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by Joe Kissell

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Although the 210-page ebook is organized so you can start backing up without reading every page, the full ebook will teach you to:

• Design a reliable backup system. If you’re developing a new backup system, you’ll learn how to make it not only thorough, ensuring that all your data is safe, but also easy to manage. And if you’re reassessing and redesigning an existing backup system, Joe provides detailed advice about how to evaluate it and offers guidance for improving and modernizing it.

• Talk like an expert. You'll understand terms like “versioned backups,” “push” and “pull” backups, “duplicates,” “server,” “client,” “incremental,” “hard link,” “metadata,” “mirroring,” and “snapshot.”

• Shop for hardware. You'll discover the pros and cons of different backup media options such as hard drives (with USB, FireWire, eSATA, or Thunderbolt interfaces—and with or without full-disk encryption), flash drives, optical media, tape drives, RAIDs, Drobo storage devices, Time Capsules, and NAS and SAN devices.

• Choose backup software. You'll learn about 14 key features and find overviews and tips for 8 noteworthy backup products (an online appendix covers nearly 100 options), plus several suggestions for online backups. You'll also get Joe's personal recommendations to help you sort through the possibilities.

• Operate your Time Machine. You’ll find what goes on beneath Time Machine’s simple surface, and how best to make use of Apple’s built-in backup system, including how Lion’s local backups work when your Time Machine volume isn’t available, and how to encrypt a Time Machine backup.

• Make backups. No matter what backup software you decide to use, Joe provides a conceptual walk-through of the entire process, offering basic information for people who've never made a backup before and savvy, real-world suggestions for making the backup process as easy as possible.

• Deal with special backup needs. You’ll learn what to do about certain kinds of data that may require special backup strategies, such as large media archives, frequently changing files that need special versioned backup treatment, and Windows files and volumes hosted on your Mac.

• Recover lost data. Use your backup to recover lost data successfully in the event of a hard disk crash or other calamity. After all, restoration is what's really important.

Book Info 210 pages Version 1.0 Published Sep 27, 2011 3.1 MB download ISBN: 9781615423941 Free sample with Table of Contents, Intro, Quick Start, and section starts. iPad & Kindle An EPUB is available to purchasers of this title; log in to your account to download it. More info... A Mobipocket file is available to purchasers of this title; log in to your account to download it. More info...

About the Author Joe Kissell has written numerous books about the Macintosh, including many popular Take Control ebooks. He's also Senior Editor of TidBITS and a Senior Contributor to Macworld, and previously spent ten years in the Mac software industry.

Book Reviews MyMac Contact us for review copies Reviews of Previous Editions thinkmac.net (4.5/5) Mac Guild (A) hp’s blog MyMac (10/10) Author Interviews MacVoicesTV (Oct-11) MacVoices (Oct-11) MacVoices MacVoices MyMac MacVoices Contact us for interview requests

Table of Contents Read Me First Introduction Mac Backups Quick Start Plan a Backup Strategy Reassess Your Backup Strategy Choose a Versioned Backup Program Pick a Hard Drive Prepare Your Hard Drive Configure and Use Time Machine Use Other Versioned Backup Software Create a Bootable Duplicate Store an Extra Backup Offsite What to Do When Disaster Strikes Consider Special Backup Needs Consider Other Hardware Options About This Book

Read Me First The data on every Mac should be backed up to protect you against theft, hardware failure, user error, and other catastrophes. This book helps you design a sensible backup strategy, choose and configure the best backup hardware and software for your needs, and understand how to make your backups as painless as possible. This book was written by Joe Kissell, edited by Tonya Engst with help from Michael E. Cohen, and published by TidBITS Publishing Inc.

Introduction

The first edition of Take Control of Mac OS X Backups hit the virtual shelves in December 2004. I had no inkling at the time that it would go through five editions, eventually becoming the best-selling Take Control book ever. All I knew was that backups were a big problem for Mac users. Even though most people realized the importance of backups, few people could say with certainty that their data was completely safe in the event of any conceivable disaster. That’s because in 2004, properly backing up a Mac was, for the average user, a complicated, daunting, and expensive prospect. I wrote my book to help people sort through all those complications and eliminate the pain associated with backups.

