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nsxpower · Jun 14, 2004, 03:02 AM

I've been using Synk 4.2 for some time now and it has been great. Unfortunately, I managed to delete it and Synk 5 keeps messing things up ... still beta and 4.2 is only available to registered Synk 5 users etc. etc. I tried SilverKeeper 1.1 that I used back in the days and it keeps failing on me with various errors so it's out of the question as well. I've downloaded and tried a few other backup programs of versiontracker, but didn't like any of them.

What is the best backup program available for Mac? I backup to an external FW HD daily, so something quick and nible is absolutely required. Thanks.

workerbee · Jun 14, 2004, 05:37 AM

Originally posted by nsxpower:
IWhat is the best backup program available for Mac? I backup to an external FW HD daily, so something quick and nible is absolutely required. Thanks.

I backup to CD or DVD, so I currently use Impression, which is OK, but quite simple.
To backup to disk, I'd probably look at ChronoSync or psync (free).

nsxpower · Jun 14, 2004, 05:40 AM

Thanks. ChronoSync looks good for daily backups to FW HD and I already have a solution for monthly DVD backups.

I may also take a look at TriBankup that someone else recommended and Dantz.

Synk was great, but not free now and for same money I'd rather have a more robust tool (Synk 5 totally screws up on my PBook).

Randman · Jun 14, 2004, 05:57 AM

I use BackUp and have never had a problem with it.
I've not used it but Toast 6 comes with DejaVu.

nsxpower · Jun 14, 2004, 10:05 AM

If anyone has Synk 4.2 dmg, kindly e-mail it to me.

Thank you.

JudieKaren · Jun 14, 2004, 10:30 AM

Originally posted by nsxpower:
I've been using Synk 4.2 for some time now and it has been great. Unfortunately, I managed to delete it and Synk 5 keeps messing things up ... still beta and 4.2 is only available to registered Synk 5 users etc. etc. I tried SilverKeeper 1.1 that I used back in the days and it keeps failing on me with various errors so it's out of the question as well. I've downloaded and tried a few other backup programs of versiontracker, but didn't like any of them.

What is the best backup program available for Mac? I backup to an external FW HD daily, so something quick and nible is absolutely required. Thanks.

I like D�jaVu http://propagandaprod.com/ I, too, backup daily to a external FW HD. D�jaVu allows you to automatically schedule your backups or do them manually. It will also create a bootable backup. Very EASY to use.

turtle777 · Jun 14, 2004, 10:33 AM

Originally posted by Randman:
I use BackUp and have never had a problem with it.
I've not used it but Toast 6 comes with DejaVu.

DejaVu sucks. It crashed when I was trying to set it up.
Worthless.

I'm using Dantz.
It's good, but recovering a particular file is very cumbersome.
Well, that's the back side of a compressed backup, I guess...

-t

nsxpower · Jun 14, 2004, 10:52 AM

I have DejaVu (it came with Toast), but for some reason I never tried it or used it. I don't schedule (PowerBook) and instead run everything manually ... so all the scheduling features are a waste for me.

AlphaQuam · Jun 14, 2004, 02:31 PM

I tried Deja Vu > external firewire drive. It never worked properly for me. I use Retrospect Express now and it's worked fine, except it's a bitch to get individual files. I'm worried more about total drive failure as opposed to individual file loss, though.

turtle777 · Jun 14, 2004, 02:42 PM

Originally posted by AlphaQuam:
I tried Deja Vu > external firewire drive. It never worked properly for me. I use Retrospect Express now and it's worked fine, except it's a bitch to get individual files. I'm worried more about total drive failure as opposed to individual file loss, though.

Hey, you copied my post.
That's EXTACTLY my experience(tm).

-t

nsxpower · Jun 14, 2004, 05:43 PM

Ok,

Tried DejaVu, it worked ... but I don't like it.

psyncX - Worked, but failed to do incremental backup ... every time it copied every single file.

ChronoSync - Worked, but I have not reached the point where I like it.

SK - Finally got it to work, but it too basic and lack exclude rules etc.

Retrospect - Has problems doing incremental backup to external FW HDs and a pain to retrieve just one file ... pass.

turtle777 · Jun 14, 2004, 10:11 PM

Originally posted by nsxpower:
Has problems doing incremental backup to external FW HDs ...

Interesting. I haven't had any problems with that.
I've been doing incremental backups on my external FW HD for over 2 months now.

Originally posted by nsxpower:
... a pain to retrieve just one file ... pass.

Ack, I definitely share that opinion. It suxx....

-t

bergy · Jun 14, 2004, 10:15 PM

I love iMSafe

iMsafe
http://homepage.mac.com/sweetcocoa/imsafe/

iMsafe backs up data stored on any mounted OS X volume (such as your HD) to any mounted OS X volume. You can run backups from within iMsafe or schedule your backup to occur every day, on weekdays or on a specific day of the week. And you can create as many backup tasks as you like, so the possibilities are unlimited. The coolest feature in iMsafe is its incremental backup option: you can choose to only backup files that have changed since the last backup, dramatically reducing backup time. iMsafe will compare both versions and will transfer only the updated part.

nsxpower · Jun 15, 2004, 02:54 AM

I'll check IMsafe out. I am primarily inrerested in quick'n'easy inremental backups ... only files that changed on that day. I'm using SK now, just wish there was a way to exclude browser caches ... otherwise it's quick.

