Backup Incremental - What's it doing?

Question

Hi,
I'm doing an incremental back up to an iDisk using the Backup utility. As it's over the internet, this takes a while - but even when I change very little between backups, the incremental is still very large. Does anyone know - is there a way of finding out what incremental parts of the back up the Backup utility has decided need to be backed up, before it actually does the incremental backup? Also, is it possible to decide which of these are actually backed up?
Thanks,
Alex

Answer 1

The backup program will scan the disk for all files that have been changed since the last backup. This requires scanning both the local and iDisk to make the comparison. If you are backing up incremental changes only to the User folder or your Home account, then there are literally thousands of files that may change day to day as they are used not only by you but by the operating system.
You could speed things up by setting up a Spotlight search to locate changed files and placing only the ones you really need to backup into a smart folder. Then have the backup program backup only the content of the smart folder.
However, to really improve matters consider doing your backup to an external Firewire drive rather than iDisk. You should experience a dramatic increase in speed. Plus your backup is local and not dependent upon internet access. Use your .Mac account only for synching your Address Book, iCal, and Mail accounts.
See the following:
Basic Backup
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. PsynchX 2.1.1 and RsyncX 2.1 (Freeware)
6. Carbon Copy Cloner (Freeware - 3.0 is a Universal Binary)
7. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
8. Intego Personal Backup (Commercial)
9. Data Backup (Commercial)
The following utilities can also be used for backup, but cannot create bootable clones:
1. Backup (requires a .Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
2. Toast
3. Impression
4. arRSync
Apple's Backup is a full backup tool capable of also backing up across multiple media such as CD/DVD. However, it cannot create bootable backups. It is primarily an "archiving" utility as are the other two.
Impression and Toast are disk image based backups, only. Particularly useful if you need to backup to CD/DVD across multiple media.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Although you can buy a complete FireWire 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 (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
Cool Drives
OWC
WiebeTech
Firewire Direct
California Drives
NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.