Backup Software

imac davidimac david
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Hi guys,



I have the iMac flat panel, and I'm looking for some software to manage backups for me. Basically I want to be able to select some folders, and for the software to backup to CD on a frequency I decide.



Obviously it will have to prompt for putting in a blank CD when it's time, but I can live with that. Ideally if it is a CDRW then it should ask 'overwrite all, or only changes since last backup'.



I have done a few searches and haven't found an obvious one - surely this fount of knowledge can help?!



Cheers!



David

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    xaqtlyxaqtly Posts: 450member
    <a href="http://www.dantz.com/products/mac.html"; target="_blank">Retrospect.</a>
  • Reply 2 of 6
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Personally I ditched Retrospect after using it for years.



    The UI is horrid, and unless you're going to plop down $500 for the server farm version and back up to rotating tapes, it's really *not* worth it anymore, with the cheap and free Unix tools available. (And yes, they have UI front ends in many cases.)



    Why not just use .mac's Backup? $100/year and burns to CD. You're going to spend that $100/yr on Retrospect and upgrades anyway, trust me.



    Not to mention that right now our family business is in hell because the Retrospect archive we had as a backup is corrupted. (The business was broken into, and the server and all backups but one were stolen.) Some of the files are extractable, some aren't. Even those that are, can't be verified as accurate. If it had been just a plain mirror of the files, they could have been directly readable by the Finder.



    Spend $100, get a .mac account, use Backup.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    brianmacosbrianmacos Posts: 548member
    [quote]Originally posted by Kickaha:

    <strong>Spend $100, get a .mac account, use Backup.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Exactly that's what you want to use. Some time Backup will be able to work with an external HD I am sure. But backing up to .mac is just as good but it's no good if you have a slow connection.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    imac davidimac david Posts: 286member
    Hi,



    thanks for the comments. .Mac may be the way to go. I should have said that I'm a home user, and basically just want to ensure my digital photos are backed up somewhere so the day my HD dies (it will........) I'll have them someplace else.



    Surprised that no-one has found a decent little shareware/freeware program that does the basics as I described.



    Cheers!



    David
  • Reply 5 of 6
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    There are actually quite a few.



    Head to versiontracker.com and enter 'backup' or 'synchronize' in the search field. You'll get about a dozen.
  • Reply 6 of 6
    the cool gutthe cool gut Posts: 1,714member
    [quote]Originally posted by iMac David:

    <strong>Hi,



    thanks for the comments. .Mac may be the way to go. I should have said that I'm a home user, and basically just want to ensure my digital photos are backed up somewhere so the day my HD dies (it will........) I'll have them someplace else.



    Surprised that no-one has found a decent little shareware/freeware program that does the basics as I described.



    Cheers!



    David</strong><hr></blockquote>





    There are a few things to be weary about with the .Mac backup. First, the program has to be able to access your idisk in order to work, so if there is no internet connection, there is no backup. Second, if you do a backup across multiple CD's, you are going to need backup to decifer the files that are split up. So, what happens if next year, you decide not to renew? Does that nullify all your previous backups?
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