I had a when not if situation when my hard drive made a couple of clicking noises then died. All gone.
My backup was three-four weeks old so all was not lost bit some things were and trying to understand what was and wasn't took a lot of time. My response: Hourly TimeMachine backups to a network A daily back-up clone to a USB drive Dropbox Evernote IMAP emails 1Password I hope this is good enough. I recommend at least the same. Yours Mark Mark Schofield, Hove. On Feb 15, 8:23 pm, Ranulph Glanville <[email protected]> wrote: > I find that it's essential to keep a second, cloned backup on a portable > disc, as well as a time machine backup. When, as happens all too frequently, > my MBP goes to MacHospital, I use an old machine with the backup disc as > startup disc. Then, when I get my MBP back (usual turn round 2 weeks, I'm > afraid) I restore from the back up disc I was using as a startup disc, and > then rebackup on time machine. > > This way I have 2 backups and I have a recent machine from which I can work > on another mac. > > I use data backup, from ProSoft, who are very good for recovery and other > emergency stuff. > > Ranulph > > On 15 Feb 2011, at 10:36, Toby Leighton wrote: > > > > > Hello all, > > > I am going to send this to the SMUG group, who helped me out a lot > > yesterday morning when I was in a slightly frantic panic, and to BNM > > because there are a lot of mac users, and freelancers who may benefit from > > the advice here. I wouldn't usually cross post like this, or write such a > > long essay of an email so I hope this is allowed in this case. > > > After yesterday mornings "dead computer" situation I am pleased to report > > that I am already back up and running, repaired and everything. Apple > > store turned the repair around for me much faster than I was anticipating, > > not because I got any special favours, but because they were quiet at the > > moment, they already had the necessary part in stock etc. I was lucky in > > this case, I know this. > > > So I was prepared to be without my main computer for approx 1 week, and I > > would like to announce the programs, and lessons learned so that everyone > > here can see how a very real potential disaster was made rather painless > > indeed. I rely on my computer for my work, as I'm sure many of you do too, > > so I strongly encourage everyone here to look at their own situations and > > how much you rely on your own tech and what you would do if the worst were > > to happen... > > > 1) have a spare computer. Mine is an old but working G4 tower, It was free > > from this very group (cogapp was clearing out), and its now running OSX > > 10.5 server. It was too slow for me to carry on the photoshop work I was > > doing. Opening a 600dpi tif file even in preview took rather a while so I > > wasn't going to entertain the notion of doing any touch-up work. > > Lesson learned. If you have a spare computer, It can be quite old, but > > make sure that it is at least capable of running the applications you need, > > even if you don't keep them installed. If I needed any intel only apps I > > would have been stuck, so a backup computer capable of running the same OS > > would have been ideal, but this did the job. I was able to finish the > > scanning I was doing, the touch-ups can wait until the main computer is > > back. > > > 2) backups! Time machine is good, but you can only access your backed up > > files from another mac using the time machine interface. I have moved away > > from time machine and now use crashplan which works in exactly the same > > style as time machine, but you can restore your files (including different > > versions of them) from a PC, linux, mac os, or even web page interface. > > You can use it to backup any computer to any other computer for free! > > regardless of the OS! I pay them $5 a month for unlimited online storage > > (for one computer) and right now it feels like the best $5 I have ever > > spent in my life. > > Lesson learned - I had removed my scanning folder from the backup set, as > > it would have been sending hundreds of 50-60Mb files up and down the > > internet which weren't going to be staying as TIF for very long as they get > > worked on and resized down. This was foolish, because when the computer > > failed, these were exactly the files that I needed to get to the most, and > > I'm paying for unlimited online storage, so I may as well not be scared to > > make use of it. Luckily I was able to move them using target mode into.... > > > 3) Dropbox. The documents I need to keep handy, such as my invoices and > > receipts are in Dropbox. Theres also some company sensitive stuff in there > > too, so luckily I was able to use my mac in target mode to remove the > > Dropbox folder before sending it in for service. Dropbox doesn't have a > > remote-wipe functionality, which would in hindsight be a nice feature, but > > it allowed me to access my important documents from my iphone, and from > > public computers using the web interface. All this for free! its beyond > > belief. I feel like I should give them some money because its so good, but > > their free product meets my needs perfectly well. > > > 4) passwords. I live by keychain in macosx. I randomly generate password > > for everything and keep them all in keychains. You can access your > > keychain as a file, the default one is ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain > > When you go to another computer, just copy that file with you. optionally > > rename it to "my passwords" if you wish, and double click it. When you are > > on the other machine you will still be able to access your webspace / ebay > > / bank / wifi networks by entering your old account password. > > Lesson learned! keychain is great, like time machine, but its mac only. I > > have been meaning for ages to move away from keychain and start using the > > program called 1passwd. like crashplan, it does the same thing as > > keychain, only you can use it on windows as well, and even your iphone. > > > So with the combination of those programs I was able to send my computer > > straight into the apple store for repair, rather than having to spend half > > a day faffing around getting my important stuff off it first and hoping I > > had remembered everything I needed... the sooner it goes in for repair, > > the sooner it is back working. > > > For the benefit of the BNM readers, I am obviously using a mac here as my > > main computer, but the programs mentioned are all available for windows and > > sometimes linux too. This means that I could at a moments notice > > effectively carry on with my work on any computer I had to hand. If sony > > hadn't removed linux support from the PS3 I could have even used that as a > > reasonably powerful machine instead of the G4 tower. This week I have 3 > > pieces of work on, plus an interview on wednesday, so its not exactly an > > ideal time to be without my computer, but then again, is it ever an ideal > > time for these things to happen? > > > Please all learn from my positive experience and prepare yourselves for the > > disaster before it actually happens. Most of the programs I have mentioned > > are either free or very very cheap. > > > Toby > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "Sussex Mac User Group" group. > > To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected]. > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/smug?hl=en-GB. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/smug?hl=en-GB.
