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by Joe Kissell
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Take Control of Mac OS X Backups, Fourth Edition
Set up a rock-solid backup strategy so that you can restore quickly and completely, no matter what catastrophe arises.
In this comprehensive, 196-page book, backup guru Joe Kissell helps you pick the best backup strategy for your needs and understand the hows and whys of what you are doing, helping you go far beyond the false security of turning on Time Machine or copying a few files to CD. You'll find an at-a-glance comparison of different backup strategies (low-cost, easy, safest), along with advice for backing up digital photos and massive video projects, as well as find time-tested recommendations for setting up, testing, maintaining, and restoring backups.
Looking for a shorter ebook? Check out the 108-page Take Control of Easy Mac Backups. It helps time-pressed Mac users make effective backups.
- More Info
- Contents & Intro
- What’s New
- FAQ
- Reader Comments
- Blog
Includes coupons worth $30 off Data Backup and 10% off CrashPlan
Although the 196-page ebook is organized so you can back up without reading every page, the full ebook will teach you to:
Talk like an expert. You'll understand terms like: rolling backup, versioned backup, push backup, pull backup, duplicate, server, client, incremental, differential, hard link, media spanning, metadata, mirrored, multisession, and snapshot.
Shop for hardware. You'll discover the pros and cons of different backup media options: USB hard drives, FireWire hard drives, eSATA hard drives, flash drives, Iomega devices, tape drives, camcorders, full-disk encryption, RAIDs, Drobos, CDs and DVDs, Time Capsules, and third-party network storage devices.
Choose backup software. You'll learn about 14 key features and find overviews of 11 noteworthy backup products (an online appendix covers the other 90 or so options). You'll also get Joe's recommendations, just in case your head starts spinning in this section.
Make backups. No matter what backup software you decide to use, Joe provides a conceptual walk-through of the entire process, offering basic information for people who've never made a backup before and savvy, real-world suggestions for optimal ease of use. He also provides specific steps for working with Time Machine.
Recover lost data. Use your backup to recover lost data successfully in the event of a hard disk crash or other calamity.
The ebook also includes an appendix aimed at people who want to create their own backups using Unix on the Mac command line, and explains how to backup your Windows volume if you run Windows on your Mac.
Book Info
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About the Author
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Book Reviews
Author Interviews
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Joe Kissell has written numerous books about the Macintosh, including many popular Take Control ebooks. He's also Senior Editor of TidBITS, contributes frequently to Macworld, and previously spent ten years in the Mac software industry.
Table of Contents
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Read Me FirstThe data on every Mac should be backed up to protect you against theft, hardware failure, user error, and other catastrophes. This book helps you design a sensible backup strategy, make sense of the wide variety of backup hardware and software, and understand how to make your backups as painless as possible. This book was written by Joe Kissell, edited by Jeff Carlson, and published by TidBITS Publishing Inc. |
Introduction
Nearly everyone understands why backups are important: hard drives fail, computers are stolen or damaged, and files are accidentally deleted. Backups are insurance against all these problems and more. If you've ever lost data—and I certainly have, on more than one occasion—then you know what I'm talking about. (And if you haven't lost data, you're computing on borrowed time.)
Apple feels so strongly about the need for good backups that they built a backup feature called Time Machine into Mac OS X starting with version 10.5 Leopard. I talk about Time Machine quite a bit in this book, and all things considered, I think it's pretty good. But it's not right for everyone, and even when it is a good fit, it can't do everything you may need a backup program to do. It pays to know exactly what your choices are, how to set everything up, and what sorts of pitfalls you may encounter. That's what I aim to explain in this book: how to take control of your backups!
The options available for Mac OS X are so numerous that even the geekiest of us can find it difficult to wade through them and make intelligent choices. Which files should you back up? How often? Onto what media? Do you need to make bootable backups? How many sets of backup media do you need? Which backup software should you use? And how exactly do you restore your data if disaster strikes?
There is no single correct answer to any of these questions. However, you can follow some straightforward steps to come up with your own answers. Regardless of the details of which hardware or software you use, your biggest concern should be whether your data is safe.
What some people call a "backup" is simply copying files from your hard disk onto another volume—manually or using a utility of some kind. I firmly believe that something is better than nothing, so I don't want to make it sound as though this type of backup is useless. But let me be candid: it's not enough. Too many different kinds of things can still imperil your data under such a scheme. Helping you develop a well-thought-out strategy for data safety is one aim of this book.
