Time machine vs Packard Bell carbon

My MacBook still runs on OS 10.5.8. As backup I use(d) Packard Bell Carbon (SNID 94602307273) that worked perfectly although some 4 to 5 yrs old. Since then, Carbon's disk runs, wiring OK, and Time Machine also runs and can be set to backup copy and be activated and stopped. But nothing is transferred and the historical list of items stops on december 20, 2014. I admid that it was only now that I rialised that it didn't work anymore. How to get going again?
Thanks,
Walter.

Hi Walter,
Is it TM or PB Carbon you want to get working? Or both?
Have you looked through Pondini's extensive TM help site?
http://Pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Can't imagine something not being covered there.
Other backup Apps...
Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
Or SuperDuper...
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
Or the most expensive one & my favorite, Tri-Backup...
http://www.tri-edre.com/english/tribackup.html

Similar Messages

Time machine to airdisk taking forever...maybe a gig an hour

So I set up my Airport Extreme Airdisk as a Time Machine disk. I started the first backup and its taking forever...if I am lucky its sending a gig an hour on an 802.11n machine.
Any thoughts?

It seems that Time Machine uses Apple's disk imaging mechanism.
The version of this in Leopard uses a helper app called diskimages-helper. You can see it in the process list of Activity Monitor when running Time Machine, Disk Utility or Carbon Copy Cloner disk imaging.
This app seems to have issues with images larger than around 80GB. I have now shown that whether started by Time Machine, Disk Utility or Carbon Cloner images between 120 and 200GB run flat chat (disk limited) for the first 80GB or so and then slow down dramatically.
How much data are you trying to backup?
On the upside, once the first copy is made. incremental Time Machine backups seem to be very fast. Perhaps if you set time Time Machine with enough exclusions to get the first image down to 80GB, it may be possible to add the rest later. I have not tried this.
On the topic of should you use an airdisk: I see that it is a requirement that the backup disk/share supports ACLs. I think Airdisk might be OK for data files, but probably will not restore a full working boot disk. Have you tried that?
Bill Northcott

Time Machine backups disappeared... in a way.

I've been having problems with my iMac for months now. I'm feeling like I'm on Microsoft PC again... not even joking.
I had to bring it to the Genius bar 4 times, first time my HDD was failing, was replaced (no more AppleCare so, shucks), but it started behaving even worst after that... they changed it AGAIN, I changed and upgraded the RAM to no avail, they did diagnostics, all was in fine condition... so their only idea was corrupted files or prefs.
So I reinstalled OS 10.8 clean and imported everything but the prefs (to start) and it seemed to do the trick... for about a month. And it went bad again.
Main problem was Finder : wouldn't see anything plugged in USB (or would stop seeing it after a few seconds/min), would get sluggish, I wouldn't be able to shut it off...
I got the SBBOD regularly, in any app...
And MAINLY... if I restarted or shut off and re-started, I would get stuck on the grey login screen... with no actual login screen (just the grey fabric-like background). Or, sometimes, just the white screen after the "dong", spinning gear, or not, apple icon, or not.
All in all... bad.
So... I re-installed OS 10.8 from scratch, AGAIN. But didn't import anything.
I had a fresh backup in Time machine AND I used Carbon Copy Cloner to get a full copy of my HD (not a startup disk, just the files). I also copied my documents on my macbook, just to be on the safe side.
(side note: to those intereste, is the iMac running well now? Seems so. But last time it did too, for almost a month... so I can't trust it at all, I don't dare start to use it as my main computer again, I don't know what to re-install and how long to run it before installing the next app to be sure I could put my finger on what the **** problem was, if indeed it WAS coming from my side and not something in the hardware!)
Main bug...
As I said, before I pulled the plug and did the clean install, I made sure I had a full, fresh backup on TM.
Now, if I plug in my backup HDD and look inside, I see, indeed, that the latest backup is from a few days ago. And if I open it, everything seems to be there (as far as I can tell. I'm far from being a newbie but I couldn't know if all the hidden files are there for all apps)
BUT... if I open, say, the Finder or Mail app and go in Time Machine to bring back "lost" files... it says my last backup (or last available files) are from 3 MONTHS AGO! Which is when my HDD first failed.
What the heck?!
Now... I'm happy to see the backups are in fact, there. But how do I access those files?
Why don't they show up?
Does it mean that nothing in Mail was backed up? Why wouldn't it be? (No, it wasn't selected as "exclude from backup")
Plus... all my documents are there in the latest backup... so, shouldn't they show up when I try to see them in Finder/TM?
Thanks!

