Have you done a backup recently?

[Bob Stern]

The (GoodSync) interface is somewhat reminiscent of ChronoSync. You select your local storage and your storage on Amazon and set them up in a left (local)-to-right (Amazon) configuration. There are then two steps, "Analyze," where the UI tells you what will happen if you go ahead, and "Sync," which is self-explanatory. Like ChronoSync, you can set up a schedule, but you don't have to.

 

ChronoSync can backup to Amazon S3 and Google Cloud. (The capability of backing up to these cloud services was added to ChronoSync only 3 months ago.)

[Bob Stern]

ChronoSync vs. CarbonCopyCloner (for Mac)

 

FWIW, 2 years ago I switched from CCC to ChronoSync for at least 3 reasons:

 

1.  In CCC, if the daily scheduled backup fails or is interrupted for any reason other than a missing volume, CCC will not try again to finish the backup until the scheduled time the following day.  ChronoSync will keep trying at whatever interval and number of attempts you specify in the schedule.

 

2.  In CCC, after you save a scheduled task, you cannot even view, much less edit, parameters of the backup task such as files included/excluded and automatic pruning of archives.  ChronoSync can.

 

3.  CCC organizes the archive folder a subfolder for each backup date, and then lower level folders mimicking the source volume directory structure.  If you want to restore selected files or folders, having dates at the top of the hierarchy makes it extremely difficult to find all versions of the desired files or folders.

ChronoSync’s archive folder duplicates the folder structure of the source volume without any "date" folders.  Multiple versions of the same file are appended with a 3-digit version number.  When older versions are pruned, version numbers continue incrementing.

[Bob Stern]

1 minute ago, Bob Stern said:

(duplicate)

 

[Bob Stern]

Item 3, first paragraph, stated more clearly:

 

3. In CCC's archive folder, the top level of the hierarchy is a folder for each backup date.  Within each dated folder are lower level folders mimicking the source volume directory structure. If you want to restore selected files or folders, having dates at the top of the hierarchy makes it extremely difficult to find all versions of the desired files or folders because they will be scattered among many top-level dated folders.

 

 

[Bob Stern]

6 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Unfortunately Amazon changed its prices drastically. To backup all my music was going to cost me several hundred dollars per month. I stopped using it.

 

Out of curiosity, I compared prices between Amazon Cloud Drive and the Glacier level of Amazon S3.  The price per TB of storage is identical.  Neither charges for uploading.  I believe the differences are:

 

(1)  Cloud Drive and S3 charge in increments of TB and GB, respectively, so 1.001 TB costs $120/yr on Cloud Drive and $60/yr on S3.

 

(2)  Retrievals, required only if your local backup is lost, are free (for now) with Cloud Drive and $90/TB with S3.

[Bob Stern]

10 hours ago, NOMBEDES said:

My Time Machine states that my last backup was in 2017.  I attempted to back up today and it stills indicates 2017.   In short, I can't get Time Machine to work.  Although it sits on my desk and tells me that it only has 6 hrs to go......

 

When your computer goes to sleep does that stop the time machine back up?

 

If it's a laptop, go to System Prefs > Energy Saver > Power Adapter and enable Power Nap.

 

Time Machine troubleshooting:

 

Delete the .inProgress files:

http://osxdaily.com/2014/03/31/time-machine-stuck-preparing-backup-mac-fix/

 

Pondini's advice:

http://osxdaily.com/2014/03/31/time-machine-stuck-preparing-backup-mac-fix/

[Bob Stern]

23 hours ago, jrd1975 said:

I am more than happy using https://www.idrive.com

They have a 50% off sale on currently as well!  

 

A big question with any online backup service is whether they'll still be in business when you need to retrieve your backup.

[Bob Stern]

The two most popular backup programs for Mac are SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner.  Both have been around for many years and are very reliable.

 

Smart Backup is free, but I haven’t tried it:

https://solesignal.com/smartbackup4/

 

Of course, the built-in rsync program is free, but I assume you don’t want to mess with geeky Terminal commands.  

 

(Carbon Copy Cloner and Smart Backup actually use rsync, so they can be thought of as user-friendly configuration interfaces for rsync.  I believe SuperDuper uses lower level system commands rather than rsync.)