Before we get started, however, I need to mention a few caveats:
- I do not cover in any detail command-line software such as cp or rsync, except for one appendix (Appendix A: Unix-Based Backup Systems). Although such tools can certainly be used to perform backups, my goal is to make the process as simple as possible—ideally, without requiring you to open Terminal or know anything about Unix. So this book concerns itself mainly with software that uses a graphical user interface (GUI).
- This book is primarily for people who need to back up either a single Mac or a small network—not for system administrators who need to back up dozens or hundreds of machines. As a result, I say little about the expensive, high-end equipment and enterprise-grade software typically used for backing up large networks—focusing instead on simpler products you can purchase at your local computer store at a modest price.
- Because every backup system is different, I can't give you explicit, foolproof, step-by-step instructions for setting up every combination of hardware and software you might use to perform your backups. But by the time you've finished reading this book, you should have enough background information to determine, with the help of your software's documentation, the preferences and settings you need in order to achieve your desired outcome.
I've been writing about Macs for well over a decade and using them for much longer than that. During that time, I've experimented with a variety of backup systems for my own Macs, and as a consultant, I've installed backup systems for individuals and businesses. I've also spent long hours researching backup software and hardware and discussing backup strategies with my colleagues. These experiences have led me to form some strong opinions as to what constitutes a good backup system. I don't pretend that the method I use for my own Macs is the only one that will work, or that it's ideal for everyone. Rather than explore every alternative exhaustively, though, I'm going to guide you gently but firmly into a fairly narrow set of options that should yield excellent results for the vast majority of Mac users.
With the exception of Time Machine, which requires Leopard or later, almost everything in this book applies equally to older versions of Mac OS X. At press time, Apple had recently released Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and I've updated the book to account for the (few) differences in backup behavior between Leopard and Snow Leopard. (Click Check for Updates on the cover to check for any new information or updated versions of this book.) Although most of this material applies generally to machines running Mac OS 9 and Windows, I do not cover these other operating systems in any detail; but do see Windows Files and Volumes, which discusses backing up Windows when it's running on your Intel-based Mac.
Quick Start to Mac OS X Backups, Fourth Edition
You can read this book in any order, but I recommend starting with Decide on a Basic Backup Strategy in order to understand the rationale behind the hardware, software, and setup advice I give later. Here are the components of a solid Mac OS X backup plan.
Decide on a backup strategy:
- Understand the crucial differences between a duplicate (a complete and usually bootable copy of your hard disk) and a versioned backup (containing multiple copies of files as they existed at various points in time)—and why a good backup strategy includes both. Read The Duplicate and The Versioned Backup.
- Learn the value of using a single system to back up all the Macs in your home or office. See Backing up a Small Network.
- Find out how to deal with backup needs that don't fit neatly into the duplicate or versioned categories in Consider Special Backup Needs As appropriate, read about Dealing with Huge Volumes of Data, Version Control, Backing up While Traveling, and Windows Files and Volumes.
Choose your hardware:
- Learn the pros and cons of each media type (from CD-R to hard disks) and how to estimate the amount of storage space you'll need. See Choose Your Hardware.
- Discover what's new (and newly affordable) in the world of Internet Backup Services.
Choose your software:
- Find out what to look for when comparing backup applications. See Choose Your Software for a feature overview, and then consult the Online Appendixes for details and sources.
- If you're tempted to eschew commercial backup tools and create your own command-line backup script, read Appendix A: Unix-Based Backup Systems for a reality check.
Set up your backup system:
- Make a bootable copy of your hard disk and test it to make sure it works with the advice in Set Up and Create Your First Duplicate and Test Your Duplicate.
- Configure a versioned backup for your most frequently used data files, and verify that you can retrieve stored files. See Set Up and Create Your First Versioned Backup and Test Your Versioned Backup. (If you're using Time Machine for versioned backups, read Configure and Use Time Machine..)
- Put your backups on autopilot so your files are protected even when you aren't paying attention. Refer to Automate Your Backups.
- Learn how and where to store backup media, and discover what to do with the media when it gets full. See Mind Your Media.
- If disaster strikes and you need to recover files, be sure you're familiar with the steps in Restore Data from a Backup.
This fourth edition is Snow Leopard savvy, while also providing specific advice for Leopard and Tiger users. It entirely covers Time Machine (in Leopard and Snow Leopard), but it also explains why Time Machine might not be the cat's pajamas for making a complete backup and looks at mixing Time Machine with other options for a better backup strategy.
