Filed under: Software
Backup 3: a danger to your data?
Damien reminded us all of the importance of backing up your data. It isn't something that should be taken lightly, unless of course you don't have anything worth saving (do you really need all 14 gigs of those Andrew Lloyd Webber mp3's?).With that being said, it seems if you are in possession of data that is vital to you in some way you would be best not using Apple's Backup 3 (free to you .Mac users). A number of people are having a tough time restoring data with Backup, and that is kinda the sole reason for it to exist.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Andrew said 10:35PM on 11-03-2005
SuperDuper! is the best backup utility, without a doubt.
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Jay said 11:06PM on 11-03-2005
I use Backup 3 and actually just restored my iTunes database today without any problems at all. I had never attempted to restore anything using Backup before tonight and was surprised at how easy and flawlessly it worked. I haven't used it very often, but I can't say anything bad about it based on my experience thus far.
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Ben said 11:19PM on 11-03-2005
I prefer Synk.
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Adam said 2:05AM on 11-04-2005
Copy the backups from the iDisk to the local HD before trying to restore. That should avoid any problems.
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Rolphus said 4:56AM on 11-04-2005
As I recently returned my new PowerBook and got one of the new-new PowerBooks, I had reason to use Backup in a fairly critical and big way. My observations (of v3.0.1) are as follows:
1) Quick picks are cool, especially for iDisk backups - it would be nice to have a simple "complete backup" option. I'm willing to bet I just missed this option though.
2) When restoring a given piece of data, if you don't have the quick pick installed, you don't seem to get that piece of data restored. Example: I backed up my Delicious Library, but restored before I'd downloaded the backup widget thingy - my library has gone bye-bye.
3) Backing up to a firewire disk appears to be 100% reliable, as does restoring. However, while backing up to iDisk is reliable, restoring seems to be less so - I've had hangs that have required me to hard-reboot the laptop.
4) If you're restoring anything shared or from another user, you can't do an in-place restore. This kind of makes sense, but it's also seriously annoying. I'd like to be able to back everything up and then restore my apps etc. I know there's a transfer app built into OSX for this, but if you're moving between two machines using an external drive and the machines never occupy the same room at the same time, it's a moot point.
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Micha10589 said 5:26AM on 11-04-2005
I got .Mac on a discount 1 1/2 years ago, when I bought my new iBook, so I gave it a try. I used Backup 2 (I think it was 2 then) for some time and when I tried to go back to an older version of my bookmarks, it synced the erased bookmarks from my iBook so now also the backup was gone.
In retrospect I consider myself rather stupid for not making a backup directly from my library, but I still think this backup failure with Backup should never have happened, especially not with an Apple software solution.
Since then I stopped using .Mac and Backup and I am doing backups the old fashioned way. In my opinion, the whole .Mac/Backup thing is an expensive and flawed project.
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amjb said 5:27AM on 11-04-2005
I have both SuperDuper! and Backup 3.0.1, and both are excellent pieces of software.
As a comprehensive, bootable image, SuperDuper! is amazinng. Backup did have a bug where restoring files to a different location wasn't working. That's been fixed, and it now works really well.
Backup offers the ability to restore different versions of a document which is also great.
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random said 9:36AM on 11-04-2005
I'll put it simply: 3.0.1. Download the 3.0.1 update for Backup 3. It fixes the issue the guy is whining about in his article.
The person who wrote the article is trying to create drama from an issue he experienced. Does he have factual data that Backup 3 is going to destroy the world one piece of data at a time? Did he update his application before he made his sweeping generalizations based upon an isolated problem he had on restoring his data.
Does he realize he can copy the package files from his iDisk and open them to retrieve the compressed data inside?
Does he realize that Apple likes to distribute software updates to correct issues on thir applications? If it is broke, it will get fixed eventually. (I'm not a rabid pundit here, there are issues that 10.4.3 has not fixed from 10.4.0)
But he apparently does not and would prefer to create a damning article due to his sour experience. I don't blame him for being upset at all, but I am sick of people trying to create mass hysteria out of an overblown event.
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Sham The Sam said 6:57PM on 11-05-2005
Reading through the article chain here, it looks like
the issue stems from two guys: one who wanted his drive backed up (altho
Backup is marketed for protecting files), and another guy who had
issues with resource forks (which may have been solved in a recent upgrade).
Certainly Apple is neither God nor infallible, but this post's lack of
actual content and blanket statements smack of bad journalism. Add some
arguement or unique content- otherwise it's just some links and bonus hype.
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Nick said 9:12AM on 11-12-2005
What can I say? I used Backup prior to doing a clean install of Tiger two days ago and isince then it has consistently failed to restore anything. My 150+ documents, Keychain items, address book, Safari bookmarks - the lot! Thankfully I stored my photos and music on my iPod hard drive but, alas, nothing else. Backup had worked for me in the past in it's older implicitly . I do now. I just hope I haven't lost the info for good...any suggestions?
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Nick said 9:15AM on 11-12-2005
I am so distressed I didn't even proof-read my spellings. Apologies...
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