Macintosh gurus...

[Jason]

Does anybody remember the guy's name over at av123 that's the big mac guru? I can't remember it off the top of my head.

I need to set up time machine and would like some help in choosing the hardware.

[blackzarg]

Don't know his name...but I frequent the Maclife forums often!

Time Machine's pretty easy to set up. What Mac are you using right now? How big if your hard drive?

One of my favorite external drives is the Western Digital My Book Studio Edition. They're formatted for Mac and have four types of interfaces (USB/FW400/FW800/eSATA) so it's compatible with pretty much anything, and you can take advantage of the faster FW800 if you have a MBP or one of the newer iMacs/Mac Mini.

[Jason]

I've only got a base model unibody mb. 160 gb drive, and less than half used right now.

Here's the situation...our router (linksys wireless g) has been acting up a lot lately. Also, I presently don't have an external drive for time machine use.

I was initially leaning towards a time capsule, but am concerned about the effectiveness of a single drive backup solution. Was thinking of something like RAID 1....so I've been looking at dual band routers and using an external box (LaCie's, G-Safe, others?) for the time machine backup.

But maybe a time capsule is enough...get a usb hard drive and do a backup once a month and store it off site. Then I could use the usb port on the time capsule for a networked printer.

I dunno.....I'm far from an experienced user and consider myself a novice at best.....can't figure out which way to go.

[DeeJayBump]

Are you talking about Sevenfeet?

[Jason]

Are you talking about Sevenfeet?

yep, that's him. Thank you. Have to pm him (if I can still do that over there)

[blackzarg]

The easiest solution to your dilemma would to get the Airport Extreme Base Station + an external drive with Airdisk Utility, or to get a Time Capsule. Both would be more expensive than something that requires a bit of setup, but it's the simplicity you pay for with Apple ;-) (Not bashing - we have three Macs in my family and I think they're worth it).

That being said, do you really require a network backup? Network backups are great if you have more than one computer that needs to be backed up, but if you're just planning on backing up your computer, a simple external drive would be faster/cheaper/simpler. Your off-site storage idea is a good one, but if that's the case you probably don't need to spend so much on a drive. A portable drive might be handier, such as one of the WD Passports.

For RAID 1, there's the WD Studio Edition II in 1TB and 2TB flavors. They're very good, quiet, and energy efficient drives, are backed by WD's 5 year warranty (compared to LaCie's 2 year warranty), and offers all types of connectivity in case you get a new computer.

IMO, Time Machine backups don't really need to be run in a RAID array, since it's really just a backup, but if you feel that the incremental backups are important enough, then by all means go RAID 1. Typically I use/recommend RAID 1 only if you're running stuff and storing stuff exclusively on the drive. Then again, more copies never hurt!

[Jason]

The easiest solution to your dilemma would to get the Airport Extreme Base Station + an external drive with Airdisk Utility, or to get a Time Capsule. Both would be more expensive than something that requires a bit of setup, but it's the simplicity you pay for with Apple ;-) (Not bashing - we have three Macs in my family and I think they're worth it).

That being said, do you really require a network backup? Network backups are great if you have more than one computer that needs to be backed up, but if you're just planning on backing up your computer, a simple external drive would be faster/cheaper/simpler. Your off-site storage idea is a good one, but if that's the case you probably don't need to spend so much on a drive. A portable drive might be handier, such as one of the WD Passports.

For RAID 1, there's the WD Studio Edition II in 1TB and 2TB flavors. They're very good, quiet, and energy efficient drives, are backed by WD's 5 year warranty (compared to LaCie's 2 year warranty), and offers all types of connectivity in case you get a new computer.

IMO, Time Machine backups don't really need to be run in a RAID array, since it's really just a backup, but if you feel that the incremental backups are important enough, then by all means go RAID 1. Typically I use/recommend RAID 1 only if you're running stuff and storing stuff exclusively on the drive. Then again, more copies never hurt!

Thanks for the help. The biggest reason for the RAID 1 (as well as an offsite backup) is because of photos. Those are irreplaceable. In fact, we have a situation right now with a corrupted hd (windows xp) that became 'un-bootable.' It's my parents machine and I did a clean install on an older hd. Still need to pull the photos off the old drive.

Also, I can foresee a need to use the RAID device as a NAS just as you mention. Is this not a good idea or not possible to use it as network storage AND time machine backup?

