FredEx8

Q: I need help choosing the 'right' backup drive(s)

I have a MacBook Pro on which I do mainly video editing. I make DVDs of my family and real estate stuff which I then want to offload from the laptop to my external hard drive. For the purpose of backing up this laptop, I will probably run the backup on an adhoc basis (after I complete a video editing process). By the way I use iMovie 09.

 

Now, I also have a MacG5 which contains work data (mainly pdfs of contracts for real estate, etc). On this machine, I wish to do a somewhat regular backup. Please excuse information I am leaving out - - this is where you folks can help me.

 

My question(s) are:

- Should I buy two separate backup devices to be more efficient?

- Are there any brands or specifications I should consider over others (Firewire vs USB)?

 

I am a novice in this domain and any suggestions or clarification are greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks!

MacBook Pro

Posted on May 3, 2011 2:29 PM

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Q: I need help choosing the 'right' backup drive(s)

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  • by unconchuir,

    unconchuir unconchuir May 3, 2011 3:15 PM in response to FredEx8
    Level 1 (90 points)
    May 3, 2011 3:15 PM in response to FredEx8

    I had two Macs (MacBook Air + MacMini) until recently when i sold my MacMini! Originally, I had one hard drive that was partitioned so that bot computers could use it for a backup. This is nowhere near as good as having 2 hard-drives, it is much easier and efficient.
    My two were LaCie by Stark 1TB Hard Drives which operate over USB. I never had a problem and could do nothing but sing their praises! My current one is a Hitachi Lifestudio which is completely awesome and I would definently recomend this disk!
    Hope this helps!

     

    Conchuir

  • by old comm guy,

    old comm guy old comm guy May 3, 2011 4:43 PM in response to FredEx8
    Level 4 (2,244 points)
    May 3, 2011 4:43 PM in response to FredEx8

    OK, you have four (or maybe only three) options in order of desirability (links included only to illustrate; you have to do your own shopping):

     

    1. SATA Docking Station like this one.
    2. External Drive Enclosure like this one.
    3. External Drive and interface like this one.
    4. Use the lower internal bay of the G5 and connect over ethernet.

     

    Were I to pick a single solution for primarily backups, I would choose door number one above, with the caveat that it has to have a FW800 interface among others.  The reason for that insistence is the fact that the G5 USB 2.0 interface seems to be about 25 percent the speed of the FW800 interface talking to external drives.  Get a multiple interface that has eSATA and you can use an express card to connect from your MBP and get blazing (by comparison) transfer speeds there.

     

    The docking station (Toaster) is nice because you just drop the drives in and out as you need them.  You can store the drives in a nice ESD box from Wiebe Tech when they are not in use and keep them protected and handy, or put them in a safe deposit box for added off-site safety.  I would use my docking station more, except that the one I got didn't have FW800.  Plus, by using bare drives, you add capacity at probably the lowest cost per gigabyte.

  • by fredfromhuntington beach,

    fredfromhuntington beach fredfromhuntington beach Aug 6, 2011 4:02 PM in response to old comm guy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 6, 2011 4:02 PM in response to old comm guy

    Thanks again for the reply (from some time ago!). I hope to get a reply from you based on my following simplification of how I intend to use my backup. No...I haven't moved forward on my decision of what/how to conduct my backups!

     

    1) I prefer to use a single backup device for each computer

    2) I would like to be able to create DVDs of movies, and (if time becomes an issue) do a backup of the DVD

     

    How would you modify your suggestion(s) to me based on these changes?

     

    Thanks!

  • by steve359,

    steve359 steve359 Aug 6, 2011 4:28 PM in response to old comm guy
    Level 6 (14,032 points)
    Aug 6, 2011 4:28 PM in response to old comm guy

    "old comm guy" ...

     

    I like Door #1.

     

    Two variants of Firewire, 1 eSATA and 1 USB3.0.

     

    And you can buy any bare-drive for new backups as well as accessing drives from any old systems you have or others may want to access.

     

    This addresses one of the key issues FredEx8 needs to deal with ... how to "physically" protect and isolate backup drives.  Just swap drives for different system backups, and store them very converniently.

     

    Plus you do not need to buy a brand new "complete box with interface" when the drive (inevitably) dies.

  • by old comm guy,

    old comm guy old comm guy Aug 6, 2011 11:06 PM in response to fredfromhuntington beach
    Level 4 (2,244 points)
    Aug 6, 2011 11:06 PM in response to fredfromhuntington beach

    fredfromhuntington beach wrote:

     

    Thanks again for the reply (from some time ago!). I hope to get a reply from you based on my following simplification of how I intend to use my backup. No...I haven't moved forward on my decision of what/how to conduct my backups!

     

    1) I prefer to use a single backup device for each computer

    2) I would like to be able to create DVDs of movies, and (if time becomes an issue) do a backup of the DVD

     

    How would you modify your suggestion(s) to me based on these changes?

     

    Thanks!

     

     

    OK, were I starting from scratch, I would go with the docking station from the OWC link.  (I think the price has actually come down $20 since my original post!  Man, I love pricing on electronics stuff!)  You can easily move it from one computer to another and bare drives are cheaper to purchase and easier to store.   If you want a full-time device for each computer, I would probably still recommend the docking station, especially with the price falling like it is.

     

    IMHO, the best storage solution for bare drives is this box from Wiebe Tech, which is sturdy ESD plastic and nearly as compact as the 3.5 inch drive.  My backups rotate through a safe deposit box that can hold a bunch of them, though I usually have only two offsite at any one time.

     

    For DVD backups, I have in the past imaged DVDs using Disk Utility, which works out nicely, especially when I need to burn more copies.  And you can just mount the image of a video DVD and DVD player comes up and you can watch from the hard drive.