Over the years, things changed. Backup hardware, software, and services multiplied at a shocking rate, prices fell precipitously, and Apple made numerous changes to Mac OS X (as well as to Mac hardware itself) that would significantly alter the backup landscape—so I kept updating my book to cover the new stuff. By the time the second edition appeared in 2007, Take Control of Mac OS X Backups had nearly doubled in length, and had become so unwieldy for some readers that we decided to spin off a more concise, simplified version of the book—first titled Take Control of Easy Backups in Leopard, and later renamed to Take Control of Easy Mac Backups—as well as to move some of the book’s content into online appendixes. But the backup world kept right on changing, and both books kept growing.

As I began working on what would have been the sixth edition of Take Control of Mac OS X Backups, I felt perturbed that my books had become so much more complex, even though backups themselves had become much easier! Part of the reason for this mismatch was that I’d never bothered to purge a lot of information that was no longer relevant. (Do I really need to browbeat you into scheduling backups to run automatically, or spend seven pages convincing you that optical discs aren’t the best choice for backups?) Another reason was that I was still trying to cater to those using what I now regard as an inefficient, old-fashioned approach to backups—the method I settled on back in the days when Retrospect was still the best choice in backup software for most Mac users.

I also realized that the basic three-pronged approach I outlined in Easy Mac Backups is, in fact, what I recommend for just about everyone, and if I obscure that information in the process of covering backups comprehensively, I’m doing my readers a disservice.

So, clearly the time had come to rethink my approach, and in the book you’re now reading, here’s what I’ve done:

• Merged the contents of Easy Mac Backups and Mac OS X Backups back into a single title
• Thoroughly reorganized the structure so that all the basic information comes first, and the more advanced information (which won’t apply to everyone) comes later
• Ditched (or at least condensed) material that no longer needs so many words to cover adequately
• Changed the title to Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac, which I think is simpler and clearer

Historical note: Part of the reason for the original title was that we wanted to be sure readers understood the book was only about Mac OS X, and didn’t discuss backing up Mac OS 9!

• Updated the contents to cover Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, as well as the latest options in hardware, software, and online services

With those changes made, I’d like to think that what we now have is a modern approach to Mac backups that covers the bases but doesn’t overwhelm you with extraneous details. I explain how to develop a solid backup strategy, what your choices are, how to set everything up, what sorts of pitfalls you may encounter, and how to restore your data if disaster strikes. Rather than explore every alternative exhaustively, I guide you gently but firmly into a fairly narrow set of options that should yield excellent results for the vast majority of Mac users.

Before we get started, however, I need to mention a few qualifications:

• This book is primarily for people who need to back up either a single Mac or a small network—not for system administrators who need to back up dozens or hundreds of machines. As a result, I say little about the high-end equipment and enterprise-grade software used for backing up large networks, focusing instead on simpler products that you can purchase at a modest price.
• I do not cover command-line software such as cp or rsync. My goal is to make the process as simple as possible—ideally, without requiring you to open Terminal or know anything about Unix. So this book concerns itself solely with software that uses a graphical user interface (GUI).
• Although I provide basic instructions for performing backups with several popular programs, I can’t give you foolproof, step-by-step instructions for setting up every backup program you might use. But by the end of this book, you should have enough information to determine, with the help of your software’s documentation, the preferences and settings you need in order to achieve your desired outcome.

This book covers backing up Macs running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or later, including 10.7 Lion. Although much of this material applies generally to machines running older versions of Mac OS X, I don’t spell out any differences. In addition, although I don’t cover Windows extensively, do see Windows Files and Volumes, which discusses backing up Windows when it’s running on your Intel-based Mac.

Mac Backups Quick Start

You can read this book in any order, but I suggest starting with Plan a Backup Strategy in order to understand the rationale behind the hardware, software, and setup advice I give later. Here are the components of a solid Mac OS X backup plan.

