Hi Jonathan, Thanks for the info. I wouldn't mess with filevault, but our company is insisting that all data be encrypted, especially on laptops. If a laptop is lost or stolen, there will be an "interview" with the CIS dept. to determine if encryption was used. I have no other choice, especially if I want to keep Macs within our team.
I might be interested in speaking with you off-list, I think your suggestion to figure out the file size first is a good one. Some users do have their own iPhoto and iTunes files on their machines. This could be a big problem. However, what if they simply left their iTunes and iPhoto folders another place on the HD and simply put an alias of them into their Home folder? I am not worried about backing up and encrypting those files. Does anyone know if there is a problem with this approach? A > Andy, > > A couple of things: First you need to examine why you need File Vault. > It is scary technology to me because it ties up your whole user folder > into one encrypted archive, that, in the event of any kind of > corruption, would make very necessary that backup you had better have > done very recently. > > Also, there are several applications that I have heard of that don't > play well or at all with FileVault enabled. > > You're right about the fact that it will make larger backups necessary > every night. Big time. Everybody's whole user folder, every night. The > only solution to that is to get a large, fast backup. That means > dumping any thought of USB as a viable solution. I'd suggest a FireWire > DAT, AIT or DLT drive. Plan on $800-$2000 for the drive. Your media > costs are going to be higher, too: 40? to $1.00/GB for the various > tapes that hold 20-40GB. > > Another option is an external DVD drive. Drive, media costs and maximum > capacity lower. > > The first thing you do is find out how much space you will need on a > nightly basis and choose a medium that will work well for you. With > tape you should be able to get a whole normal backup and several > incremental backups on one tape. With DVD you are probably going to > want to use one disk per night. Remember that FileVault, as you > mentioned, sort of messes up the concept of nightly incrementals. Man, > I HOPE you don't have any heavy iApps (iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, etc.) > users on your network. > > You can get a Sonnet Harmoni for the iMac that will add a faster > processor and a FW port for about $250. For less than $150 you can get > a Beige G3 from MegaMacs.com and add a FW card for less than $100. > > YMMV > > I have set up several clients with DAT, AIT and CD backups solutions. > Feel free to ask more questions, on- or off-list. > > jonathan > > > > On Feb 6, 2004, at 5:15 PM, macgroup-digest wrote: > >> Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 22:55:51 -0500 >> From: andrew arnold <a0arno01 at Louisville.edu> >> Subject: MacGroup: Backup suggestions? >> >> I have an iMac on a network that serves as our "server". It is a 350mhz >> model with usb and ethernet, no firewire. I have been backing up using >> a >> CD-RW burner and Retrospect on the iMac. I know many of you use >> Retrospect. >> >> I am required at work to begin using file vault on all the machines >> (6). I >> have read that this will increase the size and time of backups >> dramatically, >> because the whole user folder must be backed up when there is even a >> small >> incremental change to one of the files. >> >> So my question is this: Is there a USB-DVD burner or USB tape backup >> drive >> that would be a better option than a CD-RW? Or any other bright >> suggestions??? >> >> Thanks >> >> >> Kind regards, >> Andy >> a0arno01 at athena.louisville.edu >> > -- > Jonathan Fletcher > jfletch at newmediaconstco.com > > > > | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will > | be February 24. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. > | This list's page is <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup>. Kind regards, Andy a0arno01 at athena.louisville.edu Remember the two most important things in life: 1. Don't tell everyone everything you know 2. The software box said, "Windows XP or better," so I bought a Macintosh. "Macintosh. We may not have done everything right, but at least we knew the century was going to end."-Douglas Adams | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will | be February 24. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. | This list's page is <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup>.
