We ’ve published many articles over the year about style to back up your data . ( It ca n’t be said enough : If you do n’t have asolid backup strategy , get one . If you have one , make trusted it ’s working in good order by regularly testing your backups . ) But readers often ask how we , in person , back up . I ca n’t speak forallMacworld editors , but I can narrate you the steps and procedure I utilize .
Step 1: Time Machine
Mac OS X ’s build - in Time Machine backup feature of speech works well within its circumscribed orbit . It backs up all your personal data and , depending on how you ’ve configured it , your organisation file and applications , as well . Even proficient , Time Machine make it easy to restore not only a particular file , but a particularversionof that single file — at a minimum , Time Machine store one version per hour for the past 24 time of day , as well as several rendering from the past few days and weeks . So as long as the backup drive you use for Time Machine is of sufficient size to hold the current version of your authoritative data point , as well as enough onetime versions of that data to supply you with “ just in case ” pacification of mind , Time Machine is an leisurely - to - use and authentic safeguard .
I ’ve experience a 1 TB operose drive connected to my iMac and configured for use as a Time Machine intensity . However , I ’ve configured Time Machine to back up only my document , not system files — the latter are handled by the next footmark .
Step 2a: Clones
Unfortunately , as Joe Kissellrecently explain , if you want a full-bodied backup system , Time Machine is n’t enough . You ca n’t boot off of a Time Machine stand-in , and if , for example , your startup crusade fail , restore your organization to its anterior state from a Time Machine computer backup takes hours — or long . So I also need a complete , bootablebackup , and for this I wrench to clone backups .
A clone is an accurate , bit - for - mo copy of a hard drive . There are a twain things that make a clone specially useful as part of your backup repertory . The first is that it ’s bootable . The 2nd is that it does n’t require any sort of restore routine to use — connect a knockoff backup , or replace your intimate strong crusade with a ringer , and you’re able to boot your Mac from it and beexactlywhere you were at the clock time the clone was last update .
Although you could use OS X ’s Disk Utility to make a clone , I instead apply SuperDuper , which can make a clone and then automatically update it on a regular basis to reflect the current DoS of my drive . ( you’re able to also practice Carbon Copy Cloner for this undertaking . ) Specifically , I have SuperDuper configure to update my clone every evening .
I also have SuperDuper set to automatically update this clone - backup campaign whenever I connect the effort to my Mac . This pick means that if the backup drive is n’t connect during its on a regular basis scheduled backup time ( say , if it ’s been off - site — see Step 2b , below ) , it ’s immediately update the next time it ’s connected .
Of course , like many people , I have data on drives other than my iMac ’s internal drive — I’ve got a couple FireWire drives I use for lay in media , downloads , and the like . Because this information is also valuable to me , I clone these drives , as well . But instead of using a gang of different external hard drive for all my clone backups , I use an Other World ComputingMercury Elite - AL Pro Dual Bay enclosurethat hold two gamey - mental ability SATA hard drives . One thrust mirror my iMac ’s inner hard platter ; the other is partition off to hold ringer backups of each of my FireWire drives . In other Word , the OWC enclosure is a multi - clone backup loge .
( I should head out that the main drawback of a ringer is that it ’s by definition asnapshotof your hard drive — a snapshot taken the last time you update the dead ringer . So any data point that ’s new since the last update will be “ missing ” if you misplace your main hard parkway and are forced to switch to its knockoff . To get around this limitation , you could schedule SuperDuper to revise your clone , say , every hour , but that ’s overkill — not to cite a caboodle of unnecessary wear and tear on your drive . Rather , this is a compelling argument for using a combination of knockoff backupsandTime Machine . If you ever have to boot from your clone , you’re able to apply Time Machine to reinstate just the data that ’s fresh since the most - recent clone update . )
Step 2b: Multiple clones
have all your backups in the same location as your information processing system means that if a non - tech cataclysm — a lightning strike , a fire , an earthquake , a looting — should fall out , you could lose your original drivesandyour backups . So a sound musical accompaniment plan want off - site backups , as well .
My approach here is to have asecond , identical , OWC enclosure curb the same drive size and partitions . The only difference is that the hard drive inside each of the two OWC enclosures are of different stain — I never rely on a single mark of hard drives for my backups , just in case a particular vendor has a tally of bad drives .
I turn out these two OWC enclosures every few solar day , and I make indisputable that one of them is always offsite whenever I am . In other password , I never have all my backup together in my office with my computer unless I ’m there with them , updating them . ( I ’ve been known to make for one of my backup enclosure with me to tiffin to deflect bear everything in one place while I ’m out of the position . I ’ve bring a nice , padded conduct case that confine the OWC enclosure and a couple portable concentrated drives — my menage members affectionately call this case “ the football . ” )
What if I happened to be in my berth with both sets of backups and someone were to break up in and rob me at point ? Well , that would fellate . The correct answer , of course , is that I shouldneverhave all my reliever in the same placement — ideally , I ’d always have one inclosure off - web site , moving the on - land site inclosure off - site before refund with the previous off - web site enclosure . Indeed , I used to do just that , using a safe - deposit boxful as the off - site repository . But we lately closed our safety - deposit boxwood , so I ’m temporarily being riskier than I ’d like . That say , I do keep copy of most of my crucial datum at a relative ’s house . I update that “ worst - case - scenario archive ” every few months .
One thing I do n’t yet use for off - site backups is a full - featured online musical accompaniment service . It ’s something I ’m considering , but until then …
Step 3: Dropbox
Since my Time Machine fill-in does n’t leave the office , and my clone do n’t include documents I ’ve worked on since the most - recent scheduled relief ( likely from the anterior evening ) , I turn to Dropbox . Dropbox is an surprisingly utilitarian compounding of Web service and Mac OS X programme that sync the contents of a specialDropboxfolder on your Mac . Anything you place in that folder is automatically copied , securely , to the Dropbox servers and then to any other of your Macs configure for Dropbox . I keep all my in - progression document and folders in my Dropbox brochure , so I get laid that as long as I have an cyberspace connection , a copy of the latest adaptation of each document is always stack away safely “ in the swarm . ”
In addition to its computer backup utilization , Dropbox has a couple other benefits when used for in - progress information . The first is that Dropbox stores both the current andpreviousversions of each papers ; you’re able to restore any premature version using your report on the Dropbox Website . The second is that , because my Dropbox folder is synced between all my Macs , I can work on any of my in - advancement text file from any of my figurer . I can also access those documents — and , with the right app , even edit them — from my iPhone and iPad .
“Data safety in 3 easy steps!”
The end result of this diversified reliever design is that at any yield time , I ’ve got a complete knockoff of each of my ride that ’s never more than 24 hour old , Time Machine backups of alter files for each hour of that day , and both onsite and cloud edition of all the document I ’m actively work on . And those in - advance articles are approachable from any of my Macs , as well as from my iOS devices .
Of course , as a tech writer and editor in chief , my data is especially important to me , and I ’m admittedly a bit paranoid about losing it . So my backup system may be overkill for some the great unwashed . But the most authoritative affair in place up a good backup plan is knowing how tothink aboutyour data and reliever . I hope say about the lengths I go to to safeguard my data has spurred you to take a well look at how well you safeguard your own .
[ Dan Frakes is a Macworld senior editor . ]
