Data Backup 2.1 and Mac Memory Management?

Question

I'm trialing a backup program called Data Backup 2.1. It keeps versions of my programs, which I need, as often I've had corruptions and have not notice this till a few days after the fact. I've been using Retrospect but read a review that praised Data Backup. The thing I've noticed with it is that although it is very fast, like SuperDuper, it seems to affect my free memory dramatically. I've noticed that it will finish and instead of having say 250 megs of Active memory in use I'll have 700 megs of active memory. Inactive will be low whereas normally its high. Free memory during its backup can drop to 20 megs (I have 1.5 gigs). The free memory, once you start to use your computer seems to recover to around 500 - 700 megs. The one thing I have noticed of concern is that while its running I get pageouts, which I never get and my reading about Mac memory management is you want to avoid pageouts and if you get them you need more memory (for what I'm doing 1.5 gigs should be plenty). I've asked the Data Backup people what's going on and they don't think its something to be concerned about but they said it is probably something to do with the way they are caching.
I'm just wondering - do you think this is something to be concerned about. I'd like to switch from Retrospect as although I know it I'm not sure how committed they are to the Mac market any longer and it is way slower in terms of activities but it does manage memory well. However I don't want to get Data Backup if it is affecting RAM inappropriately.
Kerry

Answer 1

Synchronize! Pro X will maintain versioned archives, perform full, incremental, and bootable backups both to local and to network devices. I have found that SPX is just about as full-featured as Retrospect with certain limitations. It cannot backup across multiple media (CDs, DVDs, tape), no extensive browser windows like Retrospect, no backups without scanning (as SuperDuper does for its "fast" updating backup.
SPX supports schedules, multiple-item backups (can select individual files and/or folders), extensive backup/synchronize customizations, can run as "root", can auto-mount devices (including network drives), and it's a universal binary.
It's also nearly as expensive as Retrospect but in my opinion it's worth it.
If you want a less costly backup solution without all the features of SPX, but with all the features of SuperDuper (and in my opinion better than SD) then try Deja Vu. Also a universal binary, it supports incremental archives, full, incremental, and bootable backups to local or network drives, supports scheduling and runs as a preference pane.
Finally, for the the truly cheap there are PsyncX and RsyncX - both freeware. They are GUI wrappers around the basic backup and synchronizing tools that are part of Unix (ditto, rsync, and psync.)
Download mentioned software from www.versiontracker.com or www.macupdate.com.
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