[X-Newbies] Re: Backing-up a Mac Mini

[Charles Martin]

> From: Jack Corcoran <jkcorcor at cox.net>
>
> I am using a Mac-Mini for day/day general email and web use.  Also  
> have a
> 40G IDE HD with USB/Firewire capabilities.  Would like to   
> configure latter
> as backup for present and ongoing data.
>
> Have read about SW products that would allow automatic backup of  
> selected
> data.  Would appreciate any/all comments on this and be grateful  
> for advice
> on the mechanics of setting up such a program.

IMHO, the best are SuperDuper ($20 shareware), Carbon Copy Cloner  
(donationware) and .Mac's Backup (part of .Mac), in that order.

Many people will recommend Retrospect. I will not be among them. It  
compresses data automatically, is confusing and difficult to set up,  
and takes forever to do a restore -- if everything works right. Ten  
years ago, they were king. Not so anymore.

SuperDuper (henceforth known as "SD" for brevity) and Carbon Copy  
Cloner (CCC for short) both have ways to set up a semi-automatic  
daily backup of only changed files. With the help of Automator in  
Tiger, you can make this completely automatic.

.Mac's Backup app also has scheduling capability.

SD and CCC are the only two apps I'm aware of that can create  
complete, bootable clones to hard drives. Should your main one ever  
fail, just reboot the machine, choose the back drive and boom, you're  
back in business.

Please note that I can only speak about the products I know about and  
have tried myself. I make no claim to be omniscient on this topic --  
others may well have other (maybe even better!) solutions.


_Chas_

"To use the Mac is to be confronted, over and over, with the idea  
that the most mundane task can be done artfully and compassionately,  
beautifully and invitingly. " -- Glenn McDonald