ISO of a backup solution for my Mac

[theriviera]

Can someone recommend a good backup solution for me? I use a MacBook Air and I have run out of room. I need something that I can back up to AND access the files easily. I was using a wireless backup through Western Digital but it's a PITA and I can't access the files easily. Thanks!

[tg_canada]

Time Machine is built into OS X.

[BayGirl2]

Time Machine is probably the best backup solution I've ever found. What you need is a larger external hard drive. Make sure its like twice the size of your Mac's HD, or at least equal in size. You can back up to it either wirelessly or wired.

I really don't think there's any easier way to access backed up files than time machine. You just look at a folder, choose the file, and choose how far back you want to go. Its a miracle program IMO so using anything else to back up a Mac is a waste.

[larig]

Time Machine is built into OS X.

:yeahthat:

Although it sounds like you want a backup AND a place to off-load some stuff that you don't want permanently on your laptop drive taking up space. I'd get a decent sized drive (1 to 2 TB), partition it using disk utility into two partitions, use one for time machine backups of stuff on your drive, and one as extra disk space. Time machine is super easy to use and set up.

Time machine is an incremental backup system. It makes one big copy of all of your stuff at first (TAKES A LONG TIME for the first one!!), and then every hour captures the changes you make to the files on the drive. So, if in an hour you've created a new document, and uploaded pictures to iPhoto it will capture those changes. You can go "back in time" to get files from earlier back ups, in case you over-write something important. It is not a system to keep files that you don't need on your drive.

Does that make sense, given what your needs are?

If you don't want something that you need to be tied to via a USB cable, you can set up time machine using one of Apple's airport extremes. (that is how mine is set up. Whenever my laptop has power plugged in, it looks for my back up drive and does a time machine backup.) I have a macbook pro, so my drive is a lot bigger than an air's so I haven't had to off-load stuff like you probably need to do, but I have a partition on my time machine drive for stuff that I don't want littering my pro's HD. BTW, you just need a basic USB HD for this--a USB 3 would be fastest, but I just have a USB 2, and it's fine.

[Avispa]

Another vote for time machine

[Claki]

Do you have to partition to use both Time Machine and a back up of files you want to keep off your computer to save room?

[tg_canada]

Do you have to partition to use both Time Machine and a back up of files you want to keep off your computer to save room?

You don't have to, but if you want to be able to back up those files, you would partition. Although Apple doesn't recommend using the same disk for storage and backups.

http://pondini.org/TM/3.html

[ahisma]

I use CrashPlan with my MacBook Pro. I needed something offsite that I didn't need to think about - ever. I like that my DH and DD can use my subscription too.

I don't get the advantages of Time Machine, but I do have an up to date backup at all times, even when I'm on the road and haven't been home to backup.

[larig]

I use CrashPlan with my MacBook Pro. I needed something offsite that I didn't need to think about - ever. I like that my DH and DD can use my subscription too.

I don't get the advantages of Time Machine, but I do have an up to date backup at all times, even when I'm on the road and haven't been home to backup.

The advantage of time machine backups are that they're local, so if you have a LOT of data to be backed up it won't eat up time or bandwidth to do so. For me an off-site back up won't work for my media, because I have over a TB and a half. With our internet speeds it would take so long. If you have a small amount of stuff to back up, it's a more workable solution. I actually do use dropbox for some of my word or other files.

It also does incremental backups, so if you accidentally edit a word file that you shouldn't have, you can go back to the previous state of that word file from the hour before.

[Globetrotter]

I wanted an off-site backup. In case of a burglary or earthquake or whatnot, I would be out of luck if I relied on an external hard drive. your needs may be different, though.

I like carbonite. You set it up once (make sure you check videos because they are not included automatically) and then it does the rest automatically - so easy. I have used it twice to recover information after hard drive crashes and it worked out okay.