Backing up

Tina · Mar 27, 2011, 11:32:53

I know this will seem a silly question to those in the know, but hey ho

. I've got stuff on my Macbook that I wouldn't want to loose if it died. It's a 2008 Macbook. Do i need to buy a external hard drive to save things on? Would a Buffalo one be OK? I don't have that much on my Mac, but just wanna be sure it's safe

Rik · Mar 27, 2011, 11:35:40

I can't speak specifically about Macs, Tina, but the principle should be the same for any OS. Plug an external USB drive into the computer, probably, on a Mac, format it, then copy files - either manually or using a backup app.

Tina · Mar 27, 2011, 11:40:25

Thanks Rik

Glenn · Mar 27, 2011, 11:41:06

http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is-macosx/time-machine.html maybe of help

Tina · Mar 27, 2011, 11:45:06

Thanks Glenn.. Ok another stupid question, but would I have to keep the external hard drive on my Mac for Time Machine to do it's updates?

Rik · Mar 27, 2011, 11:46:14

From reading that, I'd say yes, Tina.

Tina · Mar 27, 2011, 11:48:06

Thanks. Guess it wold take up with of my USB ports, but that's OK. Better than loosing everything

Glenn · Mar 27, 2011, 11:48:20

A Mac user would need to answer that, but from reading the way it works, each time you connect to the drive, it would perform the backup.

Steve · Mar 27, 2011, 14:29:06

The ideal with a Mac Laptop is the Time Capsule, so then Time machine can back up via wifi however it's not a cheap solution. Time Machine is best suited I feel for a permanently connected drive as it backups up on an hourly basis. If your going to use an external USB drive on an intermittent basis I'd prefer Carbon Copy Cloner which will give you bootable and incremental backups.

http://www.bombich.com/ccc_features.html

Time machine will work with other "NAS" drives but needs a bit of a hack and I'm not sure with this method whether a full wipe/ restore is available

Rik · Mar 27, 2011, 16:09:11

Welcome back, Steve.

Steve · Mar 27, 2011, 16:17:16

Hardly feels like I've been away

Rik · Mar 27, 2011, 16:27:34

I know how you feel.

Gary · Mar 28, 2011, 08:11:18

I just use a external hard drive connected to my Mac, rather use a usb port than loose data, you can also use SuperDuper to make a clone of your hard drive that you can mount and use if your drive dies. Best way to hook up either way is with Firewire rather than USB tbh.

Steve · Mar 28, 2011, 08:23:13

Apple's view on NAS http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html which seems to exclude most 'non' apple alternatives for network backup. I think you can back up using Time machine to a NAS drive provided AFP is available but I still believe a full restore without the OS disks is not an option.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2776460&tstart=45

The link here is an excellent FAQ for Time Machine http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html

Tina · Mar 28, 2011, 08:27:20

well i all confused by the jargon lol.. i've ordered a Buffalo external hard drive. The reviews were good. People used it with a Mac, saying it had turbo or something... guess will have to wait and see

Gary · Mar 28, 2011, 09:27:00

Quote from: Tina on Mar 28, 2011, 08:27:20
well i all confused by the jargon lol.. i've ordered a Buffalo external hard drive. The reviews were good. People used it with a Mac, saying it had turbo or something... guess will have to wait and see

As long as your time machine drive is the same size as your Macs drive you should be ok, when you get it you will need to go into Disc utility and convert it to MacOS Extended (Journaled) dead simple, takes a minute and then you are sorted.