Question: Mac Backup and file duplication and management software.

[Asher Kelman]

What do you use and why?

I'm having a problem with trial copy of Tri-Backup. It quits after every 30 GB of copying. However it does remember where it left off! When I used the Activity monitor app to see what was happening, I discovered that the software gradually recruits real physical memory for it's use, increasing at a constant rate. when it hits about 2.7 GB, it crashes!!!

So to copy 900 GB of files from hard drive with 900 GB to a brand new 3 TB drive, there have been 14 crashes just to get to 400 GB!

No other software was active on the desktop but certain programs has acquired 1-2 GB for some work. One was Techtool Pro which wasn't running and had taken 2.5 GB! So I killed these processes and a bunch more and then I was able to get the program to keep going from an average of 30 GB before crashing to about 60 GB. It still crashes but lasts longer. Except right this second,: it crashed again, this time after just about 4 GB transfer!

Any ideas and what do you use?

[Joe Hardesty]

Hi Asher,

I have four internal drives in my MacPro. I rely on Time Machine for routine backups, but have it set so it only backs up when I tell it to--generally twice per day or after working in my image library.

As for redundant backup, I go old-school. I have a 2TB firewire RAID and just do a drag and drop copy of my media drive. Yes, it takes a while, but I only do that every week or so. I've never had a failure and don't have rely on external software.

That RAID drive holds 2 removable drives. I have four drives for it with two here in the office and 2 in the my bank safe deposit box. Every month I rotate the drives between office and bank.

I know a lot of people don't think about off-site backups, but I cannot imagine the devastation of losing 40 years of work if there was a fire, theft, etc.

[Alain Briot]

Silverkeeper (LaCie) offers excellent backup software. It does what it is supposed to do very effectively:
http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper/

And, it's free.

[John Angulat]

In my PC I have two 1TB HDD set as RAID 1 (mirror).
This protects the integrity of the physical drive itself.

For backup I use Startech's eSATA dual HDD dock http://us.startech.com/product/SATAD...25-or-35in-HDD
I mount two 1 TB drives and run Acronis True Image http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/
I clone the RAID 1 HDD to both drives.

I favor Acronis as the s/w is one of the few to offer true HDD cloning. It's a one-click process that takes roughly 1/2 the amount of time as does a back-up. I really do not believe one needs constant back-up, either differential or incremental. In the unlikely event of need, all I need to do is slide the side cover off my PC, swap a drive and reboot.

As for write time, it is running about 1.5 hours to clone approx. 300GB data.
One cloned drive is stored in my employer's IT vault, the other in a safe deposit box.
Back-ups are done and drives rotated once a month.

[Georg R. Baumann]

Originally Posted by Asher Kelman

What do you use and why?

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDup...scription.html

It is one of the very few third party life saver tools that are essential for Mac users, it just works!

[Georg R. Baumann]

Originally Posted by Joe Hardesty

I know a lot of people don't think about off-site backups, but I cannot imagine the devastation of losing 40 years of work if there was a fire, theft, etc.

+1

If you deal with valuable data, off site is not an option but a must. With HD prices so dirt cheap, really is a no brainer.

Most people I know have documents in the fire proof safe with their solicitors already, to whack in a portable HD is no problem.

[Georg R. Baumann]

Originally Posted by Alain Briot

Silverkeeper (LaCie) offers excellent backup software. It does what it is supposed to do very effectively:
http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper/

And, it's free.

Wouldn't touch it with a bargepole, same for Lacie Drives.

[Cem_Usakligil]

Originally Posted by Georg R. Baumann

Wouldn't touch it with a bargepole, same for Lacie Drives.

Why is that?

Cheers,

[Georg R. Baumann]

I used to be a major Lacie user for years (Audio). There was a time where they were top of the notch together with Glyph, but this is a long time ago.

- four drives died within 6 months
- two further were DOA
- Lacie support was a major pain in the butt
- Main german Mac dealers took Lacie of the List
- I would never recommend backup software that is a freebie from a hardware manufacturer, it's like getting a free pace maker from a toilet paper supplier. LOL

Lacie had major issues with their supply chain and Q, this went on for more than 2 years and one Insider told me stories of the record that rolled up your toe nails, they had returns in the 45% region for more than 6 months across the product line.

Having said that, I am aware that HD's in particular are hit and miss as it is a mass product and variations will apply, however, I know recording studios that went through the same troubles that i experienced, and after they had enough of it, they exchanged all Lacie's on site, a substantial number i might add.

[Asher Kelman]

Originally Posted by Cem_Usakligil

Why is that?

