Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac (2.0) SAMPLE

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TAKE CONTROL OF

BACKING UP YOUR MAC

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2 ND

EDITION

Table of Contents Read Me First ................................................................. 5

Updates and More .......................................................... 5

Basics ......................................................................... 6

What’s New in the Second Edition ..................................... 8

Introduction ................................................................. 11

Mac Backups Quick Start ............................................... 13

Plan a Backup Strategy ................................................. 15

Understand Joe’s Basic Backup Strategy ........................... 15

Why Create Versioned Backups? ...................................... 17

Why Create Bootable Duplicates? .................................... 18

Why Use an External Hard Drive? .................................... 22

Why Use Multiple Partitions? ........................................... 24

Why Automate Backups? ............................................... 24

Why Keep Multiple Backups? .......................................... 26

Why Store Backups Offsite? ............................................ 27

Reassess Your Backup Strategy ..................................... 29

What’s New in the World of Mac Backups ........................... 29

Factors to Reevaluate .................................................... 36

Choose a Versioned Backup Program ............................. 40

Decide If Time Machine Is Right for You ............................ 40

Explore Backup Software Features ................................... 44

Choose Another Versioned Backup Program ....................... 54

Choose Backup Hardware .............................................. 58

Decide on Capacity ....................................................... 58

Choose an Interface (or Several) ..................................... 62

Consider Other Factors .................................................. 64

Decide Whether to Buy a Time Capsule ............................. 65

Decide How Many Drives to Buy ...................................... 67

Consider Other Hardware Options .................................... 68

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Prepare Your Hard Drive ............................................... 78

Choose a Partition Map Scheme ...................................... 78

Decide How Many Partitions to Make ................................ 81

Configure Your Drive ..................................................... 82

Choose Local or Network Backups .................................... 85

Configure and Use Time Machine ................................... 88

Time Machine Basics ..................................................... 88

Choose a Destination (or More Than One) ......................... 89

Exclude Files from Time Machine ..................................... 91

Restore Data with Time Machine ...................................... 98

Delete Files from a Time Machine Backup ........................ 108

Encrypt Your Time Machine Backup ................................ 110

Use a Single Backup Disk with Multiple Macs .................... 111

Use Power Nap ........................................................... 113

Manage Your Time Machine Schedule .............................. 114

Migrate to a Larger Time Machine Disk ............................ 117

Avoid (or Solve) Time Machine Problems ......................... 121

Use Other Versioned Backup Software ......................... 126

ChronoSync Tips ........................................................ 126

CrashPlan Tips ........................................................... 128

Data Backup Tips ....................................................... 129

DollyDrive Tips ........................................................... 129

QRecall Tips .............................................................. 130

Retrospect Tips .......................................................... 131

Test Your Versioned Backup .......................................... 133

Create a Bootable Duplicate ......................................... 135

Set Ownership on the Destination Volume ........................ 136

Create a Duplicate with SuperDuper ............................... 136

Create a Duplicate with Carbon Copy Cloner ..................... 138

Test Your Duplicate ..................................................... 140

Store an Extra Backup Offsite ...................................... 143

Use an Extra Hard Drive ............................................... 143

Use an Internet Backup Service ..................................... 145

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What to Do When Disaster Strikes ............................... 153

Restore Individual Files ................................................ 153

Use Your Bootable Duplicate ......................................... 154

Restore a Disk from a Bootable Duplicate ........................ 155

Manage Your Media ..................................................... 157

What to Do When Your Disks Fill Up ............................... 157

Think about Long-Term Archive Storage .......................... 159

Consider Special Backup Needs .................................... 161

Digital Photos ............................................................ 161

Dealing with Huge Volumes of Data ................................ 164

Back Up Data from the Cloud ........................................ 172

Backing Up a Small Network ......................................... 173

Backing Up While on the Road ....................................... 177

Windows Files and Volumes .......................................... 181

Teach This Book ......................................................... 190

About This Book ......................................................... 191

Ebook Extras ............................................................. 191

About the Author ........................................................ 192

About the Publisher..................................................... 193

Copyright and Fine Print .............................................. 194

Featured Titles ........................................................... 195

ChronoSync Coupon .................................................... 196

CrashPlan Coupon ....................................................... 197

Data Backup Coupon ................................................... 198

DollyDrive Coupon ...................................................... 199

QRecall Coupon .......................................................... 200

Retrospect Desktop Coupon ......................................... 201

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Read Me First Welcome to Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac, Second Edition, version 2.0, published in June 2013 by TidBITS Publishing Inc. This book was written by Joe Kissell and edited by Jeff Carlson. The data on every Mac should be backed up to protect you against theft, hardware failure, user error, and other catastrophes. This book helps you design a sensible backup strategy, choose and configure the best backup hardware and software for your needs, and understand how to make your backups as painless as possible. If you want to share this ebook with a friend, we ask that you do so as you would with a physical book: “lend” it for a quick look, but ask your friend to buy a copy for careful reading or reference. Also, you can Teach This Book. Copyright © 2013, alt concepts inc. All rights reserved.

Updates and More

You can access extras related to this book on the Web (use the link in Ebook Extras, near the end; it’s available only to purchasers). On the ebook’s Take Control Extras page, you can: • Download any available new version of the ebook for free, or buy any subsequent edition at a discount. • Download various formats, including PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket. (Learn about reading this ebook on handheld devices on our device advice page.) • Read postings to the ebook’s blog. These may include new information and tips, as well as links to author interviews. At the top of the blog, you can also see any update plans for the ebook.

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If you bought this ebook from the Take Control Web site, it has been added to your account, where you can download it in other formats and access any future updates. However, if you bought this ebook elsewhere, you can add it to your account manually; see Ebook Extras.

Basics

Here are a few basic concepts that will help you read this book: • Links: All blue text in this ebook is hot, meaning you can click (or tap) it, just like a link on the Web. When you follow a link to a different part of the ebook, you can return quickly to where you were by using your ebook reader’s “back” feature, if offered. For example, if you use iBooks in iOS to read the EPUB version of this ebook, you can tap the “Back to” link at the lower left of the screen. Or, if you use Preview on a Mac to read the PDF version, you can choose Go > Back or press Command-[. • Menus: Where I describe choosing a command from a menu in the menu bar, I use an abbreviated description. For example, the abbreviated description for the menu command that creates a new folder in the Finder is “File > New Folder.” • Contextual menus: Contextual menus appear when you Controlclick various elements on a Macintosh screen, including Dock items and files in Finder windows. To describe opening a contextual menu, I usually I tell you to right-click (Control-click) an item on the screen. If your mouse offers a right-click option, or if you use a trackpad or other means of opening a contextual menu, you should feel free to use the method you prefer. • Finding System Preferences: I sometimes refer to settings in System Preferences that you may want to adjust. To open System Preferences, click its icon in the Dock or choose Apple  > System Preferences. When the System Preferences window opens, click the icon of the pane whose settings you want to adjust. I refer to these panes using a brief notation such as “the Network preference pane.” 6