Hey...
I'm not sure I get what you mean... do you mean if you move your mouse around on the grey "fabric" screen you eventually can "guess" where to enter your login and it eventually works?
In my case I also can move the mouse around, but I never got it to change to anything other than the arrow, and the Genius couldn't get it to do anything either... the only solution is to shut the computer off manually, unplug it from the wall, wait 10 sec, replug it, wait another 10 sec and try again...
(they tried all the possible options of starting with CTRL-this and shift-CTRL-that and nothing had worked)
Now we're getting off topic, but I'm happy to see I'm not alone!
And right now I'm almost happy because my iMac seems to be getting buggy again! Yup, almost happy because it's better than not knowing... and because it proves that it wasn't my data, HA! I knew it didn't make sense!
I tried to change preferences in Finder (show hard drives and start with Home folder screen) and it wouldn't take effect... I also got the SBBOD... so I tried to restart my computer... and now it wouldn't because iPhoto is unresponsive (I was using it with my externa HDD, but just so you know, last time things bugged it had not been used at all)...
AND... I also got the error message that "this disk has not been ejected properly"... while all my external HDDs have not been touched and my energy settings are set to NEVER go to sleep (except the screen). That had been a symptom before too. And killed an HDD or 2.
Isn't this fun.
Anyone knows how long the AppleCare repair lasts for? Is it for 90 days after the last time they had it, or since they first did ANY repair? 'cause I only have a few weeks left if it's the latter...

External drive partitions for Time Machine

Questions:
     1. Do I need to have a two partitions on my external hard drive, one each for my iMac and another for my MBPro?
   2. Do I need to partition to use both Time Machine and SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Clone.?
   3. Which is better to use for backup if you need or want to retrieve a specific file?
Thanks for your help.
Vernon

1. No. Configure each machine's Time Machine preferences separately. Time Machine will take care of the rest.
2. Yes. You must clone to a freshly formatted drive or partition on a drive. I suggest you use two separate drives. One for Time Machine and the other for the clone. This way you have a good backup in case one fails.
3. I don't understand the question. Which "what" are you referring to? If you mean choosing between Time Machine and a clone, it's better to have one of each. The more backups the better.

Can time machine work if i don't have and don't connect an external hard drive to it?

will time machine work if i dont have an external hard drive?

thebunnys wrote:
will time machine work if i dont have an external hard drive?
Yes, if you partition your internal hard disk into at least two volumes, and use one of them to run Mac OS X from, and the other for TM backup.
This method protects against directory damage and mistakes. However, it offers no protection in case of hard drive failure. Since all hard drives fail sooner or later, it's much better to use an external hard disk for Time Machine.
Optimally, you should have at least two working, up-to-date backups, made with different methods (eg, a Time Machine backup and a Carbon Copy Cloner backup).

Can I Use Time Machine With Carbon Copy Cloner?

As of today, I upgraded my iMac (and eventually my Macbook) to Snow Leopard. I used Carbon Copy Cloner to create a clone of my drive to my external (I did a clean install) and now that Snow Leopard is installed, I only want to put back on to my computer just certain files, such as a select selection of my documents, some of my iTunes library, etc. Given that I couldn't find that option in Migration Assistant, I just manually copied over what I wanted from the clone on my external.
Still, I would like to keep a daily backup for my iMac's HD and that's where Time Machine comes in, but there's some questions I have before I do it:
Given that my iMac's HD now has significant free space (as I only brought back, say, 10% of the stuff to my iMac from my external when I cloned on CCC), if I enabled Time Machine to back up my iMac's HD stuff, it wouldn't overwrite the 90% of stuff on my external with the 10% that's on my iMac's HD, would it? For instance, I have about 20,000 songs on my external drive, but maybe have brought back only, say, 5,000 to my iMac (for now). Given that my iMac's iTunes Music folder shows 5,000 songs on it, when TM backs that up to my external drive, it won't overwrite the other iTunes Music folder which has the other 15,000, right? The same thing could be applied for documents, photos, etc. If not, how would TM deal with that? I would hope to avoid the other extreme, which are duplicate files/folders.
I guess I just want to be able to have the ability to get into that cloned drive on my external if I need to add more stuff to the iMac or if I need it one day to boot up the machine. But I also want to be able to have Time Machine at hand to back up daily the little that is on my iMac right now. So I suppose I'm wondering how can I achieve this without the two conflicting or screwing up?
Thanks!