Cheers,

Cem,

I too moved away from LaCie HD for the past 3 years. When a bunch of them failed due to faults in their spanning of two drives, they refused to give access to the software to repair the drives. I had to spend days recovering the software from separate drives using another drive case for each of the pair. All their drives I have used have failed.

Asher

[Cem_Usakligil]

Originally Posted by Asher Kelman

... All their drives I have used have failed.

All of them? How many were there? This is rather atypical, don't you think?

Cheers,

[Georg R. Baumann]

Originally Posted by Cem_Usakligil

All of them? How many were there? This is rather atypical, don't you think?

Cheers,

LOL, you could say that, but you know what, the worst was Lacie completely in denial about it! I mean come on, 4 drives in 6 month, two of which were less than 1 year old, two were 1.5 years. I can't tell you how many hours I spent with them on the phone, but it went on for several weeks, email and phone.

The first two 1TB died more or less the same day, when I got the new drives, both were DOA. The other 2TB drives died as well not long after.

Then there was a powersupply problem with the drives, the external PSU were faulty, they used a new supplier, guess what from China and first of all the PSU stank as hell (probably poisonous) heated up way too much.

I am usually patient, as I am aware that it is HW and things go wrong, but if I see a manufacturer giving me the run around and playing games, I loose patience quickly.

Out of my own experience with the company, they can kiss my butt, I never will buy Lacie again, and I am not the only one!

[Sandrine Bascouert]

Guys, you are creeping me...
guess what, all my HD back ups (well, back up, when I think of doing one :) ) are LaCie. Have them for 2 years now and never had a problem, fingers crossed (they are probably not the same league as yours but they are portable ones and one has a retractable wire that always frighten me, because I know it's so fragile)

Need to think about something else in the future... Not on a Mac anyway, but it doesn't change a thing...

[Georg R. Baumann]

Originally Posted by Sandrine Bascouert

Guys, you are creeping me...
guess what, all my HD back ups (well, back up, when I think of doing one :) ) are LaCie. Have them for 2 years now and never had a problem, fingers crossed (they are probably not the same league as yours but they are portable ones and one has a retractable wire that always frighten me, because I know it's so fragile)

Need to think about something else in the future... Not on a Mac anyway, but it doesn't change a thing...

If you talk about the firewire portable 'rugged', they have a good reputation and are used by many photographers. I was talking about the larger external eSATA-triple interface.

[Sandrine Bascouert]

No, one is a "Sam Hecht", the other one's the same but without the integrated wire and a less stylish design, but same stuff inside (AFAIK)... Small 500Mb in USB 2.0. I said "not the same league" :) .

[Alain Briot]

One of the best external hard drive deals around right now:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

[Georg R. Baumann]

Originally Posted by Alain Briot

One of the best external hard drive deals around right now:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Cheap alright... but seriously...USB2 is major bottleneck... very slow.

[Alain Briot]

An inexpensive solution for long term achiving. Not for daily backup or work of course.

[Georg R. Baumann]

Alternative:

http://www.amazon.com/Voyager-Drive-...120348&sr=1-14

[Andrew Rodney]

I use SuperDuper which is rock solid for nightly, unattended backups. I use Chronosync to sync up multiple machines that are not perfect clones of each other.

LaCie doesn’t really make anything guys. They OEM equipment and slap labels on them. I lost faith in many of their products a few years ago (lost their focus). While pricey, I love the looks and performance and reliability of G-Tech drives. http://g-technology.com/

They are recently purchased by Hitachi which does build the drives!

The Voyager is really slick for all those older HD’s you pull out of a system.

[Georg R. Baumann]

Arf! That means Yep! ;)

Hi Andrew,

Of course, not sure why no one mentioned it, Lacie is just a designer label at the end of the day. As for serious solutions, from small to medium to giganormous I find them pretty good, have several products from them, top notch stuff.

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/st...ons/index.html

[Alain Briot]

Great systems. Here's what I use:
https://secure1.sonnettech.com/produ...c0945a09dc3feb

But overkill for most people.

[Georg R. Baumann]

Originally Posted by Alain Briot

Great systems. Here's what I use:
https://secure1.sonnettech.com/produ...c0945a09dc3feb

But overkill for most people.

LOL, yeah right, well I was more thinking about real world enduser systems such as this:

http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/cr4488

Once you have a bunch of external drives, the have a habit to reproduce like rabbits, it makes sense to consolidate them into a solution such as this. However, of course, most people would not need that.

Get Super Duper Asher.