You sleep with you should back up your data . And many of you also have it away that Apple ’s made it wanton to do with the Time Machine technology that ’s built into Leopard and Snow Leopard . Yet the absolute majority of the great unwashed do not regularly back up their data point . While some may give way to do so because they believe it ’s a complicated procedure , and others because of their misplaced trust in the robustness of hard drives , many Mac user only do n’t have a reasonable idea of what to back up and how to best go about it . That ’s where we can help oneself .
What should you backup?
Perhaps the good elbow room to determine which data point to back up is to consider just how dread you ’d feel after losing a particular class of data point .
The Personal and unreplaceable . When considering what to back up , this is the first all-embracing filter you should use — data and media that holds a special place in your center and ca n’t be hearten . High on the inclination of the Personal and Irreplaceable are exposure and menage video recording . Although it ’s possible that you have the original images and videos on a tape recording or storage card , unless you ’re the regretful kind of hoarder , it ’s likely you ’ve erased or overwritten the original content .
This is of import to back up . Your stripling will never again be a bambino nor will your hairline naturally pass to its 2002 whereabouts . And unless you have a photographic retentivity , you ca n’t recreate the missive you sent to your lady dear in college ( but really , you should have hand - write them ) . If such documented memories are important to you , back up such medium is the first matter you should do .
Excluding system files from your backup can save you a lot of space.
Reaction if lose : Weeping and garment rending .
If Lost Will Get You Fired Or Thrown in Jail . Nearly as authoritative as The Personal and unreplaceable is that datum which , if omit , threaten your chore or exemption . Such data file include study text file you ’ve bring home that are n’t backed up at your place of business organization , documents you ’ve spent months create for tomorrow ’s intro , the Great American Screenplay due to the director in two daylight ’s clip , and your taxation records .
response if lost : tremble fear .
Excluding system files from your backup can save you a lot of space.
Would Be a Drag to Replace . A surprising amount of the stuff on your arduous drive falls into this family . This include medicine in your iTunes library ( music you ’ve ripped from CD or purchased online ) , iTunes videos , your browser app bookmarker , address book contacts , and calendar events . ( Of naturally , if your business concern depends on those bookmarker , contacts , and events — this class of data displace up in the parliamentary law of grandness . )
Reaction if lost : Non - end cursing .
The eternal rest . This can be old e - mail , software that you have n’t run since transitioning from OS 9 to OS X , your résumé from 1997 … just about anything that you thought you might need some Clarence Day but , in true statement , were unbelievable to ever look at again .
Burn your music to disc as data.
Reaction if lose : “ Huh . ”
Know your backup options
The years of nonchalantly jam a floppy disc into a slot and dragging a couple of files on to that platter are gone . We now have multiple G of data to back up and slow , low - capacitance solution are no longer an option . These are the common backup selection at your disposal .
Writable optical media . Although Apple interpret writable candle and DVD media as something of a dead - remnant , a lot of today ’s Macs still carry a SuperDrive . Proponents of these discs once promised this media would survive for dozens of year . alas , such claims have n’t been born out by the facts . Writeable CDs and videodisk can take down over time , particularly when break to sunlight and moisture . And scratch it badly enough and your data is pledge . It ’s also a terribly irksome means for back up a lot of data . In a pinch , however , it ’s a reasonable part of a sneakernet root — one where you postulate to easily move data from one data processor to another when you do n’t have a net tie the two .
While not natively supported by the Mac , writable Blu - ray phonograph recording are another option . Although subject to the same environmental threats as standard candle and DVD media , they hold more data—25 GB on a individual - layer disc and 50 GB with dual - layer media . And Blu - ray burner have dismiss in price . For around $ 250 you could purchase an outside Blu - ray burner and copy of Roxio ’s Toast Titanium 10 Pro ( ) , which allows your Mac to bite Blu - ray disc .
A Mac with 2nd hard drive . Attaching a 2nd heavy drive to your Mac is the most common way to use Time Machine . Just plug in a FireWire or USB cause ( or add a 2d internal drive if your Mac allows ) , switch on Time Machine , and let it do its material . Although Time Machine does n’t allow you to take specific point to back up , it does let you debar items . So , for exemplar , you could save up some space by demand it to exclude the System brochure at the root stage of your startup effort . When you do this Time Machine offer up you the option to additionally bar all organisation program program and UNIX tools . This may be the well-off way to back up your data point as it requires effort no greater than buy and plugging in a compatible hard thrust .
shut system files from your substitute can save you a portion of outer space .
The pros are obvious . configure a Time Machine backup with a second hard drive is drained simple to set up . The greatest crusade it train is purchase the drive and plugging it in . The con may not be quite so apparent to everyone . Should there be a cataclysmic consequence — a massive power surge , blast , flood , or earthquake — you could lose both your Mac ’s toilsome drive and the secondary drive tie to it .
Mac with two external intemperate drives . The idea is standardised as the single back up drive . The difference is that you spread out the drives and keep one of the drives off - site — in a bank ’s good repository box , for instance , or at a friend ’s sign of the zodiac . ( If you have to stash away it on - internet site , get a waterproof fire - dependable and place your second campaign in it . ) So , attach Drive A on Monday and rent it back up your Mac throughout the week . Detach it on Sunday and swap in Drive B , permit it to back up the Mac during the next week . If the tough materialize , you misplace , at most , a single workweek ’s work .