MM1010 wrote:
when TM backs that up to my external drive, it won't overwrite the other iTunes Music folder which has the other 15,000, right?
Correct. Time Machine won't delete anything else on the same volume.
But as Barry says, it will use all the empty space available, before it starts deleting its oldest backups, so there will eventually be a conflict. See #3 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). Also see #1 there, to be sure you have enough space for Time Machine to keep a reasonable "depth" of backups.
A better bet, however, would be to use a separate external HD. If you have the Time Machine backups on the same physical HD, when it fails (and they all do, sooner or later), you risk losing both.

Finder crashes when backing up time machine or carbon copy cloner

I'm trying to create backups of my system, i did have time machine running to a secondary drive internally, but that stopped working at some point and i assumed it was a bad partition.
Everytime i try to create a backup through timemachine it would crash the finder (though it would never create a crash report, just hang) i'd have to hard crash my machine to get it running again.
I verified and repaired any permissions, dumped pref files but still no joy.
I've now bought 2 new drives for clone / backups, thinking the drive is perhaps corrupt.
My plan was to use carbon copy cloner and clone the main hdd as a safety,( incase it was a time machine issue) but its doing the same with CCC-
when i hit clone the finder window pops up asking for my admin password, but beachballs and wont let me type anything. i can select anything with the keyboard (i.e. Jump between programs, or force shutdown running apps) i can shutdown using the file menu but i can close any open windows.
I can copy files manually, but i want a bootable backup of the main hdd (i'm a video editor and reinstalling an entire suite is not good when on a job)
Can anyone suggest a workaround to cloning the main hdd (even if it does have a bug in it, i'd rather have something safe before i do a fresh install)
Cheers

That should read 'CAN'T select anything with the keyboard or finder'

MacPro wont back up to Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner?

I am running 10.6.8 on my 2 x 3 Ghz Intel Mac Pro with 10 Gb of Ram. I have been backing up my two internal drives to an external 2 Tb WD for over a year using time machine and it would lose the drive every once in a while but I could get it back. Now after multiple erasures and reformats I can't get Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner (not at the same time : ) ) to run any faster than 1Gb/13min. Just my big ol' music drive will take 6 days at that speed!
I know there is something wrong for these speeds to be this slow. Does anyone have any suggestions of ways to speed up transfer and get the data flowing freely like it should or even theories about what's going on? I am using USB 2.0 from the drive to the tower. Cheers.

First what interface did you use? USB2? can't and expect any decent backup performance and forget zeroing a drive. FW800? on some WD MyBook, yes.
I would if possible move it into a FW800/400/eSATA drive case from OWC.
Add a PCIe SATA + USB3 CalDigit card and use that.
Move the drive inside an option? some WD MyBook can't, were built around the external drive case.
Your profile is out of date 10.4.11 is way old and didn't include TimeMachine (10.5 Oct 2007)
Lion and ML are better at Disk Utility and managing disk drives.
I use WD Green, very inexpensive, but no MyBook (yet, maybe USB3 NAS some day).
Why keep your data on one drive that has been beaten to death and not try a WD Black or couple other drives - or do you have those just not listed? Clone your system, clone your data, and even a spare TimeMachine... but I would go with two system backup drives. That is safe, and covers anyone's important system and media and digital library needs.

Time machine vs carbon cloner

Does time machine make carbon cloner redundant?

TM records data and allows you to restore data from time past that you've lost. TM backups can be used to restore a 'complete' system from the past using the DVD Installer. CCC cannot do this other than the one time snapshot/clone it created. Using a CCC cloned volume for a very quick restoration of a failed boot drive can be very useful in a business situation. Speed to recovery isn't so important in a home/entertainment situation.
TM and CCC both have their strengths and weaknesses. Using both, (and don't forget SuperDuper! either) compliment each other. They are both good backup facilities to have onboard with you.