• Path syntax: This book occasionally uses a path to show the location of a file or folder in your file system. For example, Mac OS X stores most utilities, such as Terminal, in the Utilities folder. The path to Terminal is: /Applications/Utilities/Terminal. The slash at the start of the path tells you to begin at the top level of the disk. Some paths begin with ~ (tilde), which is a shortcut for the current user’s home directory. For example, if the person currently logged in has the username joe and wants to install fonts that only he can access, he would put them in ~/Library/Fonts, which is just another way of writing /Users/joe/Library/Fonts. • User Library: The library folder mentioned in the previous paragraph, ~/Library, is normally invisible in Lion and later. To see it in the Finder, hold down the Option key and choose Go > Library. • Big cats: I frequently mention details specific to a particular version of Mac OS X, which Apple usually refers to by a “big cat” code name: ‣ Mountain Lion: OS X 10.8 ‣ Lion: Mac OS X 10.7 ‣ Snow Leopard: Mac OS X 10.6 ‣ Leopard: Mac OS X 10.5 Note: Apple has announced that OS X 10.9 will be called Mavericks,

thus abandoning the big-cat nomenclature of the previous nine

versions of Mac OS X.

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What’s New in the Second Edition

It’s been nearly two years since the last update to this book, and a lot has changed in that time—a new version of OS X; many new or updated hardware, software, and online tools for backups; and, as always, further refinements in my thinking about how best to tackle backup problems. Here are the biggest changes in this edition: • Several chunks of content were moved to Online Appendixes (with

summaries and pointers left in the book) so that I can more easily keep them up to date. In particular, most of the content for these topics has been moved to the Online Appendixes: ‣ Alternative Hard Drive Options, including hardware-encrypted drives, driveless enclosures, portable drives, and NAS devices ‣ Photo Sharing Services, which can serve as a backup of sorts for photos and videos • My table of backup software, which provides feature comparisons for nearly 100 Mac backup apps, remains in the Online Appendixes, and has been freshly updated with the latest facts—and a new, much prettier interface. I’ve also split online backup and storage services into a separate area of the appendixes for easier reading. • The erstwhile Retrospect Primer, which was formerly online and which covered the use of Retrospect Desktop 6.x, has been retired, since that version is now so far out of date. • Added a sidebar called Cloud Sync and File Restoration that covers ways in which syncing your data to the cloud using a service such as as Dropbox can simplify restoring backups. • Updated the sidebar Backing Up iTunes Store Purchases, and added the sidebar iTunes Match and Music Backups, to address Apple’s changing policies about re-downloading purchased media and the use of iTunes Match.

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• Thoroughly revised the chapter Reassess Your Backup Strategy to cover changes in hardware, software, online services, and the ways in which digital media is used. • Downgraded my previously enthusiastic endorsement of Time Machine by listing a number of problems that Apple seems reluctant to address; see Decide If Time Machine Is Right for You. • Changed my earlier term “sub-file updates” to the more common expression Delta Encoding. • Dropped Synk from the list of recommended apps for versioned backups (due to long-standing bugs and an extended period without updates), and added DollyDrive; see Choose Another Versioned Backup Program and Use Other Versioned Backup Software. • Combined two chapters from the previous edition (“Pick a Hard Drive” and “Consider Other Hardware Options”) into a new chapter called Choose Backup Hardware, which better covers newer technologies such as USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt while dropping some material and moving other details to the Online Appendixes. • Trimmed the chapter Configure and Use Time Machine to remove seldom-needed details and outdated instructions, while adding information about newer features, such as multiple destination disks in Mountain Lion and the Power Nap feature for certain notebook Mac models. • Updated the chapter Create a Bootable Duplicate to include cloning a Recovery HD partition and revised instructions for how to Create a Duplicate with Carbon Copy Cloner, as well as new sidebars: Perform a Safe Boot and Running Backups from a Duplicate. • Added a topic called Think about Long-Term Archive Storage, which discusses the problem of data degradation over time. • Addressed the important matter of how privacy laws affect online backups; see the sidebar HIPAA and Cloud Backups.

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• Expanded the discussion of backing up data that’s normally stored only in cloud-based services to either local destinations or secondary cloud destinations; see Back Up Data from the Cloud. • Revised the discussion of how to Duplicate a Boot Camp Volume to cover the resurrected Winclone utility. • Added a chapter called Teach This Book about how you can use the contents of this book as the basis of a class or presentation.

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Introduction The first book I wrote about backups, back in 2004, was called Take Control of Mac OS X Backups. My goal was to help Mac users make sense of the complex and sometimes daunting topic of backing up and restoring data. That book, which turned out to be wildly popular, went through five editions and spun off a shorter title (Take Control of Easy Backups in Leopard, later renamed to Take Control of Easy Mac Backups). In 2011, I simplified things by creating a new book, Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac, which incorporated the best of its predecessors while rearranging the material for easier reading. Now, nearly two years later, it’s time for another fresh look at backups. As time goes on, I’m constantly reevaluating my approach to backups as well as the advice I give to others. Although my overall strategy has remained largely consistent, the ways I implement it have changed, and will surely change again. This new edition of Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac reflects my most recent thinking, and even if you already have a good backup system in place, you might find some ideas that will help you modernize and improve it. One of the specific challenges I’ve always faced in keeping a topic like this up to date is that hardware, software, and online services are constantly in flux. For example, some of what I said about Time Machine in the days of Lion became obsolete when Mountain Lion was released. Hardware and software have been superseded by new products. Cloud services have appeared, disappeared, and changed. Several years ago, in response to this problem, I moved a couple of appendixes from the book onto a Web page so that I could keep them current without making readers wait for a new version of the book. I’ve now realized that a few more portions of the book would benefit from the same treatment. So, what I now provide in certain spots is a brief summary along with a link to a Web page where you can see further details, which I’ll try to keep reasonably up to date. I’ve also pruned a few other portions of the book that have outlived their usefulness. 11


With those changes made, we have a modern approach to Mac backups that covers the bases but doesn’t overwhelm you with extraneous details. I explain how to develop and apply a solid backup strategy, make smart hardware and software choices, and restore your data if disaster strikes. Rather than explore every alternative exhaustively, I guide you gently but firmly into a fairly narrow set of options that should yield excellent results for the vast majority of Mac users. Before we get started, however, I need to mention a few qualifications: • This book is primarily for people who need to back up either a single Mac or a small network—not for system administrators who need to back up dozens or hundreds of machines. As a result, I say little about the high-end equipment and enterprise-grade software used for backing up large networks. • I don’t cover command-line software such as cp or rsync. My goal is to make the process as simple as possible—ideally, without requiring you to open Terminal or know anything about Unix. • Although I provide basic guidance for performing backups with several popular programs, I can’t give foolproof, step-by-step instructions for setting up every backup program you might use. But by the end of this book, you should have enough information to determine, with the help of your software’s documentation, the preferences and settings needed to achieve your desired outcome. • To make this edition shorter and easier to read, I’ve included specific instructions only for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and later. Although much of this book applies generally to older versions of Mac OS X, I don’t spell out any differences. If you’re still running 10.5 Leopard or 10.6 Snow Leopard, you can download (for free) the previous edition, which covers those versions of Mac OS X: in Ebook Extras, follow the “access extras” link and then look in the blog. In addition, although I don’t cover Windows by itself, do see Windows Files and Volumes, which discusses backing up Windows when it’s running on your Mac.