Actually, I don't think this will all work the way I'm envisioning it. I have the only mac in the house (right now). Is there even a way for both pc and mac to share the same storage drive?:crazy::dizzy:

[blackzarg]

Thanks for the help. The biggest reason for the RAID 1 (as well as an offsite backup) is because of photos. Those are irreplaceable. In fact, we have a situation right now with a corrupted hd (windows xp) that became 'un-bootable.' It's my parents machine and I did a clean install on an older hd. Still need to pull the photos off the old drive.

Also, I can foresee a need to use the RAID device as a NAS just as you mention. Is this not a good idea or not possible to use it as network storage AND time machine backup?

Actually, I don't think this will all work the way I'm envisioning it. I have the only mac in the house (right now). Is there even a way for both pc and mac to share the same storage drive?:crazy::dizzy:

You can connect to the Time Capsule from a PC via Bonjour, but there have been issues that arise all over the place from compatibility and Time Machine backups not working anymore.

A solution for you could be an actual NAS running in RAID 1. There are a number of them available (usually just the enclosures - you provide the hard drives). D-Link makes a decent RAID 1 NAS enclosure that is available to both PCs and Macs.

Another option is to use get a new router with a USB port (like the Airport Extreme or Linksys WRT610N) that will enable you to use an external USB drive as a NAS. It's pretty easy to setup (on the Airport Extreme), but you'll lose official* wireless Time Machine backup on your Mac. You'll just have to drag and drop stuff to it.

*I say official because there are hacks, but there's the possibility that Apple could come out with patch and screw up the Time Machine backups.

[Jason]

Another option is to use get a new router with a USB port (like the Airport Extreme or Linksys WRT610N) that will enable you to use an external USB drive as a NAS. It's pretty easy to setup (on the Airport Extreme), but you'll lose official* wireless Time Machine backup on your Mac. You'll just have to drag and drop stuff to it.

*I say official because there are hacks, but there's the possibility that Apple could come out with patch and screw up the Time Machine backups.

Why wouldn't time machine work on an external drive hooked up to the airport extreme? I thought as long as it was connected via usb it would work?

[persisting1]

I've always been happy with G-DRIVE. Great quality and a lot of options to choose from.
They have a big fallowing from the Apple community.

(I still call it Mac too, but everytime I say I'm going to the Mac store at the mall, people always look at me funny. There's a MAC makeup store in the malls where I live :eyebrows:)

These are some of the best external RAIDS on the market. I'm more of a RAID 0 guy, but they're all fun.

http://www.g-technology.com/Products/g-drive-mini.cfm

[blackzarg]

Why wouldn't time machine work on an external drive hooked up to the airport extreme? I thought as long as it was connected via usb it would work?

Sorry, my mistake. This feature was taken out when Leopard was released but Apple updated it last year. Any USB hard drive connected to an Airport router will work. :thumbsup:

[SomeCiscoGuy]

I highly recommend using SuperDuper for Mac backups.

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

I use it on my MBPro and have multiple colleagues using it as well - in fact, I require that it be purchased for Mac Users in our office for backups.

[Jason]

I highly recommend using SuperDuper for Mac backups.

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

I use it on my MBPro and have multiple colleagues using it as well - in fact, I require that it be purchased for Mac Users in our office for backups.

I clicked on that link. It looks like it makes a bootable copy of your hd. But I thought that's what time machine did?

[dvenardos]

Dude, you are making something simple complicated.
You don't need raid for a backup, its a backup. So, basically you are worried that your hard drive and backup hard drive will go out at the same time (which could happen in a fire). If your pictures are what is irreplaceable then burn them to a dvd once a month and store it offsite. You idea of getting another usb drive and storing it offsite would be fine also. Don't hurt yourself. :fryingpan:
:good:

[blackzarg]

I clicked on that link. It looks like it makes a bootable copy of your hd. But I thought that's what time machine did?

Nope. Time Machine makes incremental backups of your files. For instance, let's say you have a Word document, but accidently deleted a month ago but need it now. You can "travel back in time" to retrieve it from a Time Machine backup.

While you can restore your files from a Time Machine backup if your computer dies, a bootable copy creates an exact clone and allows you to use the external hard drive as your main drive (holding down the alt key at startup).