport Extreme? All Macs should use that drive for backups. Will Backup work with network HD?

Zack P. wrote:
Pondini,
I ma battling MyBook for quite long time and I given up on it. As I said it is connected to Airport Extreme via USB, has 5 folders inside representing backups for 6 Macs connected on same network. Using Backup important files and system settings are backed up every day or every few days to MyBook.
Problem is that MyBook shuts down by itself. I re-formatted it as per instructions on this forum when it was brand new out of the box. Still most of the times when backup starts it can't find (I guess mount) the drive.
Have you tried having it auto-mounted? Drag it from your desktop/Finder window to the +System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items+ panel.
MyBook would probably work right if connected to Mac via USB or FireWire. If I wanted to use it that way I would need to buy 5 more units like that. Solution for me is in USB drive (connected to AE) or network drive so all Macs can use it.
You probably need a bigger drive, or another drive, but there is an alternative: connect it/them directly to a stationary Mac, then back the others up to it via Time Machine by sharing that drive over the network.
TM creates too big files since it backs up everything.
Yes, but that means you can restore your entire system in one operation, not to mention the hourly backups of what's changed give you an excellent chance of recovering a previous version of something you're changed or deleted in error, or got corrupted. And, unlike Backup, it's much easier to browse your backups and restore from them. And it manages it's space automatically.
According to myriad of problems read on this forum it looks like that TM is still far from perfect so I better stick to proven technology.
No. This is the ER for Time Machine. Only folks with questions or problems post here, and most of the problems turn out to be things they've done that they shouldn't, or hardware problems. If you visit your local hospital, do you assume that everybody in town is sick?
And while almost nobody posts in the Backup forum any more, there are problems with it, too.

Similar Messages

  • Time Capsule can't function as backup drive?

    My main work computer's logic board fried yesterday. (Under AppleCare, so shouldn't be the end of the world, just a pain). I have it set for continuous hourly backups to a 1TB Time Capsule. So I should have all my files accessible.
    I'm working on another computer now, that uses Time Capsule as a router, but doesn't back up to it. I need to pull some files off the Time Capsule in order to continue working. Is this possible? Calling Apple Support indicated that it was not, but then why tout this thing as a backup drive?? What's the point of having backups if you can't access them from anywhere but the computer that they were backed up from?
    I'm desperate here. Any help would be hugely appreciated.

    Below are two ways in which to get a file from the Time Machine backup.
    When Time Machine does a backup it creates a 'sparsebundle' image file on the backup disk. This file is named after the computer so to locate and identify it easily. All you need to do is mount the 'sparsebundle' (by mouse double click or other method) from any computer that has access to the backup disk. When mounted it should show on the desktop or in a Finder window (depending on your Finder preferences).
    Once mounted you can manually browse the disk by opening this newly mounted disk (named after your computer - example: backup of yourcomputer). When you open it, there should be a folder inside named 'Backups.backupdb' and inside are all the contents of the backup - just find what you need and copy and paste. Or once mounted, right mouse click (or hold 'control' and mouse click) on the Time Machine icon in the dock and select 'browse other disks' (or click the icon in the menu bar - upper right of screen - and when the menu comes out press and hold the 'option' or 'alt' key to bring up the 'browse other disks' choice). And it should now show the 'backup of yourcomputer' available to browse. You will now enter the Time Machine as normal. To retrieve a file - locate the file you want and then click the action (or gear like) icon and select the 'restore to' option and choose a location to put the file.

  • Widget missing - It is on backup drive. What do I drag

    Widget missing - It is on backup drive when I boot from external drive. What do I drag and drop from external drive to iMac to get widget working on iMac? Thanks..

    Those .plist files are used by many applications to hold customizations. That one you show for the application Dashboard contains your choices for the different widgets you use and will remember your settings for which widgets you want to be active.
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  • PICTURE FILES gobble up backup drive?

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    of the same old, same old! I want to make DVD 's of some important backups on the
    TM amd DELETE all of the PICTURE BACKUPS on the TM. Then I intend to backup the
    Picture files as needed manually on DVD's. My reason for this is that I need all
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    Golden-age girl wrote:
    Dear Pandini,
    The important thing I need to know before moving all Picture files to DVDs is: Can I open up Picture files again on my computer when more photos come in to me, or does this happen automatically?
    I don't know just what you mean. If you copy a group of photos to a folder, then burn it to a DVD, then yes, you can open them when you read the disk. It's not automatic, and they won't go back into iPhoto unless you import them from the DVD into iPhoto.
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    In the future if too many photos amass again, and just move them to DVDs again?
    Yes, you can always copy things to a folder and burn it to a DVD.
    Thanks for all your help. iPhoto has been my Jonah from the start, and in the future when I don't have so much to do with a manuscript, I willl consider the Workshop in iPhoto at the Apple store.
    But before we part, I need to tell you about a message from TM again: "Backup disk is full, TM will delete old backups to make room for new ones." THEN IT OFFERRED ME PREFERENCES AS A CHOICE.
    What it was offering was the option to +automatically delete+ your oldest backups when it needs room for new ones, by un-checking the +Warn when old backups are deleted+ box; and/or for you to exclude things from backups.
    I selected Preferences so I could save some space by deleting Hourlly & Daily backups for the time being.
    Time Machine does that on every backup. It's not an option. And it's not a problem, unless you've been deleting things you need from your internal HD.
    It sounds more like you went into Time Machine's "Star Wars" display to delete individual backups, per #12 in the FAQ Tip.
    How can I remedy all this?
    There's no "magic wand" to wave and have your Mac do whatever it is that you want. I'm still not sure exactly what you want, or what's going on. But as long as you keep adding photos to your system, your system, and backups will get larger.
    I am so pre-occupied with the manuscript I have to finish & get published that I needed this relief before I could prepare & create the DVDs.
    Again, you need to either stop adding stuff to your system, figure out how to deal with it, or get a new, larger drive for Time Machine. Sorry, but those are your choices.
    If you're still confused, make an appointment at your local Apple Store, either with a Genius who can help you with this, or for the workshop.

