Backup solution for iMac

[oliver_b1]

<p>Apologies for the neophyte questions, but wanted to get some more expert opinion before I spend any of our hard earned funds.<br>

I have a year old iMac 27", i5, 12Gb DRAM, with a 2TB internal HDD and use it amongst other things for my personal photo editing and storage. I was using a cheap 250Gb WD passport (USB2.0) that I had lying around to backup my photos through LR3, however it is now full and I need a bigger better solution.<br>

I am thinking I should get a 2TB external drive or possibly 4TB which I think would allow me to backup 2TB and keep a mirrored copy(?) for safety. <br>

First question is this a valid solution and if so how would I best manage the backup process? Just do this through the iMac's Time Machine software, or some other software/method?<br>

Second question is what interface should I go for. I believe my iMac comes with USB2.0, firewire 800 and Thunderbolt. Obviously USB2.0 is pretty slow and sadly USB 3.0 is supported on my machine. Which leaves FW800 or Thunderbolt as my viable options.<br>

The problem with Thunderbolt is the cost. I was looking at a G-Tech 4TB G-RAID Thunderbolt Hard Drive, but it is $700! I can get the G-Technology G-RAID 4TB Dual-Drive for $370, which appears to be the same drive but with Firewire800 instead of Thunderbolt.<br>

Is the extra cost of Thunderbolt likely to be of any significant value to a user such as me, or am I better going the Firewire route?<br>

Thanks for any advice.</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p><strong><em>I am thinking I should get a 2TB external drive or possibly 4TB which I think would allow me to backup 2TB and keep a mirrored copy(?) for safety.</em></strong><br>

good.</p>

<p><strong><em>First question is this a valid solution and if so how would I best manage the backup process?</em></strong><br>

yes, and with a good backup software.</p>

<p><strong><em>Just do this through the iMac's Time Machine software,</em></strong><br>

worst piece of s**** invent..stay away.</p>

<p><strong><em>or some other software/method?</em></strong><br>

Chronosync 49$</p>

<p><strong><em>Obviously USB2.0 is pretty slow</em></strong><br>

Not that slow for backup purpose, music acces via iTune or working with Lightroom.. but Firewire 800 should be prefered.. and if you have $$ Thunderbolt will be the (overkill) way too go.</p>

<p><strong><em>G-Technology G-RAID 4TB Dual-Drive for $370</em></strong><br>

excellent choice.</p>

<p> </p>

[stp]

<p>You might think about two external drives, one to be kept in a safe deposit box at a bank (the fees are minimal, and the extra security is significant).</p>

[klsphoto]

<p>Here is my normal set up: At home I use the i-mac as my main computer (it's a 2007 so no thunderbolt or USB3). I have all of my programs (LR, PS, iphoto, etc.) on the internal hard drive (500GB). I have 3 external hard drives (yes, three). The first one backs up the i-Mac's internal hard drive, thereby saving all of my programs, their settings, & any documents I have on the HD). It is a USB drive. The second external (a 2 TB firewire) HD contains all of my photos & the LR catalog. When I'm working in LR (or PS) all photos are written to this drive. Because it is firewire, I do not see any appreciable speed loss vs writing the files to the internal HD. Every night the 2nd external HD is backed up to a third external hard drive (2TB USB) via "Carbon Copy Cloner" which makes an <em>exact </em>copy of the 2nd drive--not a back up that must be "restored" as many back up programs do. When I travel I take the 2nd & 3rd external hard drives with me and connect to my mac-mini for processing of the photos. The mini also contains all of the programs (LR, PS, etc) but no photos. I simply connect both external hard drives & I'm running just as I do at home. Now here's why I'm so glad that I have back ups: The last time we traveled, and I plugged in the 2nd external HD (firewire) it would not work. I tried various configurations (USB, Firewire, etc) and no go. Instead of being a disaster (remember, all of my photos are on this drive), all I had to do was connect the 3rd external HD (USB), rename the drive so that LR catalog knew where to find my photos and I was good to go. When I returned home I purchased a new firewire drive, backed up the 3rd HD to that and it was like the whole thing never even happened. Note: I subsequently renamed the USB drive back to it's old name, and renamed the firewire drive to the original firewire drive name so that I'm still working primarily on the firewire drive and backing up to a USB drive for speed purposes. The 2TB firewire drive was about $150. <br>

