Cross-platform backup strategy

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Level 1

9 points

Cross-platform backup strategy

Hi,

Having got my brand spanking iMac up and running, I'm now thinking about upgrading my backup strategy, which is currently as follows:

- My iMac is backed up once a day to a 320 GB external hard drive using Time Machine.

- All my files are continuously backed up to the cloud via Backblaze.

There are three main reasons for me wanting to upgrade this strategy:

1. My new iMac has a 1 TB hard disk, where the previous one had only 250 GB. While I am currently using less than one quarter of this capacity, this will grow over time, so I need to buy a bigger external HD to use as my Time Machine backup disk. Also, my Time Machine backups only go back about three or four months due to the limited size of the current Time Machine backup drive (320 GB).

2. While, as a rule, I do all my work on my iMac, my fallback machine is a laptop PC running Windows 7. If ever my iMac died or had a major breakdown (perish the thought!), it is the Windows machine that I would have to use. Trouble is, Windows can't easily read from a Time Machine backup drive. There is software available to allow you to do this, but even if you manage to read the disk from Windows, the file structure is very complex.

3. I would also like to make a bootable clone of the iMac's HD from which I could boot up if ever the HD failed.

I have some thoughts on how to address these three issues, but I also have some questions. I'd be grateful if anyone has any answers or insughts:

1. Buy a new HD of at least 1 TB, or preferably 2 TB, and use this as the Time Machine backup drive.

2. Use the 320 GB drive (currently used for Time Machine backups) to back up data from the iMac in a format that can easily be accessed from the Windows laptop. This raises two questions:

(i) What format should I use for this disk? I've read that FAT32 is writeable and readable by both OS X and Windows; the disadvantage is that no individual file can exceed 4 GB. This is a problem, for example, for large home video files.

(ii) What program could I use to regularly back up selected data in the appropriate format (as determined in response to point ℹ above)?

3. I have a spare 500 GB portable HD that is currently unused. I could use this in conjunction with a program like Super Duper or Carbon Copy CLoner to make a regularly updated bootable clone of the iMac HD.

Am I missing anything, and in particular, can anyone throw any light on the questions under point 2 above?

Thanks in advance,

Rob

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3), 21.5", 2.8 GHz i7 quad core, 16 GB

Posted on Mar 30, 2012 6:15 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 30, 2012 6:46 AM in response to robgrayson

Your plans for 1 and 3 is a very good strategy. It protects

for file corruption or bad installs and catastrophic failures.

As for:

robgrayson wrote:

2. Use the 320 GB drive (currently used for Time Machine backups) to back up data from the iMac in a format that can easily be accessed from the Windows laptop. This raises two questions:

(i) What format should I use for this disk? I've read that FAT32 is writeable and readable by both OS X and Windows; the disadvantage is that no individual file can exceed 4 GB. This is a problem, for example, for large home video files.

(ii) What program could I use to regularly back up selected data in the appropriate format (as determined in response to point ℹ above)?

The best bet would be to format the drive with MBR partition

scheme and NTFS file system. Then, you need to get a third

party utility for the Mac that permits writing to NTFS volumes

(Macs can natively read but not write). Some are MacFuse,

NTFS-3G, Tuxera NTFS.

As for the program to use, you may want to check out GoodSync.

There is a version for both Mac and Windows and should present

a common environment between the machines for backup/syncing.

You could use a Mac only alternative on the Mac side (many free ones)

and Sync Toy on the PC side.

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Answer 2

robgrayson Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 30, 2012 6:52 AM in response to woodmeister50

Hi woodmeister50, and thanks for your comments. In response to your specific points:

The best bet would be to format the drive with MBR partition scheme and NTFS file system.

I see from Google that MBR stands for master boot record. I have no idea what this means. Do I need to understand this? Also, this triggers two further questions:

1. Will I be able to format any external drive in this way, or do I need to buy a particular type of drive?

2. Once I have the drive, how would I go about formatting in this specific way?

Then, you need to get a third party utility for the Mac that permits writing to NTFS volumes (Macs can natively read but not write). Some are MacFuse, NTFS-3G, Tuxera NTFS.

As for the program to use, you may want to check out GoodSync. There is a version for both Mac and Windows and should present a common environment between the machines for backup.

OK, so you're saying I need a third party utility that permits writing to NTFS volumes, and another third party utility to manage the actual backups. Does this mean that the backup program (e.g. Goodsync) needs to be able to work with/write its data via the NTFS-writing program? If so, can programs like Goodsync do this?