  • Best backup drive for college student

    Need recommendation for backup drive for college student using MacBook Pro.

    Basic Backup
    For some people Time Machine will be more than adequate. Time Machine is part of OS X. There are two components: 1. A Time Machine preferences panel as part of System Preferences; and, 2. A Time Machine application located in the Applications folder. It is used to manage backups and to restore backups. Time Machine requires a backup drive that is at least twice the capacity of the drive being backed up.
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    Deja Vu
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    Tri-Backup
    Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore.  Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
    Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined.  It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.)  You can purchase hard drives separately.  This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice.  Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu.  You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
    Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available.  You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports.  I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.)  You can find enclosures at places such as;
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    OWC
    WiebeTech
    Firewire Direct
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    NewEgg
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  • External backup drive - how big?

    Is there a way of calculating how big a backup drive I need for my Time Machine backups?
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    2TB is about the biggest of the portable drives..
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    Sadly there is always bad batches.. drives seem to often have a bad reputation when it just happens to be one drive..
    Buy one and see how it goes.. you don't really have much choice.. but I would also ensure you backup to a different brand.. at least if they both die they tend to die on different days. Flawed drives tend to go all at the same time.. I have had NAS setups where 3 drives died within a week of each other. And replacement drives I bought for a business.. all died 12months later within a few days of each other.. So I learned my lesson.. buy different ones.. and never be without current backups.. preferably several of them.

  • Do i want to use my external hard drive as a backup drive?

    i just got a 1TB external hard drive and as i installed it, i was asked if i want to use it or bootcamp as a backup drive. i bought the hard drive to put all my extra video files onto and i don't want to waste any space, but should i use it as a backup drive or should i use bootcamp, which i haven't setup yet (but plan to in the next week or so).

    nikkib197 wrote:
    200GB should be plenty, i am only backing up my word documents, and some applications. everything else i have can easily be re-added if i do happen to lose it.
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    Here's what you'll have to do when (not if) your internal HD fails, or some other catastrophe occurs, without a full backup of your entire system:
    Install OSX from your Leopard or Snow Leopard Install disc.
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    Download and install the "combo" update, to get back to your current version of OSX.
    If you didn't purchase your Mac with the latest iLife apps, find the disc they're on and restore them.
    Find all the discs for 3rd-party apps and install them. Re-enter any purchase keys.
    Find the websites for all downloaded 3rd-party apps, download and install them. Re-enter any purchase keys.
    Restore whatever data you saved.
    Re-enter all your preferences and settings.
    Wonder what you missed, and find out the hard way . . . for months or longer.
    However, if you let TM back up your entire system, there's one simple procedure to recover it to the exact state it was in at the time of any backup, even if that's a previous version of OSX. For example, any open Finder windows will reappear in exactly the same locations, with exactly the same contents. See #14 in the FAQ for details.

  • Firewire issue--Backup drive not found w/Time Machine after imac sleeps

    I've had a lot of problems with Time Machine on my G4 imac since starting to use it a month ago. I think I have isolated the problem:
    Time Machine functions properly while the computer is in use, and it has no problem after a restart or shut down, but if the computer goes to sleep and then TM runs its hourly backup, I get an error that it cannot find the Backup Drive. Once this happens, TM will no longer work until I've deselected the drive in TM, unplugged it, plugged it in again, and reselected the drive as the backup Drive. Sometimes this requires a shut down or restart too.
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    1. connected the drive via USB--it operated without a problem
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    3. deleted the TimeMachine.plist file, restarted--problem persists.
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    I cannot find where the firmware updates are located on the mac site. Could someone point me in the right direction? I've looked under downloads and after searching, came up with a long list, but nothing was labeled clearly. Each listing mentioned firmware in the header, but it seemed to always pertain to a certain issue (eg. superdrive, or installing appleworks). I could not tell what was the most recent firmware released for my machine, and I fear installing something retrograde that will create new problems.
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    HM
    Message was edited by: imaginary_forest

    fzgy wrote:
    "Mac OS X can't repair the disk.  You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can't save changes to files on the disk.  Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can."
    It's possible a heavy-duty 3rd-party disk repair app can fix it, but they're expensive (DiskWarrior is about $100), and there's no guarantee it can do it.
    Am prompted to reformat but I don't have a good understanding of what this means and how to do it.
    That will erase it.  See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #5.
    It sounds very much like the disk is beginning to fail, although it's possible there's a bad port, cable, connection or power supply (if it has its own).
    I'd suggest getting a new one, and using it for your Time Machine backups; once you have a good backup there, reformat the old one (and select Security Options to write zeros to the whole drive -- if that fails, you know the drive is toast).  Use it for secondary backups, per FAQ #27.   If it has failed, get a second new one for secondary backups. 

