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Author Topic: Bootable Backup AND Working Backup...Overkill?  (Read 1866 times)

KylePetrozza

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Bootable Backup AND Working Backup...Overkill?
« on: February 20, 2013, 02:25:17 pm »

Working with Mac and Chronosync but relevant to PC as well.

Needing to flesh this out as the flow charts have gotten a bit tangled in my head.

In regards to a solid, complete system (desktop & laptop) backup that looks something like this: http://www.dpbestflow.org/node/307#laptop , I'm trying to figure out where a bootable backup comes into play. After dealing with a bad logic board RAM connection for months that caused the MacBookPro to freeze and occasionally lose data, I got tired of booting from the start disk and then copying back all my backup files.

I'm now savvy to the bootable backup. Speaking strictly of the laptop backup scheme, where does the bootable fit in without becoming unnecessarily redundant?

While you can boot your machine from the backup, you can also extract whatever files you need from the bootable backup should you crash. Does the bootable backup then negate the need for a "working system" backup on the same, partitioned drive?

Notes: No image archive is kept on the laptop. All backups are scheduled to run consecutively on the same schedule.

In flow form:

MBP[500GB] --> Gtech [partition A | Bootable Backup | 200GB]
MBP[500GB] --> Gtech [partition B | Working/user files backup | 300GB]
MBP[500GB] --> Caviar[Shared with desktop, doesn't leave home | Working backup | 2TB]

Many thanks as always.
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digitaldog

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Re: Bootable Backup AND Working Backup...Overkill?
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2013, 03:37:10 pm »

A bootable back up can be a life saver at times. I have my Mac backup bootable (using SuperDuper) every night automatically along with Time Machine which serves a different backup purpose. I know there have been times where I wanted to boot from that backup the next morning due to problems with the boot drive. It's also useful if you need to do some service of the boot drive using utilities where that drive can't be the boot (Disk Warrior is one example).

I'm a belt and suspenders kind of back up guy. The main drive gets backed up every night as I mentioned, there's Time Machine which I find most useful for getting legacy data (find the file I was working on 3 months ago that I deleted because I was sure I didn't need it but do). I also back up SOME data to CrashPlan. I want off site backup. But why send all the data necessary to boot or reclone that data to the cloud? So for CrashPlan I only send my User folder. Silly to backup applications there, and if I need a backup, I've got the boot clone.

If you have a tower, and your house catches fire and you need get out quick, that boot drive cloned backup could be useful <g>. But seriously, I've found that having access to a full clone (bootable) of my main HD has saved my bacon a number of times over the years.
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KylePetrozza

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Re: Bootable Backup AND Working Backup...Overkill?
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2013, 03:54:57 pm »

I completely agree about the necessity of the bootable.
Considering any archive / photos are kept on other drives, perhaps the 2 partitions should be bootable and time machine...

I've always stayed clear of Time Machine, preferring to keep control of things via Chronosync but perhaps it might be the way to go.

Thoughts?
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K.C.

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Re: Bootable Backup AND Working Backup...Overkill?
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2013, 03:16:28 am »

I completely agree about the necessity of the bootable.
Considering any archive / photos are kept on other drives, perhaps the 2 partitions should be bootable and time machine...

I've always stayed clear of Time Machine, preferring to keep control of things via Chronosync but perhaps it might be the way to go.

Thoughts?

Partitions ? Who partitions anymore when drives cost as little as they do ?

I make a bootable clone of every working Mac in my studio to a G Drive with SuperDuper daily. FWIW, G Drive has been sold, along with the rest of Hitachi so I'm not sure what the future of that product line is.

Chronosync is fine. I still have it installed, started using it many years ago. But Time Machine is easy, dependable and you don't have the tedious interface of Chronosync that you have to configure. It never was an intuitive app to use.

I can't think of any good reason you'd need to 'stay clear' of time machine.

On the PC side I use Acronis.

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Graham Clark

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Re: Bootable Backup AND Working Backup...Overkill?
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2013, 02:38:00 am »

I would recommend configuring the two-drive external enclosure as a RAID-1 and working off of that. Done!

Graham
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