Beyond Snow Leopard, here's the list of what's new between the third and fourth editions:
- A greatly expanded write-up about choosing a hard drive, with new information on FireWire 800 interfaces, Clickfree devices, caseless connector kits, pocket-sized hard drives, hardware-encrypted drives, and full-disk encryption software
- A significantly expanded discussion of Internet backup services
- Updated details about photo sharing services, recent Drobo devices, CrashPlan, and Jungle Disk
- A new discussion of "deduplication," which prevents your backup media from filling up with duplicated files
- Information and opinions about two additional noteworthy backup programs: Backblaze and ChronoSync
- Improved terminology for several common backup features
- A new sidebar about having a backup of your computer itself as well as its data
- A new discussion, "NTI Shadow for Ordinary Folk," which replaces the previous discussion of using Versomatic for day-to-day version control
- Simplified instructions for Boot Camp users to create and restore duplicates of an NTFS or FAT32 Partition
- Updated information on using Time Machine with some third-party NAS devices in Time Capsule
- Details about utilities that provide more information about what Time Machine is doing and let you change its behavior
- Improvements in the description of sub-file updating
- A new five-page section on the latest version of Retrospect
- An updated "Appendix A: Unix-Based Backup Systems"
Does the book cover backups strategies for large businesses?
No, the book focuses on backup strategies for single computers and small networks but does not cover the specific needs of large, institutional networks.
Which versions of Mac OS X does this ebook cover?
The ebook specifically covers Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, as well as Leopard and Tiger. Much of the information applies equally to still-older versions of Mac OS X. The information about Apple's Time Machine applies only to Leopard and later, since Time Machine does not run on older versions of Mac OS X.
Backups shouldn't be so complicated! Do you have anything that explains backups in a shorter, simpler way?
For folks who would prefer to not explore as many options, we have Take Control of Easy Mac Backups, also by Joe Kissell. It takes a focussed look at backups in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and 10.5 Leopard, covering Time Machine in detail, but also providing guidance if you need a backup feature not offered by Time Machine, such as a bootable duplicate.
Can I read this ebook on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch?
There are lots of great ways to read PDFs on these devices. For more details, please read our latest Device Advice.
Ask a Question
Feel free to ask us if you have a question about this book!
Robert Bowman writes:
This was just about the best money I ever spent... Joe's ebook gave me just what I needed.
Tad Taylor writes:
An excellent resource for figuring out the best backup strategy for myself and my family. I really appreciate Joe's opinions on tradeoffs and choices. It makes the whole thing much more useful.
Send Us Your Comments!
How could we not publish such kind words? If you'd like to send us your comments (good or bad, though we hope they're all good), just click the Feedback link on the cover of your copy of the ebook. Be sure to let us know if we can publish your comment. Thanks!
Update Plans
April 2010 -- We are tossing around the idea of releasing a new version in late 2010 or early 2011.
—Tonya Engst
Retrospect Acquired by Sonic Solutions
May 28, 2010 --
For those interested in the once-dominant Retrospect for backup, note that it has just been acquired from EMC by Sonic Solutions, the parents of Toast Titanium maker Roxio. The people we've spoken with on the Retrospect team are happy about the acquisition and hope it will enable them to improve Retrospect 8 significantly. For more details, see Retrospect Backup Software Acquired by Sonic Solutions in TidBITS.
—Adam C. Engst
Time Capsule Failure Prevention and Resolution
March 19, 2010 --
A recent TidBITS article, Time Capsule Failures: When They Happen and What to Do, discusses a spate of Time Capsule failures, possibly due to overheating. The article makes suggestions for avoiding this problem, and it describes how to best address the problem if it happens. Unfortunately, if your Time Capsule does go belly up, you'll ideally have another backup of your Time Capsule drive, so if you haven't looked into setting one up, this article should give you additional incentive.
—Tonya Engst
Apple Updates Base Stations for Better Bandwidth at Greater Distances
October 21, 2009 --
Yesterday, Apple introduced a small set of changes with big effects to the AirPort Extreme Base Station and Time Capsule:
- Apple added more antennas to the existing multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO) array in both of these devices, moving from a 2x2 array, with two receive and two transmit antennas, to a 3x3 array, with three each for sending and receiving. The new 3x3 array dramatically boosts network throughput as you get farther from a base station. Instead of seeing data rates drop off—I describe in the book how to monitor those rates—the new base station models will maintain the same speed for greater distances. Apple says the boost is as much as 50 percent over previous models, which conforms to what Wi-Fi chipmakers have said. The additional antennas also increase range, which Apple says could be as much as 25 percent farther from these new base stations than from preceding models. This is, alas, a change to the physical chip and antenna elements in the devices, so Apple can't put the improvements into a new firmware version.
