[X4U] Discussions for backing up

[Jim Scott]

On Feb 12, 2006, at 6:07 PM, Toni Lubofsky wrote:

> I have been reading this list awhile, and don't recall having heard  
> of Apple 'Back Up' being recommended for normal backups.  Is there  
> some reason this is not a good option (for those who have .mac)?
>
> TLubofsky
>

I have a 20" G5 iMac virtually identical to yours, and I find Backup  
3.1, which is provided as part of my subscription to .Mac, easy to  
use. In fact, it's probably the only reason I will renew my .Mac  
subscription this year -- it's that valuable to me. I've got it set  
to run daily incremental backups of any changes my Home folder, daily  
backups of my personal data and settings to iDisk, and monthly  
backups to CD/DVD of my Home folder and iLife. Every month or so, I  
run a new full backup and manually purge the daily incrementals to  
avoid data bloat. At the same time I clone my entire hard drive to an  
external firewire hard drive.

Before Backup and .Mac came into my life, I preached backups  
religiously and practiced what I preached sporadically. Backup 3.1,  
the current version, can be customized to backup just about anything  
I want, any way I want, at any time I want. It automatically runs  
when I want it to, and gives me worry-free data redundancy and  
security. Beyond that, I now have peace of mind because for once a  
piece of software takes all the hassle out of necessary but often  
overlooked maintenance.

There is no reason to not use Backup 3.1 if you're paying for .Mac.  
It doesn't stop you from using other backup strategies, and puts all  
your personal data and settings on iDisk which is a boon for those  
who travel with their Macs.

Now, if only Apple would do the same thing for system maintenance  
instead of forcing me to manually use Disk Utility, MacJanitor and  
AppleJack. Yes, I know automatic nightly cron jobs are built into OS  
X, but my iMac's always turned off when those necessary maintenance  
tasks run.

Jim Scott