Carbon Clone and Time Machine: developing a backup plan

Howdy all!
This is a second post that sort of flows on from another I have written today
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4649740
I initally put them all together, but they were too rambling and disconnected, so it seemed better to seperate them. The question I have here is how best to organise my backup plan? I have a few ideas, but, basically, want to make sure I get the whole setup right the first time and would appreciate any advice from others that have been down the path before. As I am still waiting for some parts to arrive in the mail, I have a little time to think about how to go about setting up my Mac.
Basically the setup is:
Mac Mini 2012, boot drive is a Samsung 256GB 830 series SSD, seconday drive for data is a 1TB mechanical disk. I plan on having all my data on the seconday mechanical disk (photos, movies, music etc) and only the OS and Applications on the SSD. To this end, I understand I only have to move /Users to the mechanical disk to achieve this. I then also have 2x 2TB Western Digital MyBook Essential USB 3 disks for Time Machine backups. I plan on rotating them on a weekly basis (storing the disk not in use in a safe or offsite), and then, depending on costs a cloud backup service for some data (music, photos etc) which I might want to access when im not at home.
So I have been thinking for a few days now on the benefit of having a Carbon Clone bootable recovery drive. The thinking goes along these lines. As my data is on a seperate drive, and is backed up to Time Machine, in the event of an OS disk failure, I can replace the disk and then point /Users to the new drive, and I can be up and running once I have reinstalled the apps i need. Now, I understand the idea of the Carbon Clone backup is such that it speeds up the time to rebuild the OS disk, but I have to question, how useful is this in reality?
Consider, I can sit down now and write down all the apps I have needed in the past, install Mac OS, set it up (possibly with a generic admin password), install the apps I need from the App store and DVDs etc and then take a Carbon Clone at this point before any setup of Apps are done. If the apps configuration is backed up in the Time Machine backup (i.e.: the config files exist under /Users) then this is almost workable - in a recovery situation, the CC clone is used to rebuild the OS drive, the config files are pulled from the TM backups, and we're back up and running. Where this fails, is if I have installed (or removed) apps since the CC clone was made. At this point then, is it best to (a) make a new clone when a new app is added/removed or (b) make a note of apps added/removed, which will then have to be reinstalled if a recovery is required. I tend to think the (b) method is best here, as it preserves the integrity of the clone. If the machine has been compromised (malware etc) then remaking the clone, causes the clone to be compromised and hence the reinstalled machine as well. Though this method could be a pain if the machine state has changed somewhat over time. Also, it means that the reinstalled system will be missing updates etc which could be time consuming to apply anyway, so the usefulness of a clone is slightly reduced anyway.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Some days I think having a clone will be useful esp. as most of my software was delivered on CD (Adobe Creative Suite, Office) or are large install bases (XCode), but other days I think, "its not a mission critical machine", i can survive a day without it while I rebuild the install, and so I dont achieve much by having a clone which is likely out-of-date by the time I go to use it.
Also, in this backup plan, is it best to rely on TM for things like email backup or a dedicated mail backup utility? can a Carbon Clone exist on the same disk as Time Machine uses, or do I need to invest in a new disk or two for the CC clones?
As I say, I want to make sure I have this machine setup right from the start, and would really appreciate any pointers, tips or advice.

There is one big advantage of a clone. You can immediately reboot
to it and continue working and deal with the regular boot drive faiure,
what ever it may be, later. Especially since all your data and such
is on another drive. If you use your computer for work and time
critical projects, this is a major plus!
In the case of a hard drive failure/replacement, copying the clone
to the drive is the fastest way to get the system and all your settings
back.
Time Machine and incremental backups have a place as well. It is best
suited for "incremental" problems. Examples are installing an upgrade to
software that doesn't work or just don't plain like. With Time Machine it
is easy to just restore back to the point before the install.
Something else I do is backup current project files to USB memory sticks.
If you are using your computer for business, you can never have too many
backups. Coralllary 456 of Murphy's Law is the "number of backups that
you need will be one more than what you have!"