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Mac Backups Quick Start You can read this book in any order, but I suggest that you start with Plan a Backup Strategy in order to understand the rationale behind the hardware, software, and setup advice I give later. Here are the components of a solid Mac OS X backup plan.

Decide on a backup strategy: • If you already have a backup system in place based on what you read in an earlier edition of this book (or one of its predecessors), begin by reading Reassess Your Backup Strategy to find out what’s new and which Factors to Reevaluate to determine whether any changes are in order. • Everyone else: Start at the beginning, with the Plan a Backup Strategy chapter. You’ll soon Understand Joe’s Basic Backup Strategy, which revolves around three key components: versioned backups (containing multiple copies of files as they existed at various points in time), a bootable duplicate (a complete, bootable copy of your hard disk), and offsite storage (in case something wipes out your Mac and the backup media sitting right next to it).

Assemble the components: • Figure out whether Time Machine is a good option for your needs, and if not, select a different program to perform versioned backups. Read Choose a Versioned Backup Program for a feature overview, and then either pick an option noted in Explore Backup Software Features or consult the Online Appendixes for details and sources. • Choose Backup Hardware—most likely a hard drive or two—to store your backups on (one of which may be inside a Time Capsule or similar device). • Learn how to Prepare Your Hard Drive with the right number and type of partitions and volume formats for the types of backups you want to do. 13


Set up your backups: • If you’ve chosen to use Time Machine for versioned backups, read Configure and Use Time Machine. Otherwise, consult Use Other Versioned Backup Software to learn how to configure a versioned backup and verify that you can retrieve stored files. • Make a bootable copy of your startup volume, schedule it for regular updates, and test it to make sure it works with the advice in Create a Bootable Duplicate. • One way or another, Store an Extra Backup Offsite—either by physically moving backup media or by signing up for an online backup service.

Address problems and unusual situations: • If your disk dies, your Mac is stolen, or an important file goes missing, don’t panic; read What to Do When Disaster Strikes. • After months or years of backing up your Mac, you may run out of space on your backup disks, or you may become concerned about the long-term viability of your backup media. Discover what to do about this in Manage Your Media. • Find out how to deal with backup needs that don’t fit neatly in the duplicate or versioned categories by reading Consider Special Backup Needs. As appropriate, read about Digital Photos, Dealing with Huge Volumes of Data, Backing Up a Small Network, Backing Up While on the Road, and Windows Files and Volumes.

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Plan a Backup Strategy In keeping with the Take Control spirit, this book focuses on the strategy, hardware, and software I can most heartily recommend based on extensive personal and professional experience. I’m going to give you my expert advice, and although that will include areas in which you can choose among several options, I’m framing the decision simply. I’ll be telling you, “Today’s choices are lasagna, fried rice, and ratatouille (and by the way, my lasagna is pretty darn good)” instead of saying, “Choose anything from The Joy of Cooking.” If you follow my suggestions, you can rest easy knowing that your data is safe—and you won’t spend a fortune or spend days fiddling with setup. And if you opt out of any of the three main components of my basic backup strategy, you’ll do so with both eyes open.

Understand Joe’s Basic Backup Strategy Basically, the strategy I want you to follow consists of three key parts: • Versioned backups: Use Time Machine or another backup program to store versioned backups—copies of each file as it existed at many points in time. Update your versioned backups incrementally (copying only new or changed data each time) at least daily, and preferably more often. • Bootable duplicate: Create a bootable duplicate of your startup volume on an external drive, and update that duplicate regularly. • Offsite copies: Keep at least one backup copy of your important data somewhere safely away from your computer—in another building, at least, and perhaps even in another part of the world. Tip: Later in this chapter, I’ve included a sidebar about how cloud-

based file syncing services can supplement your backup strategy by

giving you a quick way to get back to work after a major computer

problem. See Cloud Sync and File Restoration.

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Reassess Your Backup Strategy If you’re reading this book for the first time, you may not already have a backup strategy—in which case, feel free to skip this chapter for now. But I suggest returning to it in a year or so, by which time you may benefit from its recommendations. If you already have a backup strategy, though, read on to learn the best way to proceed. Just as I reevaluate my stance every so often, you should periodically reassess your backup strategy in light of new information. If you read an earlier incarnation of one of my books and set up a backup system based on what I said a year or more ago, I’d like you to reassess your strategy right now. Either way, put a reminder on your calendar for one year from now to (re-)read this chapter, and then do it again! I want to begin with a brief “state of the union” look at what has changed in the last couple of years (as I write this in mid-2013), and then say a few words about Factors to Reevaluate as you reconsider your backup strategy, both now and every year. Feel free to skim this section to see which topics are applicable to you; you might want to jot down a few notes about those topics to help you identify items to concentrate on as you reformulate your backup approach.

What’s New in the World of Mac Backups Since the last time this book was updated, a great many things have changed that affect Mac backups. I’ve presented the highlights here in a number of different categories.

The Next (and Last) Big Cat In July 2012, almost exactly a year after Mac OS X 10.7 Lion appeared, Apple released OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Along with dropping the

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“Mac” from “Mac OS X,” Mountain Lion introduced a long list of changes, including a few that relate to backups: • Time Machine can now encrypt backups that are stored on a Time Capsule. For more information, read Encrypt Your Time Machine Backup. • You’re no longer restricted to a single destination in Time Machine. Instead, you can select two or more destinations, and Time Machine automatically alternates among them. I say more about this in Choose a Destination (or More Than One). • Power Nap, a feature available on Mac laptops with flash storage, enables your Mac to wake up briefly to run Time Machine (and perform a few other tasks), and then go back to sleep. For details, see Use Power Nap. The next version of OS X, 10.9 Mavericks, drops the “big cat” nomenclature in favor of surfing spots; it’s scheduled to ship in late 2013. As I write this, I haven’t yet heard what, if anything, might change regarding backups in Mavericks, but I’ll certainly be keeping a close eye on it.

More Data Needs Backing Up The amount of data we generate, and want to back up personally, continues to grow—but in some respects, the rate at which it’s growing has slowed: • Digital imaging is getting higher-res. The average number of megapixels in digital camera sensors (including those built into mobile phones) continues to rise. Both digital still cameras and camcorders are now more likely to record HD video content, and 1080p support is nearly universal. Cameras and displays that support 4K Ultra HD resolution for video are becoming more common. (Various flavors of 4K range from 7 to 12.7 megapixels. And yes, 8K Ultra HD will be the next big thing after that.) • Video streaming is all the rage. The Apple TV and numerous set-top boxes and Internet-enabled TVs and DVD/Blu-ray players 30


Choose a Versioned Backup Program Time Machine is, for many people, the easiest way to make versioned backups. However, it’s not ideal for everyone. Before getting into the details about setting up and using it (see Configure and Use Time Machine), I want to tell you what I like and dislike about it, and look at a few situations in which it may be the wrong solution. For those people who need different software, I point you in the right direction with a discussion of features to look for and examples of other versioned backup programs I can recommend.

