What backup solution should I use?

[vraiment]

Hi

I have a triple boot hackintosh (Mountain Lion, W7, linux) and I'm wondering how should I do my backups?

The problem is that I don't have a "main system", I use Mountain Lion for a lot of things as well as I use W7 for a lot of things (I never store data in the linux hard disk as is just to test the newer linux distributions).

I have most of my data in the OS X partition, but I'm not sure if the correct thing would be make a Time Machine backup (or something similar) because Windows computers are more common and if I ever have a problem, I wouldn't been able to access my files from a Windows machine.

Thanks!

 

[Adrian B]

I cannot give you all the answers that you are looking for, simply because I only use OS X. I have a working clone of my main boot drive on a separate drive. I also have a Time machine backup that updates every hour.

That way I can only lose an hours data tops and if my boot drive fails, then I have a second working drive instantly available and Time Machine backups if required. I move photos across my network to have available on another computer as well.

http://www.tonymacx86.com/173-backup-solutions-your-mac-customac.html


Adrian B

 

[vraiment]

I don't care that much about the systems, so no need to back them up. What is important to me is the data.

I've been thinking that maybe I could use a NTFS partition but the latest version of NTFS-3G that I can find is very obsolete, anyone has a more modern version working?

 

[wpetraska]

Hi

I have a triple boot hackintosh (Mountain Lion, W7, linux) and I'm wondering how should I do my backups?

The problem is that I don't have a "main system", I use Mountain Lion for a lot of things as well as I use W7 for a lot of things (I never store data in the linux hard disk as is just to test the newer linux distributions).

I have most of my data in the OS X partition, but I'm not sure if the correct thing would be make a Time Machine backup (or something similar) because Windows computers are more common and if I ever have a problem, I wouldn't been able to access my files from a Windows machine.

Thanks!

I used Carbon Copy Cloner for my Hackintosh since I've seen that tossed around quite a bit.

 

[neilhart]

Hi

I have a triple boot hackintosh (Mountain Lion, W7, linux) and I'm wondering how should I do my backups?

The problem is that I don't have a "main system", I use Mountain Lion for a lot of things as well as I use W7 for a lot of things (I never store data in the linux hard disk as is just to test the newer linux distributions).

I have most of my data in the OS X partition, but I'm not sure if the correct thing would be make a Time Machine backup (or something similar) because Windows computers are more common and if I ever have a problem, I wouldn't been able to access my files from a Windows machine.

Thanks!

Well one size does not fit all. In my world I use OS X as the base system and run VMWare Fusion 5 with Windows and LINUX virtual machines. With an i7 CPU and plenty of memory this solution lets you have access to all three OSs concurrently. And everything being on OS X your clone back up and TimeMachine has it all covered.

Good moding,
neil

 

[tallmomof2]

A very simple solution is to use Crashplan. If you use the free version, you can back up the folders that you choose to a friend's computer. Their paid subscription plans allow you to back up to the cloud.

That said, here's my home solution. My onsite backup is to a dedicated server running Windows Home Server 2011. I backup every computer in the house. That includes 1 Win8 media server (programs and non video files), 5 Win7 Pcs, and 2 OS X laptops. The backup server uses file duplication and in 7 or 8 years I've been able to easily recover from several bad hard drive failures. Generally, all it takes is to replace the hard drive, boot to the restoration disc (or thumb drive) and the computer is back up and running in an hour from the last backup.

My offsite backup is Crashplan+. For ~$12 monthly I backup all the data on all of these machines to the cloud. The downside is that initial backups take a loooong time and restoration even longer. However, I have backup for critical files and it's easier and less time consuming than weekly DVD burning sessions and driving to the safe deposit box at the bank.

It may seem excessive but because I lost huge financial files in 2001 when a computer was destroyed in a fire I've learned to be very diligent about backups especially the offsite backups. It took months to recreate the financial files and I remember that every time I need to invest some money into backups.

I'm the OCD Backup Queen.

 

[alans17]

If you don't care about the systems and are just worried about the data, why don't you move the data to a separate drive? Or am I missing something?

 

[vraiment]

If you don't care about the systems and are just worried about the data, why don't you move the data to a separate drive? Or am I missing something?

Because I wanted something kind of automatic to prevent any kind of failure from my side.

Thanks for your answers, at the end I used TimeMachine because is the simpler solution.

I dropped the Linux installation and made that (internal) disk a Time Machine backup. I also have a Time Machine backup in an external disk, so that makes two separate pieces of hardware with my data