- Apple also said that Time Machine backups from Snow Leopard to the new Time Capsule model have been sped up by as much as 60 percent; there's a lot of inefficiency in Time Machine networked backups, so there's a lot of room to improve. If this speed boost isn't hardware based, it could be found in a future firmware release, but it may involve better network processors or a new central processor, and thus be unavailable to older Time Capsules.
—Glenn Fleishman
New “Take Control of Mac OS X Backups” Explains Smart Backup Strategies
September 23, 2009 --
Backup options for Mac users have changed radically over the last year, and author Joe Kissell explains the entire field thoroughly in the just-updated Take Control of Mac OS X Backups, Fourth Edition. Whether you want to make backups more easily, at a lower cost, or with more security, Joe has advice that takes you far beyond the false security of simply turning on Time Machine or copying a few files to CD.
The ebook helps you to pick the best backup strategy for your needs, complete with an at-a-glance comparison of different backup strategies (low-cost, easy, safest), along with advice for backing up digital photos and other media. Although the 196-page ebook is organized so you can start backing up without reading every page, the full ebook will teach you to:
Talk like an expert. You'll understand terms like: rolling backup, versioned backup, push backup, pull backup, duplicate, server, client, incremental, differential, hard link, media spanning, metadata, mirrored, multisession, and snapshot.
Shop for hardware. You'll discover the pros and cons of different backup media options: USB hard drives, FireWire hard drives, eSATA hard drives, flash drives, Iomega devices, tape drives, camcorders, full-disk encryption, RAIDs, Drobos, CDs and DVDs, Time Capsules, and third-party network storage devices.
Choose backup software. You'll learn about 14 key features and find overviews of 11 noteworthy backup products (an online appendix covers the other 90 or so options). You'll also get Joe's recommendations, just in case your head starts spinning in this section.
Make backups. No matter what backup software you decide to use, Joe provides a conceptual walk-through of the entire process, offering basic information for people who've never made a backup before and savvy, real-world suggestions for optimal ease of use. He also provides specific steps for working with Time Machine.
Use your backup to recover lost data successfully in the event of a hard disk crash or other calamity.
The ebook also includes an appendix aimed at people who want to create their own backups using Unix on the Mac command line, explains how to backup your Windows volume if you run Windows on your Mac, and comes with coupons that let you save $30 on Data Backup and 10 percent on CrashPlan.
We had originally hoped to have this ebook out in August, but Snow Leopard's earlier-than-expected release date delayed our plans. Fortunately, that made it possible for Joe and editor Jeff Carlson to add Snow Leopard details to the ebook, while retaining specific information about Leopard and Tiger.
The ebook does cover the much-asked-about Retrospect 8, and to help everyone understand Joe's take on Retrospect's pros and cons, we've excerpted the main Retrospect section.
If you own a previous edition of this ebook, click Check for Updates on page 1 of your PDF to access an upgrade discount.
—Tonya Engst
Author Joe Kissell Talks about Backups
September 22, 2009 --
For years, not much changed in the world of backups, but that's no longer the case. You can listen to Joe talk about what's new with backups in MacVoices #9100 with host Chuck Joiner. In the interview, Joe talks about his new fourth edition of Take Control of Mac OS X Backups and discusses Snow Leopard, Time Machine, and Time Capsule; which option he trusts for making encrypted backups, why deduplicating is interesting, Retrospect 8, and more.
—Tonya Engst
What Does Joe Think of Retrospect 8?
September 16, 2009 --
The first three editions of Take Control of Mac OS X Backups cover Retrospect, but none of them look at the new Retrospect 8. Read this excerpt from the fourth edition to learn the details of Joe's take on Retrospect 8.
—Joe Kissell
Free Web Content: Joe Kissell Compares Over 100 Backup Programs
April 20, 2009 --
I've thoroughly updated the online appendix that goes with Take Control of Mac OS X Backups. The Web-based appendix includes feature comparisons of well over 100 Mac backup programs. Most recently, I added 10 new programs and updated the listings of 24 other programs for which newer versions are now available.
—Joe Kissell
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