bbagwell said:
Take a look at
Carbon Copy Cloner too.
Definitely recommend. I don't even use Time Machine. Bootable backups trump Time Machine backups anyway. You can use both if you have the means, but I always bet on a clone first. The scenario:
Your HD dies in your iMac/MacBook/Whatever.
Plug in your clone and boot from it.
Continue working as if nothing happened.
When the new drive arrives, install it and clone back onto it from your clone.
Reboot onto new drive and continue working like nothing happened.
I've had to do this a few times. CCC has saved my bacon and my ham and my potatoes many times. Once when I even lost two drives at once. (Thank goodness I keep redundant backups)
If you have a desktop, just keep the clone connected to the machine.
If you have a laptop you have a few options for CCC:
1) Plug the drive into the laptop daily and have a CCC schedule set to "backup when target is reconnected" then disconnect the drive when done. This will give you a recent backup up to when you plugged it in. You will lose anything you haven't saved elsewhere during the day though.
2) If you have a second Mac, any Mac really as long as it's G3 or G4 or Intel, you can use CCC's "Network backup" feature. It takes a little more work to get set up, but it is what I use. I have mine set to back up everything (Excluding unneeded Cache files and temp files that would only waste time being backed up since the OS doesn't need them and will recreate them next time) every 3 hours. Every 180 minutes CCC pops up in the background and refreshes my backup across the network to my Mac mini workhorse. I used to use a G4 mini and it worked just as well. You can use this method if you have any secondary Macs that are always on and connected to the network. Whether they're machines you use or not. Even if it's a family members iMac or Mac Pro. Or even if it's an old laptop you replaced. Hell, got a few hundred bucks, buy an old mini off eBay. Then connect it to the network and your drive to the mini and set it up as a backup server. By using THIS method you get a more recent "snapshot" of your work in case the HD dies. In fact, sometimes when a HD is dying, you can tell and can run the backup immediately to refresh it then sit back while the drive screams its final curse to the world. Then just reboot onto the clone and pretend it didn't happen while you order a replacement.
A good idea if you don't have an extra computer is to just buy a portable HD of the same size of your internal laptop drive (If you have a laptop). Then use it as your backup. Set CCC to backup every few hours, but tell it to "ignore if the drive is missing" and you can keep it connected to the machine without being tethered to a desk. I have a drive I use for backing up and storing other files like big Parallels Virtual Machines and other huge files I don't need with me at all times. (I back that stuff up separately as well of course.)
My setup is elaborate, yours doesn't have to be. Just a simple external HD, a copy of CCC and an optional networked Mac is all you need.
