OT: backups

[SimPLsol at aol.com]

Mark,
For my personal computer, running OS X, I use SuperDuper, backing up to a 
Firewire HD. SuperDuper erases the backup drive and copies everything from the 
source drive - takes about 1 hour - and the Firewire HD is then a bootable HD. 
Incremental updates take about 5 - 7 minutes. SuperDuper bypasses all the usual 
permission problems you run into using OS X with most other backup options. I 
like the smaller, 2.5 inch, drives because they don't require external power; 
I can take it out of the safe, plug in the Firewire cord, make a quick 
backup, disconnect one cord, and put it back in the safe - real easy. Of course the 
3.5 inch drives are faster and sometimes the speed is more important than the 
convenience.
For network computers, I create a shared folder called "The Shared Folder" on 
the server. Each user is given a folder in this with their name. All company 
data is stored in this folder (some folders are password protected). This 
folder is backed up each evening (usually to a Firewire HD, but some smaller 
companies can backup everything to a flash drive). I find backing up from the 
server is about twice as fast as backing up server data over the network from a 
client.
Note: The Shared Folder should contain data only, no applications. Running 
apps over the network is much slower than running them locally. One of the 
downsides of this shared folder approach is the tendency of users to put apps., 
personal pictures, & personal data into the folder - which makes for longer 
backups. Still, probably always better to be backing up too much rather than too 
little.
Paul Looney