Some of what I said about Retrospect, I picked up from some back discussions of people having issues doing incremental backups to external FW drives.

joelcpa · Jun 15, 2004, 05:15 AM

Originally posted by bergy:
I love iMSafe

..same here, iMsafe is a great backup program.

Randman · Jun 15, 2004, 05:28 AM

How does it compare with BackUp?

TribeLeader · Jun 15, 2004, 07:57 PM

I switched to Mac several months ago. I've only used DejaVu. I back up my hard drive once a month to CD. Seems to work well for me.

Toyin · Jun 15, 2004, 11:23 PM

I've been using Synchronize Plus with no problems. Does incremental backups and synchronization as well. What I like is that I can select certain files to ignore.

Thorin · Jun 16, 2004, 12:01 AM

You could probably use RsyncX, although setting it up might be a bit more involved than what you're after. It does do incremental backups though.

petergallagher · Jun 16, 2004, 02:09 AM

Synk gets my vote.

I voluntarily paid for v4.2 of Synk because it was one of ONLY TWO programs I could find (for under $200) that reliably and simply ran archived backups to my external firewire disk. That is, it backed up my user directories and archived any changes on a daily (or more frequent) basis.

The other program was Backup Simplicity. But that's just a bit too simple, and it has a weird sort of 'spyware' license that checks the currency of your (annual) license with the QDEA server every time you use the program. No thanks!

Synk has been taken over by Ben Rister who is doing a bang-up job of the upgrade to 5.0 (he's re-written the code). It now offers built-in scheduling (via a daemon) as well as a range of options for before- and after- backup actions.

Ben is highly responsive to bug reports (I know, because I can tell from Australia that Ben works through the night to iron out problems) and UP-FRONT about his customer satisfaction guarantee.

It's one of the biggest consumer benefits of the current software industry that small companies like Ben's put high quality, quickly maturing, dirt-cheap ($20 - $40) software into the market place with amazing quality assurances. Take a look at Ben's website (http://www.decimus.net/synk/beta.html), try out Synk 5.0 and be grateful that we don't have to rely on big, un-communicative corporations like -- say -- Apple to provide essential tools (only in conjunction with .mac).

babelcompany · Jun 22, 2004, 09:43 AM

Originally posted by workerbee:
I backup to CD or DVD, so I currently use Impression, which is OK, but quite simple.

Hello, it's the developer of Impression here.

Just curious, why do you choose to describe Impression as 'quite simple'? Are you referring to its ease of use? Or is it that there's a feature you'd like to see added or a backup task that you cannot currently perform using Impression?

If the answer to either of the two latter questions is 'yes', please consider using Impression's feedback form and submit a feature request or desire. I read everything that comes in through that channel, and if ideas presented are feasible and fit within Impression's scope - I'll add them during an appropriate forthcoming development cycle.

Thanks,

Steve Elliott
Babel Company

BZ · Jun 22, 2004, 11:41 AM

Been using DejaVu and really like it. It works, goes to many different mediums and you don't have to think about it.

I also use .Mac backup for other types of things and offsite daily backup of important docs.

BZ

Macola · Jun 22, 2004, 11:53 AM

Another vote for Deja Vu--I've been using it for over 2 years now to backup multiple sets to a FWHD. The previous version had some minor bugs, but the latest relase has worked without any problems.

itai195 · Jun 22, 2004, 01:17 PM

I used to use Retrospect until I actually had to recover one time and realized I hadn't made a backup of the app or my license key

I know, stupid, but keep that in mind for those of you who use Retrospect. Personally I haven't had any issues with Apple's Backup app, it's simple and works fine for me. I back up to a firewire drive once a week and back up critical files to a couple of DVDs every month or so.

ratlater · Jun 22, 2004, 01:27 PM

Does anyone know of an app with will do incremental bootable backups to a disc image? What I want is to back up a few different hard drives connected to my Mac to separate disc images on an external FW hard drive. Any help is greatly appreciated.

-matt

workerbee · Jun 22, 2004, 03:00 PM

Originally posted by babelcompany:
Hello, it's the developer of Impression here.

Just curious, why do you choose to describe Impression as 'quite simple'? Are you referring to its ease of use? Or is it that there's a feature you'd like to see added or a backup task that you cannot currently perform using Impression?

Steve,
it's both, actually. Impression is really very simple to use, which a) I really appreciate and b) is the reason I registered it. I especially like the fact that Impression writes backups to CD-R and DVD directly, and with very little fuss.
The other thing I had in mind when I wrote "simple" is the bookmarking system, which I find usable, but not much more than that. Finding a bookmark to base a backup sometimes takes longer that it should as there is no listing by date (or I have not found it).
Sorry is this was easily misunderstandable.

Hilzoy · Jun 22, 2004, 11:12 PM

A year and a half ago, having tried Retrospect and found it too complicated, I actually tested the other backup programs that were available at that time. (Does not include Impression, psync, and no doubt others.) TriBackup was the one I ended up buying, and it has worked like a charm ever since. And a good thing too: last month a thunderstorm fried my Desktop. (And yes, I had a surge protector.)

I also use CCCloner sometimes, to copy the entire disk. (I've never tried that with TriBackup; just my user folder.)