Thanks again,

Rob

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Answer 3

Mar 30, 2012 12:54 PM in response to robgrayson

There are a variety of partiton schemes. For Macs there

is the Apple Boot and GUID. MBR is the default for all

Windows machines. Any hard drive can be formatted in

any way. So, you don't need to buy any special hard drives.

As for formatting the drive, you can use Disk Utility or

just format it on your windows machine.

The programs that permit writing on NTFS volumes are really

"drivers" that sit in the background and automatically get

called whenever an NTFS volume gets accessed. Other than

installing, there is no other actions you need to worry about.

The disk will just mount on the Mac and act like any other

attached drive.

As for the backup program, GoodSync being the one I suggested,

they just work on files and the operating system takes care of file

formats. Such programs can backup to any kind of device, as long

as the native operating system "understands" the device it is accessing.

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Answer 4

robgrayson Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 30, 2012 2:07 PM in response to woodmeister50

Thanks for taking the time to answer - that's really helpful.

Rob

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Answer 5

ds store

Level 7

30,855 points

Mar 30, 2012 2:49 PM in response to robgrayson

robgrayson wrote:

Hi,

Having got my brand spanking iMac up and running, I'm now thinking about upgrading my backup strategy,

Good read this User Tip

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3045

Trouble is, Windows can't easily read from a Time Machine backup drive. There is software available to allow you to do this, but even if you manage to read the disk from Windows, the file structure is very complex.

No, TimeMachine is for restoring to another Mac with just user stuff, or the same Mac for the whole machine OS and everything.

If you want your files to be accessed via Mac, Windows or Linux PC then use exFAT and a MBR for the external storage drive format. Use TM to backup the iMac only.

See

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3044

Remmeber that files on the external Mac/PC drive need to be in universal formats, so you can open them in programs on either machine.

LibreOffice is a good choice for your office type needs, versions for Linux, OS X and Windows, and it opens Office files too.

What format should I use for this disk? I've read that FAT32 is writeable and readable by both OS X and Windows; the disadvantage is that no individual file can exceed 4 GB. This is a problem, for example, for large home video files.

Use exFAT, 4+ GB files, can be read/write by Mac and PC, format the drive on the PC (easier) simply right click and choose exFAT.

No need to install NTFS reading software on the Mac and have to deal with upgrades and it breaking, leave NTFS for Windows boot drives only.

(ii) What program could I use to regularly back up selected data in the appropriate format (as determined in response to point above)?

Well it's tricky, you can use a lot of software, like Sync2Folders but you have to choose files and folders of files that have file formats that can be read on both Mac's and PC's.

3. I have a spare 500 GB portable HD that is currently unused. I could use this in conjunction with a program like Super Duper or Carbon Copy CLoner to make a regularly updated bootable clone of the iMac HD.

Excellent choice, and it will be hold the option key bootable, but I'd advise using Carbon Copy Cloner and the block level clone so you copy the Lion Recovery Partition too, you may need to boot from the clone to install Lion fresh from Apple's servers.

Note my caution about the iMac at the link, you likely can't run off the extenral drive for long. Which is why I never recommend or buy a iMac, doesn't make any sense if one can't remove the hard drive and replace it themselves.

https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

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Answer 6

robgrayson Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 31, 2012 5:00 AM in response to ds store

Hi ds store,

Thank you so much for posting this – your post and the attached links are a mine of useful information.

Just one thing I'd like to pick up on:

3. I have a spare 500 GB portable HD that is currently unused. I could use this in conjunction with a program like Super Duper or Carbon Copy CLoner to make a regularly updated bootable clone of the iMac HD.

Excellent choice, and it will be hold the option key bootable, but I'd advise using Carbon Copy Cloner and the block level clone so you copy the Lion Recovery Partition too, you may need to boot from the clone to install Lion fresh from Apple's servers.

My spare portable HD is a 500 GB disk, whereas my iMac's internal HD is 1 TB. At the moment, this isn't a problem, since only around 175 GB of the internal HD is in use, so the portable HD is more than big enough to make a bootable clone. However, if a time comes when more than 500 GB of the internal HD is in use, and a bootable clone therefore won't fit on a 500 GB drive, are there ways of exluding parts of the data structure when making a bootable copy? (Since all of my data will be backed up both via Time Machine and to another HD readable from a Windows laptop as well, the bootable clone doesn't really need to include that data.)

Thanks in advance,

Rob

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