backup hard drive connection

[jtwrace]

I have a Mac mini connected via firewire to a iomega 1TB minimax. I want to connect another drive so I will have a complete bootable copy available. My question is, should the second drive connect via firewire to the first drive or USB? This will only be used as a backup.

 

Could I just daisy chain it to the first drive via firewire 400?

 

I think I will use SuperDuper! as my backup software. I keep reading great things about it.

 

[shenzi]

Is the best way to go. Daisychain the two together and they'll both appear on your Mac's desktop.

 

SuperDuper is an excellent bit of software, dead easy to use and it holds your hand throughout. I use it to back up my work computer on a daily schedule. I haven't tried this but I've just checked and it looks like you can set up additional schedules, specifying source (in this case your main music HD) and target (your backup). You can download a free copy to try it out, then buy the full version for schedules and the smart backup facility, where it only backs up changes (not the whole hard disk).

 

I've only got experience of Mac software but it seems with the move to Intel and the Unix base, there are a lot of small, easy to use software programs which do one job alone and beat the bigger, behemoth programs. (I hated Retrospect backup which was so horrible to use I stopped backing up, how useful is that?)

 

Perhaps we need a thread or a Chris-compiled list of these little progs which relate to computer audio?

 

[DavidJPettifor]

jtwrace wrote:

I think I will use SuperDuper! as my backup software. I keep reading great things about it.

 

Before you do, take a look at Retrospect.

 

http://www.retrospect.com/products/software/retrospect8/publicbeta

 

I use it and can heartily recommend it. For a thorough backup/recovery solution, refer to the following link;

 

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/backuprecovery.html

 

--

djp

 

[jtwrace]

David

 

It looks great but the cost is much greater then SuperDuper!

 

[DavidJPettifor]

jtwrace wrote:

It looks great but the cost is much greater then SuperDuper!

 

Ah, sure. I actually use Retrospect Express, which is free. It's normally supplied with certain storage devices. It does everything an individual user would ever need. Shame you can't PM me as I'd help you get it setup. SuperDuper! does indeed seem to be very popular mind.

 

http://bit.ly/Ph4U8

 

--

djp

 

[shenzi]

Hrmpf. I was using the full version which drove me round the wall. When it had finished backing up, you had an impenetrable Retrospect archive. I prefer the backup to be transparent, i.e. the files on the backup to look the same as the original. That way if I muck up a file, I can just go and get it and not perform backflips through techno-hoops.

 

I think Superduper have the home user firmly in mind as it's so easy to use. LaCie do one called Silverkeeper (free from www.silverkeeper.com) but I've found it a little flaky and it doesn't seem to get updated much as OS X progresses. Not a good sign.

 

BTW, Retrospect Express came with my Iomega drive. Check you don't have it on the install CD.

 

[DavidJPettifor]

Shenzi, check out the link I posted earlier. Here it is again, http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/backuprecovery.html. This backup solution gives you multiple options, including a complete mirror of your startup disk allowing for a completely boot-able partition, if ever you need it. I also have a separate partition to make a fully transparent backup of my important documents (which includes all my music! ). All done with Retrospect Express. YMMV etc., etc.

 

--

djp

 

[shenzi]

Interesting link. Apparently I do have Express but I'm quite happy with SuperDuper. The last thing I need is two separate backup regimes and, as I mentioned before, SD works very simply. No need for a tutorial.

 

I forgot to mention that SD also allows boot-able backups, so you can restart your Mac from an external (Firewire) hard disk. I do this for the work backup, having partitioned the HD with OS X's disk utility.

 

The lack being able to use a bootable external drive (you can't do it with USB) would deter me from buying any of the new aluminium MacBooks. Apple seems to assume home users don't need to backup.

 

[jtwrace]

When you daisy chain two hard drives together does it show up as one? Meaning Mac mini>1TB iomega>1TB iomega via firewire 400. Do both of these drives act as one or do they act separately in terms of what will show up under devices?

 

Can you really just add hard drives when you want to add space? You don't have to replace the drive?

 

Hopefully I make sense.

 

[shenzi]

They will show up as two drives and act independently. That's how Firewire is designed, to daisy chain. USB devices have to go into separate ports or via a hub. But they all show up as separate drives.

 

On my screen now I have three external drives showing - one is a USB hard disk, the other two are the partitioned Iomega hard drive I mentioned above. I can drag and drop between any of the three.

 

So no, if you have something like a Mini, iMac or MacBook Pro, you don't have to replace the internal drive if you won't want to. (A Mac Pro is a little different as you can buy bare drives and easily fit them inside the tower, which is cheaper than buying a stand alone external drive.)

 

BTW, you could, in theory, do without any back up software and drag newly added files to your back up drive. However it would be fiddly and there's the danger you'd miss something. Better to let some software sort it out.

 

[jtwrace]

I'm a little confused.

 

I currently have one 1TB iomega connected to my mini via firewire. If I add one more drive (daisy) it will show up as two drives. correct? Do they act like a lake that is over-flowing? Meaning, one runs out of space it just goes to the next therefore my directory location stays the same?

 

 

 

[shenzi]

When you add a second drive, it will appear as a second little yellow and white box on your desktop. Your mini will treat them as two separate hard drives, with your mini's original HD being a third.

 

Now, if you assign your iTunes library to your first Iomega drive (recommended as your mini will have a much smaller drive in it), you'll be downloading all your music to that drive. Once it is full, it's full. No overflow. *

 

If your second hard drive is being used as backup, that will get full at the same time. It's purpose is purely to stop you tearing out clumps of hair if the first drive goes phut and you lose all your downloads and/or time-consuming CD rips.

 

* As far as I know, it isn't possible to spread the iTunes library across two stand-alone hard disks, other than in a specialised RAID system. If I'm wrong, someone please jump in ...

 

Hope that helps. Don't worry about asking the obvious - someone usually pipes up with a nugget the rest of us didn't know.

 

 

 

[DavidJPettifor]

shenzi wrote:

As far as I know, it isn't possible to spread the iTunes library across two stand-alone hard disks, other than in a specialised RAID system.

 

This is a good point shenzi. I just took a look under the advanced tab in the iTunes preferences, believing for some unwholesome reason that there was an 'add' button. There isn't, just the option to change the iTunes library location.

 

I'd also be interested to know if anyone is aware of a way in which to use multiple locations for the iTunes library.

 

EDIT: Try this;

 

jackb79 wrote:

To get this hold option while starting iTunes up and you can get the multiple libraries option.

 

--

djp

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

This is actually quite easy. The best way if to use one location until you fill up the drive. Then switch the iTunes music folder location to the new drive and all new rips will go to the new location. the old rips still point to the old location and all works well.

 

You lose some functionality like the consolidate library option but splitting between multiple locations does work.

 

[DavidJPettifor]

Cheers Chris!

 

This might be what happened to me this morning when I upgraded to iTunes 8.1. Something went belly up and a new rip I created pointed to my Macintosh HD and not the prior set, external hard drive. Don't know what I did to create this scenario, but all's back to normal now, with iTunes pointing to my external hard drive for the library.

 

--

djp

 

[Germanboxers]

I have a firewire card on my XP pro audio server and would like to add an external hd to backup all of the the rips I've made/making. Since I will be using a Lynx AES16 PCI card also, does it make more sense to use a USB external hd or a firewire external hd? I also see the esata 3Gbit is an option on some? I have no idea if I can even use that? What makes the most sense from a sound standpoint with PCI card or does it matter at all?

 

Thanks,

 

Jordan