Decide on a backup strategy:

• If you already have a backup system in place based on what you read in an earlier edition of this book (or one of its predecessors), begin by reading Reassess Your Backup Strategy to find out what’s new and which Factors to Reevaluate to determine whether any changes are in order. 
• Everyone else: Start at the beginning, with the Plan a Backup Strategy chapter. You’ll soon Understand Joe’s Basic Backup Strategy, which revolves around three key components: versioned backups (containing multiple copies of files as they existed at various points in time), a bootable duplicate (a complete, bootable copy of your hard disk), and offsite storage (in case something wipes out your Mac and the backup media sitting right next to it).

Assemble the components:

• Figure out whether Time Machine is a good option for your needs, and if not, select a different program to perform versioned backups. Read Choose a Versioned Backup Program for a feature overview, and then either pick an option noted in Explore Backup Software Features or consult the online appendixes for details and sources (http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/resources/0014/).
• Pick a Hard Drive or two to store your backups on (one of which may be inside a Time Capsule or similar device).
• Learn how to Prepare Your Hard Drive with the right number and type of partitions and volume formats for the types of backups you want to do.

Set up your backups:

• If you’ve chosen to use Time Machine for versioned backups, read Configure and Use Time Machine. Otherwise, see Use Other Versioned Backup Software to learn how to configure a versioned backup and verify that you can retrieve stored files.
• Make a bootable copy of your hard disk, schedule it for regular updates, and test it to make sure it works with the advice in Create a Bootable Duplicate.
• One way or another, Store an Extra Backup Offsite—either by physically moving backup media or by signing up for an online backup service.

Address problems and unusual situations:

• If your disk dies, your Mac is stolen, or an important file goes missing, don’t panic; read What to Do When Disaster Strikes.
• After months or years of backing up your Mac, you may run out of space on your backup disks. Discover What to Do When Your Disks Fill Up.
• Find out how to deal with backup needs that don’t fit neatly into the duplicate or versioned categories in Consider Special Backup Needs. As appropriate, read about Digital Photos, Dealing with Huge Volumes of Data, Version Control, Backing Up a Small Network, Backing Up While on the Road, and Windows Files and Volumes.
• If a standard, run-of-the-mill hard drive doesn’t quite meet your backup needs, Consider Other Hardware Options such as a RAID, a Drobo device, or a hardware-encrypted drive.

What's New in This Ebook

As I explain in the Introduction, this book is effectively the sixth edition of Take Control of Mac OS X Backups plus the second edition of Take Control of Easy Mac Backups, rolled into one! Although the title has changed and the information has been consolidated, this book relies heavily on the contents of its predecessors. So if you had either of those titles previously, here are the most significant changes I made that you should be aware of:

• Totally rethought the organization of the material; even when the text itself is the same as in one of the previous books, it’s likely in a different place
• Updated the information in What’s New in the World of Backups to reflect changes in Lion and many other recent developments
• Included Factors to Reevaluate to help readers of previous Take Control ebooks about making backups quickly reassess their strategy as they begin reading this ebook.
• Added Lion-specific information throughout the book, especially in Lion Is Out of Its Cage, Local Snapshots in Lion, Encrypt Your Time Machine Backup, and Auto Save and Versions in Lion
• Included information about Thunderbolt in several places, including Choose an Interface (or Several)
• Updated the information in Create a Duplicate with Carbon Copy Cloner to cover its new (and significantly changed) interface
• Removed most of the discussion of backing up to optical discs, because with each passing year it makes less sense, and I want to encourage readers who are still stuck on this outmoded technology to walk toward the light

Finding the Online Appendixes

Some content that was previously in appendixes has been moved to the Web at http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/resources/0014/:

• Joe’s Guide to Mac Backup Software: This former appendix is now hugely expanded, and it compares nearly 100 different backup applications. It was moved online to make it easier to update.
• Retrospect Primer: This appendix provides procedures for setting up duplicates and versioned backups in Retrospect Desktop 6.x, along with a brief look at the terminology, logic, and interface used in that version. (I discuss the newest version of the program, which thankfully doesn’t require so much handholding, in Retrospect.)

