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Inside TidBITS | 08 Jan 2010 | Listen   | Print Printer-Friendly Version of This Article | Comment (3)

Quick, Reliable Backups with "Take Control of Easy Mac Backups"

by Adam C. Engst Send Email to Author

To help you start the new year with the warm fuzzy feeling of a solid backup strategy, we've just published "Take Control of Easy Mac Backups," a new ebook from Joe Kissell that's aimed at helping those whose backup strategy is non-existent, inadequate, or confusing. This ebook is for people who want great backups but know they won't spend much time on them. Joe explains just what you need to know (and no more) to make effective backups that go beyond the limited security of flipping the switch in Time Machine's system preference pane.

This 108-page ebook, which discusses making backups in either Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or 10.5 Leopard, is a little brother to Joe's 196-page "Take Control of Mac OS X Backups." It is also essentially the second edition of the now-discontinued "Take Control of Easy Backups in Leopard." (If you own "Take Control of Easy Backups in Leopard," check your email for a discount offer or - if you purchased after 1 August 2009 - a free update. If you didn't receive an email message, open your ebook to page 1 and click "Check for Updates" or contact us.)

Joe has been writing about backups for Take Control for years now, and his experience rings true as he walks you through picking out the right hardware and software for your needs and budget, preparing a hard drive for backups, setting up your backup software - he provides specific directions for Time Machine and tips for ChronoSync, CrashPlan, Data Backup, QRecall, and Retrospect - and creating a bootable duplicate. Joe also discusses three strategies for storing an extra backup offsite, and - most important! - he explains how to restore from a backup.

Common questions answered in the book include:

  • How can I get the maximum benefit from Time Machine?
  • Should I use a Time Capsule, Apple's Wi-Fi router and backup appliance?
  • What features should I look for in an external backup drive?
  • Should I use an online backup service like Backblaze or CrashPlan?
  • Should I use USB or FireWire to connect my backup drive?
  • What's a versioned backup, and why should I care?
  • Why is having a bootable duplicate important?
  • How can I easily and effectively keep an offsite backup?
  • Time Machine is acting strangely. What should I do?
  • How do I migrate existing backups to a Time Capsule?
  • What's the difference between an online sync and a backup?

The ebook also comes with coupons for 10 percent off on the CrashPlan online backup service and $30 off Data Backup.

 

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Comments about Quick, Reliable Backups with "Take Control of Easy Mac Backups"

Nathaniel Poor2010-01-12 09:35
Time Machine does not actually work. I used it to back up my drive (which I had to wipe to repartition), and when I restored it, eventually I noticed some newer items were missing and that I had to re-upgrade NeoOffice. Absolutely horrifying. I will never be able to have any faith in it again. (Maybe if I had read the book I could have done something differently.)
Adam Engst2010-01-12 13:25
If you had followed the advice in the book, you would have had a bootable duplicate as well, which would have been updated right before you repartitioned, so you wouldn't have lost anything. :-)

Honestly, I don't trust Time Machine either. It's just too much of a black box. I use it for recovering corrupted or deleted files right away, but I also rely on CrashPlan for offsite backups and Carbon Copy Cloner for bootable duplicates.
Graeme Nicholas2010-01-16 22:38
Have the 1.3 version TC of Back Ups; do i get a coupon buying TC of Easy Back Ups please