Advice on Carbon Copy Cloner vs. Time Machine

I have been stuck with a crappy all in one router/modem from the cable company for the last year. Yesterday, I bought an Asus RT N56U. It works great and I get great range. I almost went with an Airport Extreme, but went $40 cheaper. Then, while I was there I decided to get a hard drive for backups since I really need to be better about this with all of the pictures we have of our young children. My wife and I also have Macbooks from 2006-2007 era. Mine's 1,1 with an upgraded memory to 2GB and a new 500GB HD. My wife also has a new HD and the same specs. Anyway, I was tired of hooking them up for time machine backups, so, I tried to format my new Toshiba 3TB hard drive with 3 partitions, all MacOS Extended. One Partition for each of us for time machine and one for random other storage. I wanted a box where I could access this stuff from my iphone if I wanted, just because I thought it was cool to use aicloud (asus).
Anyway, I backed up my computer and hers using time machine with a direct connection to each computer. Then, I tried to hook the hard drive up to the router and can't find it. Come to find out the router only supports FAT and NFTS and one or two other formats. It does not support Mac OS.
So, now I've tried to figure out a way around this. Carbon Copy Cloner says that it will support non Mac OS formats for the hard drive, but not for a bootable copy. So, I could theoretically use CCC to copy things to the HD through WiFi if it is formatted non MacOS, just I wouldn't get a bootable copy. Maybe, I could just copy things like pictures and what not and not all the crap that ends up on my computer after 6 years.
Or even could CrashPlan do a local back up through Wifi?
I basically want something similar to the functionality of Time Capsule with or without Time Machine, but kind of like saving a few bucks, getting 3TB, and a pretty solid router.
Seem reasonable to anyone?
Sometimes I think I should have just gotten a time capsul ... Need to double check Best Buy's Return policy.
Thanks!

Sometimes I think I should have just gotten a time capsul ...
So do I.
Time Machine supports two and only two backup devices: a locally connected volume (like your Toshiba HD) and Time Capsule. If you are fond of the pictures you have of your young children, then use a supported backup method.
You can exclude specific volumes or folders from Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner.
Why anyone would buy anything from Best Buy is one of the great mysteries of life. Good luck returning it.

Back up options? Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner? What's Better?

Hey guys,
I'm considering performing a clean install of OS X Mavericks on my macbook pro mid 2010. I've been having a lot of lag issues with opening/switching programs and slow browser performance (Safari, Google Chrome, Firefox). I'm currently using Time Machine to back up my macbook pro, but I recently heard of Carbon Copy Cloner as a back up option from the Apple community forums. What do you guys think is a better option? When I do a clean install of Mavericks, which backup option will give me the safest and quickest file transfer?