Decide If Time Machine Is Right for You Time Machine is the backup software built into Mac OS X since 10.5 Leopard. Apple’s goal was to make backups as easy as possible, and compared to anything that came before it, Time Machine is certainly much simpler to set up and use. In some cases, you can set it up and turn it on with a grand total of one click! It’s hard to beat that. Anything that makes backups easier and thereby encourages more people to use them gets a gold star in my book. Without a doubt, Apple got a lot of things right about Time Machine. The user interface is elegant, if unusual. And, with each successive update to Mac OS X, Time Machine becomes even better and more useful. I love how I can restore files right in the Finder, without having to open a separate app, and since the release of Lion I’ve appreciated the fact that my MacBook Pro can back up files using Time Machine even when I’m away from my desk and a Time Machine volume. Apple’s addition of encryption for both local and Time Capsule-based backups was also most welcome.

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And yet, I find the shine wearing off more and more, for several reasons: • Time Machine’s approach doesn’t scale well to large amounts of data. For one thing, backing up lots of large files takes far longer than it should, because Time Machine always copies entire files rather than using delta encoding as many other backup apps do. And, even if your Time Machine drive has plenty of storage space, by the time you have several months worth of backups, the sheer number of files seems to bog down Time Machine and make simple operations unreasonably sluggish. • Although Time Machine is supposed to be almost invisible in ordinary use, it sometimes uses up far too many system resources. If I notice the fan on my wife’s MacBook Pro start to wail, it’s usually because Time Machine happens to be running. • Time Machine is pretty good at restoring individual files and folders from a specific point in time. But it falls down in a number of common usage scenarios. For example, suppose your hard drive dies and you replace it with a bootable duplicate you created last week—and now you want Time Machine to restore only the files that changed since last week. There’s no easy way to do that. • One of Time Machine’s flashiest features when it was introduced was the capability to restore individual items within apps like iPhoto, Mail, and Contacts (previously called Address Book). Although Apple later added Time Machine support to GarageBand, it inexplicably removed support from iPhoto. Lots of other apps could benefit from in-app restoration (I’m thinking of Calendar, in particular, as well as numerous third-party apps), but for whatever reason, Apple has backpedaled on that capability. • Time Machine works best with a directly connected hard drive, but tends to be flakier and slower when backing up to a Time Capsule or other network device. And, Apple still doesn’t officially support backing up to an AirPort Disk (a USB disk connected to an AirPort base station), which should be pretty much the same as a 41


Choose Backup Hardware You’re almost certainly going to need one or more external hard drives for your backups. (Even if you use a Time Capsule or other network storage, you’ll need a separate external hard drive to store a bootable duplicate.) You can find hard drives with every imaginable combination of capacity, speed, interface, and case design—and the selection changes constantly. In this chapter, I focus on the most important things to consider when choosing a drive (capacity, interface, and price) and help you to cut through some of the confusion. After you Decide Whether to Buy a Time Capsule, I help you Decide How Many Drives to Buy. Some users who need extra capacity, speed, or features may need to go beyond a conventional hard drive, such as a RAID or a hardwareencrypted drive. I discuss these and other less-common options at the end of the chapter, in Consider Other Hardware Options.

Decide on Capacity

The most important consideration in a backup drive, by far, is its capacity—how many gigabytes or terabytes of data it will hold. In general, the bigger, the better. In fact, I could simply say to get the largest hard drive you can afford, and that would be a reasonable rule of thumb. However, if you can’t afford an especially large drive, or if the amount of data you have to back up is exceptionally large, you may want more guidance. So, figure out the size you’ll need for duplicates, then the size you’ll need for versioned backups, and finally the total size to look for.

Duplicate Size You’ll store, on part of your external hard drive, an exact, bootable copy of your Mac’s regular startup volume. (If you use a Time Capsule, 58


which can’t store bootable duplicates, you’ll use an entirely separate drive for this purpose.) But the volume that stores your duplicate need only be as large as the amount of data on your startup volume, not necessarily the whole disk. For example, if your Mac came with a 1 TB hard drive but you’ve filled up only 500 GB of that space, you can fit a duplicate on a 500 GB disk or partition. Over time, though, you’ll add more files to your Mac, so if you cut it that close, you’ll soon outgrow your backup drive. Therefore, I suggest you allot at least one and a half times the amount of space currently occupied on your startup volume for a duplicate. So if you have 500 GB of data on your startup volume, you want (at least) 750 GB for the duplicate. More space, of course, is perfectly fine; it will give you even more room to grow. To find out how much space on your startup volume is being used, select the your disk’s icon in the sidebar of any Finder window. Then press Command-I to display the Info window (Figure 1). The number by “Used” is the amount of space currently occupied on the disk.

Figure 1: To see how much space is occupied on your disk, select it, choose File > Get Info, and look for the number next to “Used.” 59


Prepare Your Hard Drive You’ve just unpacked your brand new hard drive (or two), and you’re ready to get busy backing up. You might be able to plug in the drive and start working with it immediately, but it depends. Some drives come formatted for Windows computers, for example, while others might be formatted for a Mac—or not at all. Some come preloaded with utilities and demo software. Some could use the wrong partition map scheme for your computer, which might, among other things, prevent Time Machine from being able to see or use the drive. In short, because each manufacturer has slightly different ideas about how you might want to use your drive, you should take a few minutes, before you do anything else, to make sure it’s configured correctly for your needs. If you have a Time Capsule, its built-in drive comes preconfigured just the way you need it, so you don’t need to worry about anything in this chapter for that device. However, you must still follow these steps for the external drive you use to store your bootable duplicate, and any external drive(s) you decide to attach to your Time Capsule.

