I swear, getting old is not a lot of fun.

Last night, I taught a class in data security for home and small business users at our local community college. There were a lot of good questions from the community education program students, so the class ended quite late and I was still answering questions as I walked out the door.

This morning, I went to grab my MacBook Air out of my laptop bag and literally grabbed air instead. In my haste to get out of the classroom and head home, I had packed everything but the laptop. Fortunately, the classroom was locked and few classes are scheduled for early morning, so I called the campus police and had them rescue the MBA for me. Problem solved!

After actually losing an iPhone 3G a few months ago, I wrote a post about what to do to prevent data loss and identity theft when lose your iPhone, and included a few tips on how to hopefully keep yourself from losing the phone in the first place. In this post, I'll talk about the things that I do (or can do) to keep my MacBook Air and my data safe, even when my mind conspires against me to try to lose the computer.

Time Machine made it easy for Leopard owners to back up their Macs on local external hard drives, and lately we've seen a number of online backup services such as Carbonite, BackBlaze, and MozyPro debut for the Mac platform. These online services are great (I personally use BackBlaze), but there's a monthly cost associated with them. What if you already have access to a large volume of server space?

App4Mac has just announced Twin 1.0 for Mac OS X (US$39.67, €29.00), an online backup solution that works with all sorts of servers: FTP (all varieties), WebDAV, Amazon S3, and even MobileMe. Unlike many of the other online solutions, Twin claims that it retains all the Mac OS X file metadata, ACLs, and privileges, and your data is kept safe with AES-256 "Jack Bauer quality" encryption. In addition to the online backups, you can use Twin for backing up your files to local drives and have the backups begin when the external drive it plugged in.

I'm impressed with the powerful scheduling capabilities of Twin, which include a way to use logical operators to determine exactly when backups should proceed or not. Having an offsite backup is that extra bit of security that every Mac user should have. Check out the gallery below for some screenshots of the app in action. You can also download a free, limited-capability trial of Twin if you're interested in kicking the tires.

Back in December, online backup company Backblaze launched a private beta of its service for Mac users. Like its Windows counterpart, the Backblaze subscription service is $5 US a month (or $50 US a year) for unlimited backup space. Today, the company is officially launching its service for Mac users, along with an updated client, better support for external drives and enhanced recovery options.


Configuration and setup

Just like in the beta, Backblaze remains extremely easy to set-up and use. You just install the program (by default it will run in the background, though you can change this), enter in your e-mail address and password, and it will start backing up your files. The default setting has Backblaze running any time it finds an available internet connection. The backup process is constant and Backblaze stores multiple versions of a file for 30 days (so if you are frequently changing a document or spreadsheet, 30 days worth of revisions are saved to Backblaze).

If you want to remove Backblaze, the company has made the uninstall process easier and more intuitive. There is now an uninstaller built into the install DMG image, just double-click on Uninstall (right next to the install option) and you can take Backblaze off your system. If you trash the DMG, just download it again off the Backblaze web site for easy removal.

Backblaze won't backup your Applications (thought it WILL backup stuff in your User/Library folder, so many of your application settings will remain backed up), but it will backup your photos, movies, audio files as well as things like your iPhoto or Aperture database, various documents, and more. By default, .ISO, *.exe and *.DMG files are excluded from the backup file type list, but you can remove most of those extensions (*.ISO cannot be removed) if you want to backup that information.

The maximum single file size is still 4 GB, but keep in mind this doesn't mean your iPhoto or Aperture databases won't be safe. Those databases are actually just folders with lots of smaller individual files, that's fine. If you have individual files over 4 GB in size, those won't be backed up with Backblaze. You'll need to split the files into smaller segments or make alternate arrangements.

You can find Mac applications that have been around longer than Retrospect, but not many that have the same ratio of copies installed to jobs/sanity saved. The venerable backup tool, now in its third decade and published by EMC Insignia (original developer Dantz was acquired a few years back) has been revitalized in version 8, now shipping, with scores of features that bring it to reasonable parity with the Windows version of the app.

The new Retrospect, which EMC previewed at Macworld Expo, breaks the administrative UI away from the underlying backup engine and allows backup managers to control multiple instances of the tool from one console. Simultaneous execution is supported now, along with advanced disk-to-disk backups, faster catalog rebuilds, single-write/multi-read operation, improved networking and tape drive support, and media & catalog cross-platform compatibility with the Windows 7.6 version. Video tutorials for the new v8 are here.

Retrospect 8, for the moment, only runs on Intel machines but can be used to back up PowerPC clients (PPC support is coming in a near-term update, the company says). Pricing starts at $129US for the Desktop edition with support for 3 client machines (a maintenance plan adds $120), and ranges up to $1700 for the Multi-Server, Unlimited Client version; there are also Single Server 20-client and unlimited client licenses available at intervening price points. Upgrade pricing is available through the EMC site.