TM is a system backup, not an archive or best idealized "all data backup"
Carbon Copy and Super Duper are for making system clones for quick recovery of your internal HD
NIETHER are close to "best" or idealized data-only backups or archives, theyre both system emergency backups / restores.
External NAS or HD data collections are for your expanding data archives and backups.
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection
Data Storage Platforms; their Drawbacks & Advantages
#1. Time Machine / Time Capsule
Drawbacks:
1. Time Machine is not bootable, if your internal drive fails, you cannot access files or boot from TM directly from the dead computer.
2. Time machine is controlled by complex software, and while you can delve into the TM backup database for specific file(s) extraction, this is not ideal or desirable.
3. Time machine can and does have the potential for many error codes in which data corruption can occur and your important backup files may not be saved correctly, at all, or even damaged. This extra link of failure in placing software between your data and its recovery is a point of risk and failure. A HD clone is not subject to these errors.
4. Time machine mirrors your internal HD, in which cases of data corruption, this corruption can immediately spread to the backup as the two are linked. TM is perpetually connected (or often) to your computer, and corruption spread to corruption, without isolation, which TM lacks (usually), migrating errors or corruption is either automatic or extremely easy to unwittingly do.
5. Time Machine does not keep endless copies of changed or deleted data, and you are often not notified when it deletes them; likewise you may accidently delete files off your computer and this accident is mirrored on TM.
6. Restoring from TM is quite time intensive.
7. TM is a backup and not a data archive, and therefore by definition a low-level security of vital/important data.
8. TM working premise is a “black box” backup of OS, APPS, settings, and vital data that nearly 100% of users never verify until an emergency hits or their computers internal SSD or HD that is corrupt or dead and this is an extremely bad working premise on vital data.
9. Given that data created and stored is growing exponentially, the fact that TM operates as a “store-it-all” backup nexus makes TM inherently incapable to easily backup massive amounts of data, nor is doing so a good idea.
10. TM working premise is a backup of a users system and active working data, and NOT massive amounts of static data, yet most users never take this into consideration, making TM a high-risk locus of data “bloat”.
11. In the case of Time Capsule, wifi data storage is a less than ideal premise given possible wireless data corruption.
12. TM like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
13. *Level-1 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. TM is very easy to use either in automatic mode or in 1-click backups.
2. TM is a perfect novice level simplex backup single-layer security save against internal HD failure or corruption.
3. TM can easily provide a seamless no-gap policy of active data that is often not easily capable in HD clones or HD archives (only if the user is lazy is making data saves).
#2. HD archives
Drawbacks:
1. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
2. Unless the user ritually copies working active data to HD external archives, then there is a time-gap of potential missing data; as such users must be proactive in archiving data that is being worked on or recently saved or created.
Advantages:
1. Fills the gap left in a week or 2-week-old HD clone, as an example.
2. Simplex no-software data storage that is isolated and autonomous from the computer (in most cases).
3. HD archives are the best idealized storage source for storing huge and multi-terabytes of data.
4. Best-idealized 1st platform redundancy for data protection.
5. *Perfect primary tier and level-2 security of your vital data.
#3. HD clones (see below for full advantages / drawbacks)
Drawbacks:
1. HD clones can be incrementally updated to hourly or daily, however this is time consuming and HD clones are, often, a week or more old, in which case data between today and the most fresh HD clone can and would be lost (however this gap is filled by use of HD archives listed above or by a TM backup).
2. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
Advantages:
1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.
2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.
3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.
4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.
5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.
6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).
7. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
HD cloning software options:
1. SuperDuper HD cloning software APP (free)
2. Carbon Copy Cloner APP (will copy the recovery partition as well)
3. Disk utility HD bootable clone.
#4. Online archives
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.
2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.
Advantages:
1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.
2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.
3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.
4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.
5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.
#5. DVD professional archival media
Drawbacks:
1. DVD single-layer disks are limited to 4.7Gigabytes of data.
2. DVD media are, given rough handling, prone to scratches and light-degradation if not stored correctly.
Advantages:
1. Archival DVD professional blank media is rated for in excess of 100+ years.
2. DVD is not subject to mechanical breakdown.
3. DVD archival media is not subject to ferromagnetic degradation.
4. DVD archival media correctly sleeved and stored is currently a supreme storage method of archiving vital data.
5. DVD media is once written and therefore free of data corruption if the write is correct.
6. DVD media is the perfect ideal for “freezing” and isolating old copies of data for reference in case newer generations of data become corrupted and an older copy is needed to revert to.
7. Best-idealized 4th platform redundancy for data protection.
8. *Level-3 (highest) security of your vital data.
[*Level-4 data security under development as once-written metallic plates and synthetic sapphire and likewise ultra-long-term data storage]
#6. Cloud based storage
Drawbacks:
1. Cloud storage can only be quasi-possessed.
2. No genuine true security and privacy of data.
3. Should never be considered for vital data storage or especially long-term.
4. *Level-0 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. Quick, easy and cheap storage location for simplex files for transfer to keep on hand and yet off the computer.
2. Easy source for small-file data sharing.
#7. Network attached storage (NAS) and JBOD storage
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to RAID failure and mass data corruption.
2. Expensive to set up initially.
3. Can be slower than USB, especially over WiFi.
4. Mechanically identical to USB HD backup in failure potential, higher failure however due to RAID and proprietary NAS enclosure failure.
Advantages:
1. Multiple computer access.
2. Always on and available.
3. Often has extensive media and application server functionality.
4. Massive capacity (also its drawback) with multi-bay NAS, perfect for full system backups on a larger scale.
5. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
JBOD (just a bunch of disks / drives) storage
Identical to NAS in form factor except drives are not networked or in any RAID array, rather best thought of as a single USB feed to multiple independent drives in a single powered large enclosure. Generally meaning a non-RAID architecture.
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to HD failure but not RAID failure and mass data corruption.
Advantages:
1. Simplex multi-drive independent setup for mass data storage.
2. Very inexpensive dual purpose HD storage / access point.
3. *Level-2 security of your vital data.