Choose a Partition Map Scheme

Your hard drive contains a tiny block of information called a partition map or partition table that describes things like how many volumes the drive has, how large they are, and where they’re located. The way information is stored in this little block of data is called the partition map scheme, and the choice of scheme turns out to be crucial to how the drive can be used. Windows PCs generally use a scheme called the Master Boot Record (MBR) Partition Table; pre-Intel Macs have, since the very beginning, used a scheme called Apple Partition Map (APM); and Intel-based Macs by default use a newer and more advanced scheme, GUID Partition Table (GPT). The partition map

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scheme affects the entire drive, regardless of how many partitions it has or how those partitions are formatted. The majority of hard drives are configured at the factory to use the MBR scheme, because that’s the norm on Windows. In most cases that’s fine—if you plug such a drive into your Mac, it will most likely work as a backup drive without any intervention. However, it’s worth noting that Time Machine can’t use volumes larger than 512 GB on an MBR-partitioned drive. (That’s because Time Machine requires the Mac OS Extended format, also known as HFS+, and HFS+ volumes can’t be larger than 512 GB on an MBR-partitioned drive.) You normally need not worry about this; if you select a disk to use as a Time Machine destination and it’s partitioned using the MBR scheme, Mac OS X will offer to repartition it for you as a GPT disk automatically. But, if you don’t want to use the entire disk for Time Machine backups—for example, if, as I suggest, you want to divide the disk into a partition for Time Machine (or other versioned backups) and a partition to hold a bootable duplicate—then you should manually repartition the disk before handing it over to Time Machine. As you do, you should check the partition map scheme, because changing it requires erasing all the data on the disk; that’s obviously something best done before you’ve copied any of your personal files onto it. Although there are a couple of ways to check your drive’s partition map scheme, I recommend using Disk Utility—and then just leaving it open, because you’ll be using it to format your drives in just a moment (see Configure Your Drive). Follow these steps: 1. Open Disk Utility (in /Applications/Utilities). 2. In the list on the left, select your external drive. (The drive may have one or more additional icons, representing individual volumes, indented underneath it; select the topmost icon for that device, which represents the drive as a whole.)

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Configure and Use Time Machine If you’ve decided to use Time Machine for versioned backups, this chapter tells you everything you need to know about using it. (If you’ve chosen other software for versioned backups, skip directly to Use Other Versioned Backup Software.) Apple says it takes just one click to set up Time Machine; while that may be true in rare cases, it’s usually a bit more involved. This chapter walks you through the details of setting up Time Machine, backing up and restoring files, and other activities. As I explained in Decide If Time Machine Is Right for You, my enthusiasm for Time Machine is not what it once was. I still use it, but not as my only form of versioned backups, and not on all my Macs. Therefore, even though this chapter is fairly long, I make no attempt to be comprehensive here, especially when it comes to troubleshooting Time Machine problems. However, never fear: James Pond’s outstanding Apple OS X and Time Machine Tips site has been expanded with tons of thoroughly researched and up-to-date information about Time Machine and solving a variety of problems. So, rather than reinvent the wheel, I’ll refer you to that site for additional help at certain spots in this chapter.

Time Machine Basics

Time Machine has three visible components: a preference pane found in System Preferences (Figure 6); an application found in the Applications folder, Launchpad, and, optionally, in the Dock (Figure 7); and a Time Machine menu in the main menu bar. (You can enable or disable this menu with the Show Time Machine in Menu Bar checkbox in the Time Machine preference pane.) 88


Figure 6: Specify backup drives and ignored volumes in the Time Machine preference pane.

Figure 7: The Time Machine icon in the Dock. Although it no longer appears there by default in new installations of Lion or later, you can add it by dragging the icon from your Applications folder to the Dock.

Choose a Destination (or More Than One) Assuming you’ve followed the steps in the last chapter, you already have a hard drive formatted and ready to go—this could be a standalone device connected to your Mac, a Time Capsule, or a drive attached to another Mac on your network. In any case, the next step is to tell Time Machine which destination(s) to use: 1. Open the Time Machine preference pane. 89


Use Other Versioned Backup Software If you have decided to create versioned backups using a program other than Time Machine, set that up now. I wish I could give you step-bystep instructions for using each one of those applications, but that would take too many pages (and you can read the applications’ documentation for help). Instead, I want to give you a few tips for each of several good choices, all of which I mentioned back in Choose Another Versioned Backup Program. Although I’ve used and can recommend each of the programs I mention here, I don’t pretend that this is an exhaustive list. There are many other excellent options, too, and you can read about them in the Online Appendixes. Later in the chapter, I also give several general pointers about things like power management and testing versioned backups.

ChronoSync Tips

If you’ve selected ChronoSync for versioned backups, please be aware of the following: • Put synchronizers in containers: ChronoSync is designed around the concept of documents called synchronizers, which contain the instructions for backing up or synchronizing something. When you set up a backup or sync operation, you’re creating a synchronizer; the program prompts you to save it when you close the window or quit the program. Although ChronoSync gives you a wealth of options for each synchronizer, one fundamental limitation is that a synchronizer can apply only to a single volume or folder (and everything inside it). If you want to back up items from more than one location (perhaps even with different options) in a single operation, create one synchronizer for each folder or volume, save 126


them individually, and then choose File > New > Container and add each synchronizer to the list. You can then run all the synchronizers in one pass, and even schedule the entire container to run at a predetermined time. • Dissect away: ChronoSync can optionally look inside a package (a special folder that acts like a file) when performing a sync, so that if just some of the contents have changed, only those items are copied. This is crucial for things like your iPhoto library, because without using this feature, the entire library must be copied if even a single photo is added or changed. For reasons that are unclear to me, this feature is turned off by default, and you must re-enable it manually whenever you create a new synchronizer. To do so, click Options; choose Custom from the pop-up menu under “Special File/ Folder Handling”; and then check Dissect Packages. • Use archives for versioned backups: To create a synchronizer that produces versioned backups, choose Backup (either Left-toRight or Right-to-Left, depending on your setup) from the Operation pop-up menu and check the Archive Replaced Files box. Then click Options, and in the “Archive Handling” section, select the options you want (such as how many copies of each file to keep and when to purge older versions). • Get a good agent: ChronoSync, by itself, can back up the Mac it’s on, and it can optionally use mounted network volumes as the source or destination. However, to back up to or from another Mac on your network with administrative privileges, keeping ownership and permissions intact—crucial for, among other things, creating a bootable duplicate over the network—you must install the $10 add-on program ChronoAgent on the other Mac.

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Create a Bootable Duplicate Along with versioned backups, bootable duplicates are a key pillar of a complete backup plan. They let you get back to work quickly in the event of a hard drive failure, give you a useful troubleshooting tool, and make upgrading to a new version of Mac OS X safer. You can’t make a bootable duplicate by copying files in the Finder; you need a special utility. Lots of programs can do this, but I want to focus on two—SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner—that focus on just this one task but do it easily and effectively. Warning! Remember, you cannot store duplicates of two drives

on the same volume, even if you put them in separate folders—the

result will not be bootable. They must be on separate partitions, or

on entirely separate drives. Oh, and let me reiterate yet again: you

cannot create a bootable duplicate onto a Time Capsule (or even an

external drive connected to a Time Capsule) over a network.

SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner can make one-off duplicates, but they can also be configured to run automatically on a schedule, updating the duplicate with just those files that are new or changed since the last run, and deleting files on the destination that are no longer on the source disk. I recommend updating your duplicate at least once a week, plus right before you install any Mac OS X update. Scheduling your duplicate to update itself overnight, every 24 hours, will give you that much more security—and the nightly backups will go quicker, too, since there will be less new data to copy. I should mention that by default, making a duplicate of your startup disk will not also duplicate the hidden Recovery HD partition that Apple installs automatically with Lion and later. That is to say, if you boot from your duplicate or restore an entire disk from your duplicate, you won’t be able to use Recovery mode unless you reinstall Mac OS X 135


on the disk—something you should never have to bother with if you have a bootable duplicate. That’s not a serious concern, though, in that the point of Recovery mode is to give you a way to repair and restore your Mac if you don’t have another bootable disk. However, recent versions of Carbon Copy Cloner can duplicate the Recovery HD partition if you so choose—consult the app’s documentation for instructions. (As I write this, the current version of SuperDuper can’t do this trick.)