I would not keep a mirror copy of your photos & catalog on the same drive, for the very reason described above. Two separate 2TB drives are better than one 4TB. I have no idea why my firewire drive failed. It still powers up so it is possible that it is the reader interface and not the drive itself that failed. It's probably not cost effective to determine the reason for the failure. <br>

Footnote: I also back up all of my photos to DVD's. This may not be the safest longterm backup solution, but so far, I have not had a DVD failure. </p>

[digitaldog]

<p>I'd use SuperDuper for Mac to backup. Rock solid, easy to use, inexpensive. <br>

Time Machine is great for a certain kind of backup but not what you want to totally rely on. SuperDuper will clone the entire drive, only copying <strong>new</strong> data to back up. So it's fast. TM is great if you want to quickly locate a file from backup's further back that may have been overwritten by the last clone/backup. So the comment that it isn't good isn't accurate. It has been a huge life saver for me over the years. Set it and forget it. But do dedicate a big drive just for this TM data. At the same time, clone (backup) to an external drive(s). CrashPlan for cloud based backup of some data is also a belt and suspenders way of insuring no data loss. <br>

Say you have a document you worked on a week ago that you then deleted or updated whatever. If you backup using the products discussed, that document is no longer accessible from that backup. TM will let you find just that <strong>one</strong> document and recover it. While there are other products that produce iterations of such files, they are usually complex and expensive and the task is super fast and easy with TM. Very useful but not the same as a standard backup. Use both. </p>

[oliver_b1]

<p>Thanks for the great advice folks.<br>

I hadn't considered saving my photos and LR3 catalogue direct to an external drive as I had assumed that it would excessively slow the workflow down, plus I had 2 TB on the internal drive anyway. Thinking about it though perhaps that will make life easier when I eventually run out of space on my 2TB internal drive. If I was on an external and a mirrored backup, I guess I would just replace them with 2 new drives and keep on trucking, knowing that I still have 2 copies of all my older files. Whereas with the internal drive, when it was full I would have to then either delete them all and rely on the one backup, or try to archive them all to another drive at that time?</p>

[peter_gaunt]

I second SuperDuper. Been using it

for years to make nightly backups

and it's never really let me down.

The backups it makes are

bootable- if your main drive dies

you can boot from the backup if

you like. I use Time Machine too

but it's purpose is somewhat

different.

[Brad_]

I use a two-pronged approach:

 

 

1) SuperDuper backup software used with two large external drives, to create bootable clone backups, one of the drives always

kept at a different physical location. Those drives are periodically exchanged.

 

plus

 

2) TimeMachine for restoring accidentally deleted or corrupted files.

[digitaldog]

<blockquote>

<p>I hadn't considered saving my photos and LR3 catalogue direct to an external drive as I had assumed that it would excessively slow the workflow down...</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Depends on the drive. The G-Tech's are great and pretty fast. Dedicate the biggest drive you can to all your images, LR catalog, presets (doable from the LR preferences: <em>Save presets with Catalog</em>). Then just clone the entire enchilada with SuperDuper to as many other drives as you wish. Get a nice small G-Tech Mini, clone that for working on location since it's nice and small. Use that cloned drive on location with newer data. When you return, ask SuperDuper backup <strong>from</strong> the location drive to the desktop unit, boom, you're in sync. </p>

[J.W. Wall]

<p>Interesting. What's the difference between Chronosync and SuperDuper? Is it safe to clone to a drive that is also used for LR4 catalog and files?</p>

[Carl Stone]

<p>I use SuperDuper to make file level clones on an external HD of my internal HD, and Time Machine to do hourly backups on another external HD. Both drives use a FireWire interface. Note that I said file level clones, and not block level clones, there is a significant difference. You need a block level clone if you want to copy PS or LR, for example, and have their activation included in the cloned copy. Otherwise, or if you are using a file level clone, you have to deactivate PS or LR from the internal HD, then re-activate it on the cloned drive, or it won't launch. You are limited to the use of two computers per copy of PS and LR (and other Adobe programs), and you have to be online to activate and/or de-activate. This is part of Adobe's (and some other vendors also) anti-pirating program. SuperDuper, while a great backup program, and drop dead easy to use, will not make block level clones, period. Carbon Copy Cloner will, and so will some other software programs, but none of them are SuperDuper. <br>