If you've been having issues with corrupted Time Machine images either inside the Time Capsule or connected externally to your base station, the 7.4.1 firmware update (for all base stations from 2007 to today) plus the 10.5.6 update might help, according to TidBITS.

Apple says this update will fix problems that lead up to corruption issues, but TidBITS recommends you essentially start fresh just to make sure -- after using the Archive feature in Disk Utility to copy your previous Time Machine disk to an external drive. Don't have enough drives to do the data shuffle? You can always take your chances that you either don't have a corrupt Time Machine backup (which is pretty likely, honestly) or do a little soul/data-searching for anything you might want to preserve for posterity.

I don't use Time Machine as a sort of universal undo, but I understand some might. In either case: update your system and firmware as recommended by the manufacturer.

TJ Luoma recently shared the solution to an annoying problem. Specifically, he wanted to keep Backup's icon from frantically jumping in the Dock like so many hepped-up toddlers in a bouncy castle. The Backup icon typically bounces in the Dock for a minute two before it even begins backing up any data.

We know what you're thinking, "Just go to the application's preferences and disable the Dock animation." The problem is that Backup has no preference pane! Fortunately, TJ found a fix.

While browsing "defaults read com.apple.backup" in Terminal (as suggested by a Twitter helper), he found

"Backup Timer" = 120

Realizing that's how long the app is supposed to wait (and toss its icon up and down) before executing a backup, he entered

defaults write com.apple.backup "Backup Timer" 1

which forced it to bounce only once. Alternatively, you could install Dockless, which prevents running apps from showing up in the Dock (or vice versa). Check out TJ's post and enjoy!

Iomega and EMC continue to offer plenty of backup and storage options for home and small businesses, including a new version of Retrospect that improves the interface and performance for the first time in years.

Retrospect 8.0 for Mac, in addition to the customizable UI, includes improved backup-to-disk features, tape library management, and email reporting. Its revamped backup engine can perform eight simultaneous disk actions (like copy, backup, and restore), bringing it closer to parity with the Windows version of the tool.

A public beta of Retrospect 8.0 is available now from EMC's website, which EMC recommends not be used in mission-critical environments. The final version is expected to ship before the end of March; pricing starts at $129.

Also available from Iomega (an EMC company) are two storage products for Mac users: Home Media Network Hard Drive, and the eGo Helium for MacBook Air users.The Home Media Network Hard Drive works with iTunes to create a networked repository for music and movies, along with a print server for USB printers. It's available in 500GB and 1TB capacities, and retails for $160 and $230, respectively.

The eGo Helium is designed with the MacBook Air in mind, and features a small, lightweight profile. With a single USB connection for power and data, Helium works with the Air's single USB port. The eGo Helium is 320GB and priced at $150.

Iomega is located at Macworld in the North hall, at booth 4015.

Full disclosure: I previously worked with Iomega for five years starting in 2002, designing their retail packaging.

Video on the next page:

Earlier this week, HP announced the availability of two new home servers, the MediaSmart ex485 and ex487. It's true that both are based on Microsoft's Windows Home Server platform, but the interesting thing for Mac users is that they're recognized by Time Machine as backup targets, and they can act as an iTunes server. At $599US for the ex485 (750GB of storage) or $749US for the ex487 (1.5TB), that's not a bad deal.

Other specs include a 2GHz Celeron CPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, gigabit Ethernet, four USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA jack and four internal HDD bays. Note that total storage on these units can be scaled up to 9TB.

HP will begin taking pre-orders in January for shipment in February.

For now, I've got a G4 iMac in my basement acting as a home media server, as it were, to the Apple TV. Two external drives are attached -- one for Time Machine and one for a SuperDuper! clone, scheduled to update weekly.

A third, pocket-sized drive is updated via SuperDuper! weekly and lives off-site (read: my wife's desk in her classroom, don't tell!). Do you have a home-spun backup and streaming solution?

[Via Engadget]

All day on December 25, TUAW presents "Now What?" We've got first steps and recommendations for all the Apple gifts you (hopefully!) found under the tree today. Happy holidays!

Some good soul gifted you with a hard drive for the holidays. I can't think of a better gift! There are two ways to use that extra disk space -- the right way, which I'll get to in a moment, and the way many people do it, which is to just expand their disk space because they are running out of room.

I'm here to tell you that is the wrong thing to do with a new hard drive if you don't have a backup strategy already. Let's make a few assumptions here. The new drive has a USB 2.0 interface, or it has a Firewire 400 or 800 interface. It also is at least as large as your primary hard drive. Even better if it is bigger. Use that drive as a backup device, not for more disk space. Old hands around computers already know this, but if you are just getting started, it really is extra important to have all your files duplicated on another drive.

With any computer, stuff happens, like a sudden power surge, a drive failure, or a kid in the house who loves to see how the Mac trash can works. Can you really afford to lose all those pictures, emails, documents and CDs you lovingly ripped to iTunes? I didn't think so.

