Mac Backups

5 ways to backup and secure your data (for Mac users)

Being a Mac user myself I’m constantly on the look out from easy, simple, and automated ways to backup my documents, Photoshop creations etc. I have the average expectations of a Mac user (very high expectations!) so you can be assured everything in this list is top notch.

  1. Time Machine & Time Capsule
    If you’re a fan of Apple then you’ll no-doubt know what these two things are, but they’re that awesome I had to mention them. Time Machine is an data recovery tool introduced in Mac OSX Leopard that saves multiple copies of every file on your computer to an external hard drive in the background. You can then simply scroll through old copies of files and pick out the one you want to restore. I consider it similar to Microsofts System Restore, except it works on a file basis, and it actually works well.
    Time Capsule is still relatively new hardware from Apple that works with Time Machine to provide wireless backing up of data. It’s just for the people who hate cables and don’t want to plug in their external hard drive to backup their stuff. Very cool concept, and great execution.

  2. MozyHome
    Whilst still a fairly new Mozy user it’s already one of my favorite applications on my Mac simply because it works so well. I’m just using the free version to backup my most important files, and it was simply a matter of saying “keep this folder safe” and Mozy does the rest, automatically backing up those folders. Automated, simple, and remote backup? Check!

  3. Jungle Disk
    This is quite similar to MozyHome, except less automated, although you have the peace of mind that your data is stored on Amazon’s S3 Storage servers, which would make most people feel secure. Jungle Disk has the advantage of being able to back things up as if you’re just moving files to a new drive. Backing up becomes a habbit instead of a process, and storage is insanely cheap with Amazon S3. An added benefit is once you buy the software ($20) you can use it on any PC you like (Mac, Windows, and Linux).

  4. SuperDuper
    An awesome application for those people wanting to backup their entire Mac, as in the entire operating system, installed applications, preferences etc. There is a free version of the software that allows you to make bootable disk images of your Mac, but the paid version has added functionality of being able to schedule backups and also perform incremental backups.

  5. Carbon Copy Cloner
    Once again a tool to make bootable disk images of your Mac, but this time it’s free! People have had issues with CCC in the past, and as it is free support could be dropped at any time, but it’s still worth checking out. This software is seen as the king of free disk imaging software on the Mac.

Having this awesome collection of tools as my disposal makes me proud to be a Mac user - Mac’s aren’t all about Photoshop…they can do useful things to!

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