One needs to give consideration to the fact that Adobe only allows so many activations before it decides that you don't get any more. They don't put a number to that. If you have problems, then you get to call Adobe support and talk them out of a new activation number, a time consuming, and not always successful task. Telling Adobe that you're not a pirate, and you bought the software might convince, and it might not. Microsoft has a similar attitude in some cases. <br>

I hate WD MyBook and similar external HDs. They often come with software that will be a PITA at some point. You don't need that software, and it's far better, IMO, to buy external HD enclosures and drives separately, then just stick the drive in the enclosure, which also has the added benefit of allowing you swap drives in those enclosures at will, with some allowing hot swapping. </p>

[Carl Stone]

<p>I use SuperDuper to make file level clones on an external HD of my internal HD, and Time Machine to do hourly backups on another external HD. Both drives use a FireWire interface. Note that I said file level clones, and not block level clones, there is a significant difference. You need a block level clone if you want to copy PS or LR, for example, and have their activation included in the cloned copy. Otherwise, or if you are using a file level clone, you have to deactivate PS or LR from the internal HD, then re-activate it on the cloned drive, or it won't launch. You are limited to the use of two computers per copy of PS and LR (and other Adobe programs), and you have to be online to activate and/or de-activate. This is part of Adobe's (and some other vendors also) anti-pirating program. SuperDuper, while a great backup program, and drop dead easy to use, will not make block level clones, period. Carbon Copy Cloner will, and so will some other software programs, but none of them are SuperDuper. <br>

One needs to give consideration to the fact that Adobe only allows so many activations before it decides that you don't get any more. They don't put a number to that. If you have problems, then you get to call Adobe support and talk them out of a new activation number, a time consuming, and not always successful task. Telling Adobe that you're not a pirate, and you bought the software might convince, and it might not. Microsoft has a similar attitude in some cases. <br>

I hate WD MyBook and similar external HDs. They often come with software that will be a PITA at some point. You don't need that software, and it's far better, IMO, to buy external HD enclosures and drives separately, then just stick the drive in the enclosure, which also has the added benefit of allowing you swap drives in those enclosures at will, with some allowing hot swapping. </p>

[angkordave]

<p>Stupid question probably but what is PITA?<br>

I use WD Mybooks to store my images on so far without problems FW800 works Ok with LR but can slow PS down with large files.</p>

 

[Carl Stone]

<p>Sorry for the double post, perhaps the mod will be good enough to remove one of them.</p>

<p>GIYF (Google is your friend), and there you will find the definition of PITA. It begins with the word pain. Hopefully, you won't have an issue with the built in software on your WD MyBook external drive. HTH</p>

<p>FW 800 on a Mac is faster than USB 2, it isn't slowing anything down, it's operating at it's capacity. eSATA or Thunderbolt are both faster than FW 800. Larger files take longer to transfer between drives WRT the interface being used to accomplish the transfer. </p>

[digitaldog]

<blockquote>

<p>What's the difference between Chronosync and SuperDuper?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>SuperDuper costs much less but does less. I have both. SD clones an entire drive (you can limit what on that drive you wish to backup but I just clone the entire thing). SD is super easy to use. <br>

Chronosync can do the same but setup is a bit more work. What it does really well that SD doesn't is allow you to backup (sync) just one or more folders. SD is more a "<em>all or nothing</em>" approach but easier to use. CS is more powerful if you need that. If all you want to do is clone drives (and as mentioned make them bootable), SD is all you need. </p>

[J.W. Wall]

<p>Thank you, very helpful. Is it safe to clone to an external drive that also holds Lightroom files and catalogs?</p>

[Carl Stone]

<p>I'm not sure what you mean by "safe". You can put anything that you like on a drive, and clone it too, if you want to, but, I don't see any connection to safety from doing that. </p>

[J.W. Wall]

<p>I read info from one software publisher, at least, cautions that the cloning process could damage unrelated data on the target drive. Seemed unlikely to me, but I'm not that technically inclined.</p>

[Carl Stone]

<p>Well, if you are cloning a drive, then you want to either create a partition on the target drive for that cloned info only, or don't use the target drive for anything aside from the cloned info. My personal choice is to use separate external drives for clones. If I want an external drive for storage, etc, then I grab another HD to insert into my enclosure(s). </p>

[digitaldog]

<p>IF the data is unrelated, it isn't going to be cloned. So it sounds like BS to me too. Any time you read and write data, there's a possibility of data failure. Kind of the reason we back up...</p>

[J.W. Wall]

<p>OK, thanks for that.</p>