Time Machine vs. Carbon Copy Cloner & Disk Utility

I have an iMac 320GB whereof 50GB are used (no partitions). I am using Time Machine on a 500GB external HD.
As I want to have at least 2 copies of my entire system, I have also been considering using Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) for bootable backups.
Or would you rather suggest using Disk Utility and the restore option for copying the system to an external HD? Is it the same copying procedure (bootable backup) like CCC?
Any suggestions?
I own:
iMac 320GB (system)
LaCie 500GB (whole disk used for Time Machine)
LaCie 250GB (empty at the moment)
LaCie 160GB (multimedia storage)
Thank you
Message was edited by: airwalker

CCC would be MUCH easier to use than Disk Utility-it has an incremental feature where it only backs up what's changed between the backups, and it can be scheduled.
You should probably have 2 separate external drives- 1 for TM, and 1 for CCC (the TM one should be at LEAST 2-3 times the storage space used, and the CCC drive should be 320 GB if you want a "block level" -and faster-copy. If you don't want the block level copy, it can be smaller.)
Good luck!

Considering FileVault usage on an iMac with OSX 10.6.7. Wanting to know more about strengths and weaknesses of Filevault with Time Machine, Parallels and Carbon Copy Cloner. Any negatives to consider before flipping the switch?

I'm considering FileVault usage on an iMac with OSX 10.6.7. Wanting to know more about strengths and weaknesses of Filevault with Time Machine, Parallels and Carbon Copy Cloner. Any negatives to consider before flipping the switch? Any information ?
Would specifically like to know:
Filevault impact on performance and application usability.
TIme machine impacts, and whether TIme Machine volume will also be secure?
Will a Cloned copy made with CCC be bootable, or usable?
Any other negatives to consider before turning this thing on?
Thanks,

Filevault impact on performance and application usability.
FileVault encrypts the user's home directory only - it is basically an encrypted disk image that is automatically opened when you log in and closed when you log out. It does cause disk accesses to be a bit slower so it isn't a good idea to use an encrypted account with sound or video or large graphics files. I have no experience with it with Parallels Desktop but suspect that you'd notice a bit of a slowdown. Note: in the User's directory you'll see a Shared Folder. Since FV only encrypts the user's directory you can put data you don't need encrypted in this shared folder which won't be encrypted.
TIme machine impacts, and whether TIme Machine volume will also be secure?
There are issues with TM and FV but how extensive they are with Snow Leopard I can't say, once I realized that TM and FV hadn't substantially changed between 10.5 and 10.6 I stopped dealing with it. When FV and TM were first introduced my testing led me to recommend using CCC or SuperDuper! for backing up.
Will a Cloned copy made with CCC be bootable, or usable?
Yes
Any other negatives to consider before turning this thing on?
Since FV is nothing more than a disk image - and disk images can fail - there are several problems with FV in my opinion. If an encrypted disk image fails it isn't possible to access any of that data. If you don't have a recent (undamaged) backup of the disk image and/or recent backup of the data within the disk image you are in a world of hurt. This isn't just a warning of possibility - this is a real danger that I've seen all too often at the shop where I have worked part time for a number of years.
At this time I strongly recommend that people who have sensitive data keep that sensitive data segregated from their general data and encrypt only the sensitive data or use other methods of locking it down such as saving on an external drive that is kept in a safe. Call me paranoid but I don't even keep all my sensitive data in one encrypted disk image. I use multiple disk images and keep multiple sequential backups. That way I might someday find that my up-to-date investments disk image won't mount but (a) I can go back a week to a backup and (b) that won't impact my up-to-date business records because those are in a different disk image

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

Can time machine and CCC use the same esata backup drive?

Yes, but you will need to first partition the drive so that TM and CCC will backup to their own respective volumes. This way the CCC volume can accommodate a bootable clone.
Be sure the TM volume has adequate space. A TM backup volume should have about twice the capacity of the volume it backs up.

Time machine vs Packard Bell carbon

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