[Macworld]

Post your comments for Backup basics: The quick, something-is-better-than-nothing backup system here

[StefanoC]

Just last weekend my backups saved my guts.

I had a weekend off and wanted to make my MBP more responsive: defragmentation! Sadly, TechTool first hanged, than refused to continue, finally made my disk unreadable.

Long story short, I was able to fully recover my data using a TimeMachine backup and, while doing so, I was feeling comfortable because I knew that even if something went wrong I had my most important data backed up via CrashPlan.

I firmly encourage everyone to make backups: the money you spend by doing so will be fully paid back the first time something bad happens!

[robtain]

CrashPlan and like services are wonderful in theory, but my attempts to use them here in Canada have been less than successful due to ISP bandwidth caps and the inability to send an initial hard backup.

[spanky]

For those who want to quibble about money, think about it this way: each picture is a memory, so if you lose the hard drive, you've lost all those memories. Can you put a price on your memories?

[NeilKo]

I like and use DropBox. One thing my biz partner and I just discovered, however, is that it changes the file dates to current date. This is not good for business legal purposes. They should change that to retain the "created date" as it was.

[d00d]

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CrashPlan and like services are wonderful in theory, but my attempts to use them here in Canada have been less than successful due to ISP bandwidth caps and the inability to send an initial hard backup.

There is no such inability. Crashplan offers a seed service for an initial hard backup. (I'm assuming this same option is available in Canada.)
http://support.crash...re/seed_service

[JoeKissell]

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Crashplan offers a seed service for an initial hard backup. (I'm assuming this same option is available in Canada.) http://support.crash...re/seed_service

Unfortunately, it's not. On the page you referenced above, it says the service is available for "50 US States, all overseas US Armed Forces POs and Australia" only. Why they support Australia but not Canada, I can't guess, but I do hope they add support for more countries soon.

Joe

[webraider]

There's something I'm not clear on. Apple's system is a little different like if you store a document it's on iCloud and ONLY iCloud meaning that if you're internet is out temporarily you don't have access to any of your items. is the same true with the contacts, address book and mail? If it kept it in both places it sounds like a deal but i hear it moves your contacts etc to the cloud and you don't have it locally. Does anyone know about this?

[ceansor]

I had a hard drive failures on both my iMac and MacBook Pro. Time Machine with an external hard drive saved my bacon both times. Was able to completely restore both computers after the hard drive replacements. This is so cheap, so easy, and so necessary it is difficult to fathom why it would ever be neglected. Just do it.

[carloscordero]

I agree with ceansor, TM has saved my life several times.

[carloscordero]

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CrashPlan and like services are wonderful in theory, but my attempts to use them here in Canada have been less than successful due to ISP bandwidth caps and the inability to send an initial hard backup.

@robtain Regarding CrashPlan, I can confirm that there is backup seeding for Australia and New Zealand but not Canada. Having said that, get in touch with them as I am sure they will at least try to figure out a workaround for you.

I am not yet a customer of theirs yet had a fantastic service when I sent them a few queries via CraskPlanSupport. Outstanding service, detailed information, and good responses to my quite technical questions. You want the guys who are looking after your data to be on the ball regarding the technical aspects. Send them a message @robtain, you've got nothing to lose.

[Bartleby45]

Quote

Just last weekend my backups saved my guts. I had a weekend off and wanted to make my MBP more responsive: defragmentation! Sadly, TechTool first hanged, than refused to continue, finally made my disk unreadable. Long story short, I was able to fully recover my data using a TimeMachine backup and, while doing so, I was feeling comfortable because I knew that even if something went wrong I had my most important data backed up via CrashPlan. I firmly encourage everyone to make backups: the money you spend by doing so will be fully paid back the first time something bad happens!

[Bartleby45]

So bizarre for Tech Tools. Did you notify Micromat and, if so, did they provide any explanation? I use TechTools and Disk Warrior all the time and would like to avoid what happened to you. (Glad you saved your files/)

[David]

Do Dropbox & Time Machine!

I had a file issue on my hard drive that wouldn't go away despite several restores, turned out the TM backup was affected too. My practice of keeping all my working documents in Dropbox folder saved the day there.