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Update Plans

April 18, 2013 -- Back in July of 2012, I wrote in this space, "we've begun talking about creating a new edition of this ebook, possibly to be released in late 2012 or early 2013." Now that 2013 is underway, Joe and I are getting serious about creating this update. The update will be a new edition, and we expect to release it in June or July of 2013. Anyone buying this ebook now will get a free update to the new edition.

—Tonya Engst 

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Backing Up Your Mac: Mountain Lion Update

July 25, 2012 -- 

The vast majority of material in Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac is still valid in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. However, please be aware of the following:

• “Lion” terminology: Pretty much everywhere the book refers to “Lion,” take it to mean “Lion or Mountain Lion.” For example, I talk about the Lion Recovery mode, but Recovery mode works the same way in Mountain Lion.
• Lion & Mountain Lion user library: The ~/Library folder, which I refer to frequently in the book, is hidden by default in Lion and Mountain Lion. To view it in the Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder, enter ~/Library, and click Go. Or, to unhide it permanently, open Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities) and enter chflags nohidden ~/Library (you can reverse the command by using hidden instead of nohidden).
• Encrypted Time Capsule backups: On p. 102, I discuss encrypting Time Machine backups, but say, "Unfortunately, you can’t encrypt Time Machine backups on a Time Capsule or a network server." That has changed in Mountain Lion—now you can, in exactly the same way as encrypting backups on local disks.
• Multiple Time Machine destinations: I complain on pages 106–107 that Time Machine lets you select only one destination disk, and offer a cumbersome technique to switch between two destinations manually. In Mountain Lion, you can finally choose two destination disks, and Time Machine automatically alternates between them. Yay! To do this, set up the first disk as usual, and perform your first backup. Then return to the Time Machine pane of System Preferences, click Select Disk, select another disk, and click Use Disk. You'll be asked whether you want to replace the previous backup disk or use both; click Use Both.
• Carbon Copy Cloner: I mention Carbon Copy Cloner several times, and discuss it in some detail on pages 135–137. With the recent release of Carbon Copy Cloner version 3.5, which supports Mountain Lion, the product has moved from donationware to a paid ($39.95) product. However, it’s on sale for 25% off through August 12, 2012. Also, the user interface has changed a bit from what I describe in the book—it's now easier to use. Thus, Step 3 should now read: "From the Handling of Data Already on the Destination pop-up menu, choose Delete Anything That Doesn't Exist on the Source." And, you can now skip Step 4 and Step 5!

Additional changes that have come about since this ebook was published are these:

• USB 3.0: I discuss USB 3.0 on pages 30–31 and 59–61. Much to my surprise, Apple released MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models with USB 3.0 in June 2012. If you have such a Mac, this makes USB 3.0 storage devices an attractive option. They’re still not as speedy as Thunderbolt devices, but they tend to be much less expensive.
• On pages 98 and 121, I mention James Pond's great Web site of Time Machine tips and troubleshooting information. That site is now at pondini.org
• Winclone returns: On p. 181 I mention Winclone, which at the time the book was written had been discontinued. Now it's back ($19.99 from twocanoes software ), and it's once again my preferred way to clone a Boot Camp volume.

In addition to these issues, I've accumulated a fairly long list other things in the book that could use updating—the world of backup hardware, software, and services continues to evolve. I can feel a new edition coming on, but as my to-do list is long I'm not sure how soon that will happen. I'll shoot for some time in Q4 2012 or Q1 2013.

—Joe Kissell 

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Joe Discusses the Latest Version of his Backup Book

October 3, 2011 -- 

You've read the book (we hope), now hear (and see) the author, Joe Kissell, direct from Paris, as he explains to Chuck Joiner of MacVoices and MacVoicesTV what's new and what's important about “Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac,” the latest version of Joe’s popular and insanely useful book.

—Michael E. Cohen 

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