Set Ownership on the Destination Volume Check to see that the destination volume does not ignore ownership; if it does, your duplicate will not be bootable. To check this, select the destination volume’s icon in the Finder and choose File > Get Info. In the Sharing & Permissions portion of the window, make sure the checkbox labeled Ignore Ownership On This Volume is deselected.

Create a Duplicate with SuperDuper

SuperDuper has a well-deserved reputation for its ease of use and reliability. The software costs $27.95; a free version lets you create duplicates but not update them incrementally. (And let me say that the incremental update capability is well worth the price!) To create a duplicate with SuperDuper, follow these steps: 1. Launch SuperDuper. 2. You’ll see two pop-up menus at the top of the window (Figure 14); choose the source (your internal disk) from the one on the left and the destination (the disk or partition set aside for duplicates on your external disk) from the one on the right.

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Store an Extra Backup Offsite No matter how many backups you have or how often you update them, they do you no good if they disappear along with your computer—as they likely will in the case of theft, fire, or any other serious disaster. I urge everyone to take the precautionary step of keeping a second copy of their backups safely away from their computer—preferably in another building altogether. You can do this with a second hard drive— or, more easily and economically, with an Internet backup service.

Use an Extra Hard Drive

If you purchase two or more hard drives, you can set each of them up the same way; then, back up to one drive for a week, switch to the other one, and take the first offsite. Repeat this rotation every week or so, and you’ll be safe in the knowledge that if you lose your first backup, a second one is still available that’s no more than a week out of date. Although you can use this process with just two drives, having three is more convenient (although, of course, more expensive). At any time, you’ll have one drive (A) in use, your next-most-recent one (B) onsite, and your oldest one (C) offsite. When you rotate the drives, you bring your oldest one (C) back onsite and make it active, while taking what has now become the oldest drive (B) offsite—and so on. The safest way to keep multiple backup drives is to set them up separately. Configure one drive with partitions for duplicate and versioned backups. Set up Time Machine (or another versioned backup program) and let it run; also create a bootable duplicate. Then disconnect the drive and repeat the entire procedure with a second drive. If you use Time Machine under Mountain Lion or later, you can configure multiple destination drives, and Time Machine 143


switches between them automatically, as discussed in Choose a Destination (or More Than One). If you use a Time Capsule, you can’t just swap out its internal drive whenever you feel like it (it’s a pain to do, and it voids the warranty). You can, however, keep your backups on an external USB drive connected to your Time Capsule and then swap that drive from time to time—perhaps reserving the internal drive for media sharing. You may be wondering where exactly “offsite” could be in your case. Here are some suggestions: • Your place of work • A neighbor’s or relative’s home • A storage unit • A safe deposit box Don’t keep an offsite backup in your car (or your garage!), which is, if anything, more susceptible to damage and theft than your home. Heat and cold extremes in your car can also hasten data corruption. If you want as much security as possible with a trade-off of less convenience, keep the drive in a safe deposit box at your local bank. Taking care of your media is just as important as making proper backups in the first place. If your backup disk is lost or damaged, it does you no good. So whatever else you do, be sure to store your backup media in a cool, dry place away from significant sources of light, static electricity, vibration, and other hazards (such as inquisitive pets or children). This may seem obvious, but it pays to remember that you’re doing backups in the first place because your data is valuable— perhaps even irreplaceable. Tip: For extra safety, when your media isn’t actively in use, store it

in a container that’s rated fireproof for media.

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What to Do When Disaster Strikes You’ve diligently performed the backups recommended in this book, and then, one fateful day, disaster strikes. It might be a small disaster (one important file is missing) or a large one (your whole computer is missing). In any case, the very first thing you should do is take a deep breath and remind yourself that everything is going to be fine. Once you’re finished not panicking, proceed with the instructions here, depending on the nature of your disaster.

Restore Individual Files

The easiest problem to recover from is a small number of files that are missing, or for which you need an older version. Follow these steps: 1. If you backed up the files using Time Machine, try restoring them following the instructions in Restore Data with Time Machine. Or, if you used another versioned backup program, follow the developer’s instructions (check the Help menu) for restoring your files. 2. If the files are missing from your backup, check your bootable duplicate. Connect the drive (if it’s not already attached) and navigate to the location on the disk where the file should be. If it’s there, copy it to your main disk. 3. If Steps 1 and 2 don’t work—for example if your entire backup drive is missing—move on to your secondary backup. That may mean fetching an extra backup drive from another location and following Steps 1 and 2 again, or using your Internet backup program to find the file in your online backup.

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Restore the Data, Not the Application I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say, “I’ve lost my data from Application X, so I want to restore the application from my backups. How do I do that?” I always reply that restoring the application is the wrong thing to do. Nearly all applications—even those, like Address Book, iCal, and iPhoto, that aren’t based on documents—store their data separately from the application. If data is missing or crashes are occurring, chances are virtually nil that the application itself is broken, and restoring it won’t bring back your data. Instead, figure out where the application stores its data (a quick Google search can often help) and restore those files. If that doesn’t work, try restoring the app’s preference file(s) too.

Use Your Bootable Duplicate

In some situations it’s clear that your problem is worse than a few missing files. If your computer won’t start up—it gets stuck at a blue or gray screen or displays a flashing question mark icon—turn next to your bootable duplicate. Also use your duplicate if many files seem to be missing or damaged, applications won’t launch, you’re unable to start the computer in Recovery mode, or your Mac exhibits other similar system-wide misbehavior. Follow these steps: 1. Attach the drive containing your bootable duplicate. (Remember, it must be directly attached to your computer—you can’t boot from a duplicate over a network.) 2. If your computer is already running, restart it; if not, turn it on. As soon as you hear the startup chime, press and hold the Option key. 3. When your screen shows the volumes available for booting your Mac, use the arrow keys to select your duplicate and press Return. Your Mac should boot from the duplicate—but this may take considerably longer than booting from your regular startup disk. Once your Mac finishes booting, you can work from your duplicate if you want. But if possible, check your internal drive and repair it. 154


Manage Your Media For many people, a backup drive may sit on a desk for years, quietly doing its thing without any intervention. For others, two or more drives may be shuttled between locations to provide offsite storage. But in either case, your backup drive (or other media) won’t last forever. So, in this brief chapter, I look at What to Do When Your Disks Fill Up and explain why you should Think about Long-Term Archive Storage.