Time Capsule with connection of Macs . If you have multiple Macs to back up , Apple has a solution in the form of its 1 TB and 2TBTime Capsulewireless hard driving force / routers ( priced at $ 299 and $ 499 severally ) . Like the individual backbreaking drive solution , it means your backup drive is on - land site .
domicile web server . If you last in a home with multiple Macs considerturning one of those Macs into a backup server . Detailed at duration in the linked clause , you could utilise a multifariousness of package tools to automatise the backup of multiple Macs over a meshwork to a hard drive impound to the server .
RAID reliever . RAID array — box that contain multiple grueling drive pack with redundant data — were once the purview of corporations and well - heeled geeks . Thanks to Data Robotics’Droboand standardized simplified RAID array , such boxes are now finding their way into rest home offices . “ Redundant ” is the central advantage here . If one of the array ’s hard drive takes a nosedive , your datum is still safe , as it ’s backed up on another of the gimmick ’s drives . Again , it ’s an on - situation resolution so it ’s jeopardise by the same enactment of nature that can put down your Mac .
Online backup . Online reliever provides a mode to protect your data point from those on - site disasters . Using an on-line support result such as MobileMe ’s iDisk , Dropbox , or one of the many commercial-grade on-line accompaniment services you may upload your most precious data to the cloud . Should a veridical swarm flood your Mac and its local backup solutions , you could doctor your data point from the ether .
Make a backup plan
How you backup depends a expectant deal on what you backup . You will , for example , wish to make multiple backups of Personal and unreplaceable data point and keep a rotating off - internet site support . The repose can be backed up to the Time Machine drive attached to your Mac or , if you ’re well-worn of being tethered to the past tense , ignored altogether . Now that you ’ve determined which data is the most cute to you and empathise the option for backing it up , rent ’s view the steps you should take to back it up .
For your most prized data you must have a redundant backup man plan . This starts with at least one local support drive running Time Machine or another lump of backup software — a tool such as Shirt Pocket Software ’s $ 28SuperDuper ( ) or Bombich Software ’s freeCarbon Copy Cloner ( ) if you want a bootable substitute . ( Optionally you’re able to back up to a home net server . ) A 2d championship drive that you keep off - land site and rotate in on a unconstipated groundwork is the 2d whole step .
For the crème de la crème of your data aggregation — your iPhoto library and iMovie projects , for example — add an online storage service . This put up off - site backup without you own to leave the house . If you’re able to get by with just a couple of G of storehouse , Dropbox is an excellent and free choice . If you need up to 20 GB of storage and have a MobileMe account , use your iDisk . And if you have a lot of data ( and plenty of time to look for it to upload ) consider a more flexible online storage solution such as the $ 54 - a - yearCrashPlan . CrashPlan not only lets you back up your datum to its server , but you could also back up data to a Quaker ’s data processor .
Such a redundant accompaniment plan should leave you fairly well protected . But there are additional footstep you may take .
Go even further
For good example , if you have a particularly red-hot project you ’re working on at the second , consider mob a USB key drive into a unornamented slot on your Mac and copy that project ’s Indian file to it every hour or so . Should something direful happen and your even backup organisation has n’t had time to hold open your datum , you suffer only an time of day ’s work at most . ( you could produce an Automator workflow to automate this process . )
iTunes supply an extra level of backup trade protection . you could sunburn a selected play list to candela or DVD as data point . To properly configure this alternative , select a playlist in iTunes ’ Source list and choose File - > Burn Playlist to Disc . In the Burn options window that appears , start the Data CD or DVD option and get across the Burn button . After inserting a blank disc you ’ll be told that the disc is only for data computer memory . If there ’s more data than will fit on a single disc you ’ll be ask if you ’d like to split the play list across multiple magnetic disc . Click Data Discs to support your choice to do so .
Burn your music to saucer as data point .
Regrettably , iPhoto no longer offer up an option to back up your iPhoto library to optical spiritualist . Rather , you may burn only images to the disc rather than the depository library itself and you ca n’t burn to multiple magnetic disc if the selected number of picture wo n’t fit on a individual CD or DVD .
While you do n’t require to back up your program — because you’re able to always install brisk copies — you should absolutely keep a criminal record of your applications programme ’ nonparallel numbers and registration code . That way , should you misplace those applications , you need n’t go through the bother of reach each software company in the hope that they ’ll supply you with the numbers you need to campaign their programs .
likewise , having a copy of your parole and Internet configuration selective information will be a manna from heaven if your hard drive dies . you may back up many Internet passwords by making a copy of your keychains . You ’ll retrieve them by going toyouruserfolder / Library / Keychains . Agile Web Solutions ’ $ 40 1Password ( ) is a terrific way of life to create and stock passwords . to boot , you’re able to export 1Password archives for fill-in . These files should be part of a larger stand-in , but it does n’t ache to keep unornamented copies around . As for Internet constellation preferences , one of the easy ways to “ back them up ” is to take screen shots of the appropriate internet scheme preference and AirPort Utility projection screen and then print and back up those screen shot .
Safety in numbers
For many of us it ’s no magnification to say that we put in much of our life on our Macs — be it our financial history , on-line personality , media , or memories . Losing that data is no longer a venial troublesomeness . And because it is n’t , we must take serious step to back it up . You now know what to back up and how to go about it . All that ’s pass on is the ostensibly most hard stride — actually taking the sentence to do it .
[ Christopher Breen is a senior editor at Macworld . ]