  • HT201250 I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive.  The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc).  Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

    I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive.  The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc).  Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

    Yes you can make multiple backups on one hard drive, for example if you’ve 1TB hard drive installed in your PC and you’ve two Mac Machines with 500GB drive each then you just make two backup images with size of 500GB each.
    http://www.halfspot.com/use-your-pc-hard-drive-for-time-machine-backup/

  • Can time machine and carbon copy cloner use the same backup drive?

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    I have a clickfree backup drive and my computer crashed. I restored it to factory settings and reinstalled Firefox but cannot figure out how to get my old bookmarks back. I tried to replace the new places.sqlite file with the one I had on my backup drive but still got nothing? I tried to use the restore option but it won't take the old places.sqlite file. Is there anyway to get my old bookmarks? I'm really not a techy person.....
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  • Using Time Machine Backup Drive with NEW Macbook Pro

    I just got a new Macbook Pro. I migrated from my old MacBook Pro. Now I want to use my Time Machine Disk with this new machine.
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    Turn off TM or set the backup drive to null. Rename your computer in Sharing preferences to the same computer name of your old computer. Turn TM back on and reselect the backup drive. TM will behave as you expect. Of course if the file dates on the new machine are all changed since the migration, then TM will correctly assume that they require backing up. You will then find that there will not be sufficient space on the drive for the new backups. If this occurs then you should simply erase the backup drive and start your TM backup anew.

  • Can I use it for both a backup drive and shared network drive?

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    1) automatically back up my Mac
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    3) have the ability to watch the home videos on both my family room Apple TV (is this even possible?) and my kitchen Mac Mini display (would my Mac's iMovie's library be able to include my home video content  that is stored on a network drive, or does it require the content to be  on the Mac hard drive?). 
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    christianfromshaker heights wrote:
    Is it possible to use the Time Capsule for both an automatic backup drive for my Mac AND use it as a shared network drive to store my large library of home videos?
    basically yes, but i wouldn't recommend it.
    If so, does it require partitioning the drive and are there instructions available?
    the disk in the TC can't be partitioned in the traditional way. but you can use disk utility to create a "fixed-size" sparse disk image on the TC's disk for use with other data. use the instructions here, just leave out the encryption part.
    Alternatively, if I store my home videos on its own network drive, will Time Capsule backup this drive too?
    no.
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    To be specific, I'm looking for a networked drive solution that allows me to do the following:
    1) automatically back up my Mac
    2) act as the primary storage drive for 750GB of the kids home videos (to save room on Mac) [Side question - ]
    consider a NAS that is time machine compatible.
    3) have the ability to watch the home videos on both my family room Apple TV (is this even possible?) and my kitchen Mac Mini display (would my Mac's iMovie's library be able to include my home video content  that is stored on a network drive, or does it require the content to be  on the Mac hard drive?).
    it's possible to stream content stored on a TC (or NAS) to TV. using home sharing, your mini would be able to access files in homeshared libraries.
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    4) If I use a two drive solution  (time capsule backup and cheaper second drive), I want to be able to have Time Capsule back up the home video content on the second drive.
    What can Time Machine back up, and where can it put it’s backups?
    5) I do not want any drive tethered to my Mac, only wirelessly connected. 
    IMO, your best course of action is to get a NAS. if you're interested, i can highly recommend this device by Synology.
    Synology NASes play very well with Macs and have excellent backup features on board. given enough space (i have 4x2 TB drives installed) you can store your media files there, use time machine to backup your Macs to it and can use the on-board backup solution to back up the whole shebang to a USB drive connected to the NAS.

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    The Seagate backup drive I bought doesn't support 10.5.8
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  • External (Backup) Drive No Longer Recognized After Mavericks

    Since installing Mavericks on my iMac (was running Snow Leopard) I can only see partial information from my WD My Book Live external backup drive.  Finder lets me see the two partitions but only some of the files on that drive.  However, the Disk Utility does not see the external drive at all.  This is mostly impacting Time Machine which also does not seem to recognize the external drive at all.  I cannot enter Time Machine to access my old backups and cannot create new ones.
    I would prefer not to re-format the external drive since it has other files on it that I don't want to lose.
    All helpful suggestions appreciated!

    lettertosteve 
       PROBLEM SOLVED! It was as simple as going to the WD (Western Digital) site and downloading a few updates for the My Book Live.
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    Community Manager
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