What to Do When Your Disks Fill Up

Your bootable duplicates and versioned backups should continue updating themselves happily for some time. But sooner or later, the hard disks you use for backups will fill up. (Whether this takes a few months or a few years depends on the rate at which you accumulate new data and the size of your backup disks.) When this happens, you have two options: buy new drives and start over, or recycle. By “recycle” I don’t mean throw your drives in a blue bin—I mean erase them and reuse them for a new set of backups. One argument for starting fresh is that new drives are virtually always more reliable than old ones. Another is that you can save your old drives as a long-term archive, in case you need to see what you backed up a few years ago (assuming the drive continues to work after all that time). On the other hand, recycling media saves money, not to mention physical storage space. And most people have little need for backups stretching back more than a couple of years. The choice is entirely up to you, but I can give some tips either way.

If You Recycle Old Backups… For versioned backups, you may want to recycle your drives on a regular basis, before they fill up. By periodically erasing them and starting over with a full backup—instead of relying indefinitely on 157


incremental additions since a single full backup long ago—you reduce the risk of data loss due to file corruption or misbehaving backup software. How often you recycle your media is up to you, but in general I’d suggest recycling every 1–2 years. Do, however, be aware that when you recycle media, you lose all the versioned backups stored since you started that particular cycle. In addition, if you recycle more than one set of media (for example, two or three hard drives), stagger them—do one, wait a week or two, then do the next one, and so on. That way, if you suddenly discover that you’ve erased the media containing an old file you need, you’ll still have a chance to recover it easily from another set of backup media. For bootable duplicates, as long as there’s enough free space on your destination disk, you can simply erase the disk and start over from scratch. But if you’re running out of space on the disk or partition you use for duplicates, then your only options are to repartition the drive— either expanding the partition for duplicates if there’s enough room, or repurposing a multi-partition drive as a single-partition drive—or to erase the disk, use it for something else, and buy a new, larger drive to use for bootable duplicates from now on. Tip: If you’re erasing a hard disk anyway, this is a good time to

reassess partition sizes (see Decide on Capacity). If your disk or

home folder is significantly larger than before, consider changing

the partition sizes to better accommodate your current needs.

If You Archive Old Backups… When you see that your backup media is close to being full—or when your drive’s warranty has run out and you start losing faith in it—you can set it aside, buy new drives, and start new sets of backups. Unfortunately, as I discuss just ahead in Think about Long-Term Archive Storage, hard drives make a poor choice for long-term storage (though an older hard drive that you wouldn’t trust for backups may be fine for casual, non-critical uses). In other words: yes, do buy new drives, but don’t put too much faith in being able to retrieve backups from your old drives years from now. 158


Consider Special Backup Needs Although duplicates, versioned backups, and offsite storage cover most situations that the typical user will encounter, some people have special backup needs that don’t quite fit the mold. I’m thinking, for example, of users with vast numbers of digital photos and those who are Dealing with Huge Volumes of Data because they work extensively with the gigantic files required for digital video or pro audio applications. Other special needs may include using Version Control software (including Versions, built into Mac OS X) to save copies of your files more frequently than versioned backups would permit, Backing Up a Small Network, Backing Up While on the Road (especially photos), and backing up Windows Files and Volumes. Each of these situations may require additional steps beyond conventional duplicates and versioned backups.

Digital Photos

It used to be that photos were printed on paper, and people often kept negatives as well, which could be used to create new photos if the paper copies were lost or damaged. But now that most photos are digital, your memories—a new baby, a wedding, a dream vacation—are as fragile as the media on which they’re stored. Most of us have at least a few digital photos on our computers. But increasing quantities of digital photos may amplify your concerns about entrusting this irreplaceable data to your computer. Also, digital camera resolution is constantly on the rise—meaning the next new camera you buy is going to require more space for the same number of images as your previous one. Your mobile phone, iPod, or iPad 161


probably has a camera too. As the number and size of your images increases, you may find that duplicates and versioned backups alone don’t entirely meet your backup needs. For one thing, it can be extraordinarily difficult to find just the right photo from among thousands of similarly named files when it comes time to restore your data from a backup. Although Spotlight, iPhoto, and Aperture can use keywords and other metadata to help you find photos when they’re on your main hard disk, they won’t help you when they’re on a drive stored offsite, or on a stack of DVDs. (For solutions to this problem, see Cataloging Software, below.) Photos are also among the files you’re most likely to share with other people. If you’ve ever created an online photo album using iCloud or an online photo sharing service, you know how easy (and addictive) photo sharing can be. Although the files you’ve shared online do, in a sense, constitute a backup of the ones on your computer, you probably haven’t shared all your files this way—and you most likely uploaded low-resolution copies of the images anyway. Wouldn’t it be great if you could back up your photos online, and still have the ability to share just the ones you want? (You can! I explain how in Photo Sharing Services.) Don’t forget that photos are different from the kinds of digital data that you create from scratch. Although you wouldn’t enjoy spending months rewriting The Great American Novel, it’s at least conceivable. Recreating photos of a new baby or an important life event, on the other hand, simply can’t be done. Luckily, numerous tools, services, and strategies exist for the express purpose of making photo backups as painless and secure as possible. Consider these options in addition to (or, if you prefer, instead of) duplicates and versioned backups.

Cataloging Software Although iPhoto has its flaws, it’s a reasonably good choice for managing digital photos. It even has the built-in capability of backing up your photos to optical discs (although it’s a manual process, and, as I’ve said elsewhere in this book, optical discs don’t have a future on 162


Teach This Book This book helps you develop a strategy for backing up one or more Macs of your own. But what if you need to help other people figure out how to back up their Macs? If you’d like to use the material in this book as the basis of a presentation, class, training program, or other teaching opportunity, we’d like to offer our assistance: Share a Cheat Sheet Lots of people won’t read a book like this but still desperately need great backups. So we’ve developed a free, one-page PDF handout to cover the main points and key tips in this book. You can give it to anyone who needs quick advice on working with passwords. Download it here, and you can print copies for colleagues, send it to them via email, or pop it in a shared Dropbox folder. Order Classroom Copies You can buy discounted copies of this book for classroom use. If you want to teach a group how to handle backups, classroom copies are an inexpensive way to ensure that each participant has a copy of the book. Download Training Materials Not sure what to say in a course about backups? You can download a free, simplified presentation (in an iPhone- and iPad-friendly PDF format, with the option to purchase an editable PowerPoint or Keynote file) that covers the main points in this book (contact us for purchasing details). Be sure to download the cheat sheet for your students too. Hire the Author For the ultimate experience, you can hire Joe Kissell to speak to your group about backups in person (or, if you prefer, by video). He’s an entertaining and engaging speaker, and can work with groups of any size. In addition to teaching the material in this book, he can customize a presentation to meet your organization’s needs, answer participants’ questions, and work with you to develop effective ways of handling backups. For more information and a price quote, please contact Joe. 190


About This Book Thank you for purchasing this Take Control book. We hope you find it both useful and enjoyable to read. We welcome your comments.