Getting a heavy duty back up is not too challenging. If you plug a brand new drive in, your Mac (assuming you have Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard) will ask you if you'd like to use it as a Time Machine drive. Time Machine is Apple's built-in backup solution, and it is great for people who constantly change or update files and sometimes have a good reason to go back and get the old versions. The larger your extra drive, the further you can 'go back in time'. Time Machine allows you to restore all the data, but it can take several hours and may require your original system DVD if your machine isn't bootable.

Read on for more...

Sometimes you want your Mac to be backed up more frequently than usual. If you want to instantly back up using Time Machine, you could click on the menu bar item and select "Back Up Now," but what if you want to change the backup interval indefinitely? With this Terminal Tip, you can do just that.

Time Machine is set to automatically back up every hour, but if you would like to change it to every half hour, you can use the following Terminal (/Applications/Utilities) command:

sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto StartInterval -int 1800

You will need to authenticate as an administrator, since this command is run under a "sudo." The time interval is measured in seconds, so you can enter any time you wish there; just make sure it is in seconds. By default, Time Machine backs up every 3600 seconds (every hour). If you wish to revert to the original, just replace "1800" with "3600."


Want more tips and tricks like this? Visit TUAW's Terminal Tips section!

iPhone developer Pádraig Kennedy sent us news of this jewel of a tool: iPhone Backup Extractor, a way to read the backups that iTunes automatically makes for your iPhone or iPod touch using the Finder.

Kennedy already had a command-line tool to do this, but he wrapped an easy-to-use GUI around the whole process. Just select a backup, select an application, and away you go.

What makes this useful, writes ADC award-winning iPhone developer Craig Hockenberry, is that it allows developers to track down customer bugs that they can't reproduce themselves.

"You can instruct your customer to download the application, sync their device with iTunes and then have them select the latest backup and your application within that backup. ... Getting this information into your development environment is then just a matter of hacking around with the Simulator folder structure."

"The bug won't stand a chance at this point."

iPhone Backup Extractor is donationware, Leopard-only, and available directly from Kennedy's site (which has the best URL ever, incidentally).

TUAW readers know that to keep their data safe, they need to perform regular backups. Since Time Machine hit the scene last year, most Mac users have used the OS X application and an external hard drive to perform automated backups. For some Mac users, the thought of losing both the Mac's hard drive and the external hard drive to a fire or theft is enough to keep them awake at night.

Longtime Mac peripheral maker LaCie has come up with a solution to that nightmare scenario. Beginning in November, 2008, all consumer hard disk drives sold by the company will come with a one-year unlimited online backup account using Carbonite services. Carbonite is currently in the process of beta-testing Mac software for their popular online backup service.

The Carbonite software automatically backs up the LaCie drive, finding new and modified files, encrypting them twice, and then uploading them to a secure data center. The information remains encrypted while at the data center to maintain user privacy. Backups are done only during idle cycles on the Mac, so the process should not affect performance.

How do you keep your backups backed up? DVDs in the safe-deposit box? Leave us a comment below.

[via Macworld UK]

I mentioned Egnyte back in August, when they released version 1.5 of their secure storage, collaboration and backup solution. Today they've announced version 2.0 with support for iPhone access through a web application. I spoke briefly with Vineet Jain from Egnyte about the iPhone-compatible release. According to Vineet, the fact that 40% of Egnyte's users are on Macs was the impetus for the iPhone being the first device supported in their mobile development. The number of Mac users in their customer base surprised them a little, and so did the number of people using the service primarily as an offsite backup. Logically, they've concentrated their efforts based on user demand and improved the backup capabilities and performance as well.

The iPhone interface, dubbed m Drive, allows users to log in to their accounts and work with their files. Access permissions can be set and changed on-the-go, and files can be shared by emailing them as attachments, or by emailing an access link to the file on the Egnyte server. Links to files can be set to expire at a given time and don't require an Egnyte login. m Drive also allows users to view previous versions and comments on files.

The interface is simple, easy to navigate and not bad looking. It currently lacks the search features present in the full version. Such features may be present in a dedicated iPhone app, which is coming, I'm told. For the moment a web app makes more sense (to me), given its current goals. Egnyte offers a 15-day free trial, and plans are configurable based on your needs, starting at $15USD/month for 1 "Power user" and unlimited standard users (comparison chart on the pricing page).

Good morning, Mr. Phelps. The man you are looking at is Justin T. iPhoneuser, one of our loyal TUAW readers. Recently, Justin's iPhone went kablooey and when he tried to restore, he found that his backups were corrupted. He lost a great deal of data and time, all because Time Machine hadn't backed up his iPhone's data.

Your mission, Jim, should you choose to accept it, is to help Justin back up his data with Time Machine so he never has to face this kind of data loss again. As usual, should any of your team members be caught by Apple, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This post will self-destruct in five seconds...

[This is the part where the Theme Music usually plays.]

Read on for your TUAWpossible Mission Briefing.