Ebook Extras

You can access extras related to this ebook on the Web. Once you’re on the ebook’s Take Control Extras page, you can: • Download any available new version of the ebook for free, or buy a subsequent edition at a discount. • Download various formats, including PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket. (Learn about reading this ebook on mobile devices on our device advice page.) • Read postings to the ebook’s blog. These may include new information and tips, as well as links to author interviews. At the top of the blog, you can also see any update plans for the ebook. If you bought this ebook from the Take Control Web site, it has been automatically added to your account, where you can download it in other formats and access any future updates. However, if you bought this ebook elsewhere, you can add it to your account manually: • If you already have a Take Control account, log in to your account, and then click the “access extras…” link above. • If you don’t have a Take Control account, first make one by following the directions that appear when you click the “access extras…” link above. Then, once you are logged in to your new account, add your ebook by clicking the “access extras…” link a second time. Note: If you try these directions and find that your device is

incompatible with the Take Control Web site, contact us.

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About the Author

Joe Kissell is a Senior Editor of TidBITS, a Web site and email newsletter about Apple and the Internet, and the author of numerous books about Mac and iOS topics, including Take Control of Your Passwords, Take Control of Dropbox, and Take Control of CrashPlan Backups. He is also a Senior Contributor to Macworld, was the winner of a 2009 Neal award for Best How-to Article, and has appeared on the MacTech 25 list (the 25 people voted most influential in the Macintosh community) since 2007. Joe has worked in the Mac software industry since the early 1990s, including positions managing software development for Nisus Software and Kensington Technology Group. When not writing or speaking, Joe likes to travel, walk, cook, eat, and dream (in both senses of the word). He lives in San Diego with his wife, Morgen Jahnke; their son, Soren; and their cat, Zora. To contact Joe about this book, send him email.

Shameless Plug Although I currently write and speak about technology as my day job, I have a great many other interests. To learn more about me, read other things I’ve written, and find out what I’m up to beyond the realm of Apple products, visit my home page at JoeKissell.com. You can also follow me on Twitter (@joekissell) or App.net (@joekissell).

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About the Publisher

Publishers Adam and Tonya Engst have been creating Apple-related content since they started the online newsletter TidBITS, in 1990. In TidBITS, you can find the latest Apple news, plus read reviews, opinions, and more. Adam and Tonya are known in the Apple world as writers, editors, and speakers. They are also parents to Tristan, who has reached the age where he can read, understand, and find mistakes in the Take Control series.

Credits • Take Control logo: Geoff Allen of FUN is OK • Cover design: Sam Schick of Neversink • Editor: Jeff Carlson • Production Assistant: Oliver Habicht • Editor in Chief: Tonya Engst • Publisher: Adam Engst Thank you to the folks at Nisus Software and Leanpub for their help as we continue to work their products into our production toolchain.

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Copyright and Fine Print Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac, Second Edition ISBN: 978-1-61542-422-1

Copyright © 2013, alt concepts inc. All rights reserved.

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http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/ Take Control electronic books help readers regain a measure of control in an oftentimes out-of-control universe. Take Control ebooks also streamline the publication process so that information about quickly changing technical topics can be published while it’s still relevant and accurate. This electronic book doesn’t use copy protection because copy protection makes life harder for everyone. So we ask a favor of our readers. If you want to share your copy of this ebook with a friend, please do so as you would a physical book, meaning that if your friend uses it regularly, he or she should buy a copy. Your support makes it possible for future Take Control ebooks to hit the Internet long before you’d find the same information in a printed book. Plus, if you buy the ebook, you’re entitled to any free updates that become available. You have our permission to make a single print copy of this ebook for personal use. Please reference this page if a print service refuses to print the ebook for copyright reasons. Although the author and TidBITS Publishing Inc. have made a reasonable effort to ensure the accuracy of the information herein, they assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. The information in this ebook is distributed “As Is,” without warranty of any kind. Neither TidBITS Publishing Inc. nor the author shall be liable to any person or entity for any special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including without limitation lost revenues or lost profits, that may result (or that are alleged to result) from the use of these materials. In other words, use this information at your own risk. Many of the designations used to distinguish products and services are claimed as trademarks or service marks. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features that appear in this title are assumed to be the property of their respective owners. All product names and services are used in an editorial fashion only, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is meant to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this title. This title is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Because of the nature of this title, it uses terms that are the trademarks or that are the registered trademarks of Apple Inc.; to view a complete list of the trademarks and of the registered trademarks of Apple Inc., you can visit http:// www.apple.com/legal/trademark/appletmlist.html. 194


Featured Titles Click any book title below or visit our Web catalog to add more ebooks to your Take Control collection! Take Control of CrashPlan Backups (Joe Kissell): Join backup expert Joe Kissell as he shares real-world advice about protecting your data with CrashPlan’s onsite, offsite, and cloud backups. Take Control of Dropbox (Joe Kissell): Discover the many features— especially the non-obvious ones!—that make Dropbox an exceptionally useful and popular Internet service for file transfer and collaboration. Take Control of iTunes 11: The FAQ (Kirk McElhearn): This FAQ-style ebook helps you wrap iTunes around your little finger and enjoy your media more. Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac (Joe Kissell): Find a commonsense approach to avoiding problems and ensuring that your Mac runs at peak performance. Take Control of Speeding Up Your Mac (Joe Kissell): Put the zip back into your Mac with advice based on Joe’s extensive research and experimentation in the area of Mac performance. Take Control of the Mac Command Line with Terminal (Joe Kissell): Learn the basics of the Unix command line that underlies Mac OS X, and get comfortable and confident when working in Terminal. Take Control of Troubleshooting Your Mac (Joe Kissell): Learn basic troubleshooting procedures, solve common problems, and gain confidence in solving any Mac problem. Take Control of Using Mountain Lion (Matt Neuburg): This ebook is chockablock with core concepts and insider tips on customizing and navigating in 10.8 Mountain Lion. Take Control of Your Passwords (Joe Kissell) Overcome password overload without losing your cool—and view the comic that goes with this ebook! 195


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Take Control of Back to My Mac (1.2) SAMPLE

Take Control: The Mac OS X Lexicon (1.5) SAMPLE

Take control of your health

Take Control of Your performance

Take Control of Customizing Microsoft Office SAMPLE

Macworld Mac Troubleshooting Superguide (1.0 ... - Take Control

Take Control of Scrivener 2 (1.0) SAMPLE

BACKING UP WITH TIME MACHINE

Options for backing up your computer - Eset [PDF]

BACKING UP WITH TIME MACHINE

women: take control of your retirement - Transamerica

Take Control of the Mac Command Line with Terminal (1.0) SAMPLE

Take Control of the Mac Command Line with Terminal (1.1)

Take Control of Fonts in Mac OS X: Tiger Edition

Take Control of Spotlight for Finding Anything on Your Mac (1.0.1 ...

TAKE CONTROL AND TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE

Flexible generation: Backing up renewables - Eurelectric

Take Control of Mac OS X Backups - University of Utah - Mac ...