FOAK: Mac (Leopard) Backup Software

I'm amazed I'm having so much trouble with this, but...

I can't seem to find backup software for my Mac that fits my, pretty normal,
requirements.

They are:

- Must be able to backup to an SMB network share reliably.
- Must be able to be scheduled and automatic.
- Must be able to be incremental.

So far I've tried:

- Time Machine. Doesn't support network shares. Even when hacked.
- SuperDuper!. Craps out on a network share.
- Carbon Copy Cloner. Doesn't support network shares.
- SmartBackup. Craps out about halfway through an 80Gb backup repeatedly.

Freeware, shareware and cheap stuff doesn't seem to be reliable so I'm after
recommendations for commercial stuff.

Open to the floor...

 

It's Unix underneath, tried any of the non pointy-clicky tools?

 

Sorry, but I can't be arsed hacking around. And I don't really do Unix.

 

*Ding*. rsync is perfect for the job. Run it hourly and forget.

 

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/26359/itimemachine


Does exactly that. Backs up my MacBook every time I come home.

HTH

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

1. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities)

2. type
mkdir ~/bin
vim ~/bin/backup.sh

3. type this...
#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/find ~/ -type f -mtime +0 -exec /bin/cp -pf {} <pathtoSMB> \;

4. save (ESC and then :wq)

5. do ...
crontab -e

6. type this ..
0 3 * * * ~/bin/backup.sh > /dev/null

Sorted.

(not tested the above, so it may have typos..)

Or you can use this ...

http://coughlan.fr/rw3backups_for_UKRM.txt

That's a very messy script, as it was 'kludged' together over time, but it
does me for back-ups to my USB stick which I take into school. The
'private' part is a low-density, encrypted disk image which ensures that
should the stick fall from my pocket in the school, no one can read the
stuff that I don't want to be read.

d.
--
des
French Biking Vocabulary: http://minilien.fr/a0kg0p

'The Egyptians could run to Egypt, the Syrians into Syria. The only place
we could run was into the sea, and before we did that we might as well
fight' (Golda Meir)

 

Something like that, or bacula - there's a wealth of stuff out there.

 

Did you try iTimemachine?

 

If he's just backing up to an SMB volume that (presumably) will be on
/Volumes, then he shouldn't need rsync.

d.

--
des
French Biking Vocabulary: http://minilien.fr/a0kg0p

'Kaiser: "Can you prove to me the existence of G-d?"
Bismarck: "The Jews, your Majesty. The Jews"'

 

You are quite right. You *can* use it for 'local' backup and as I
remember all the command line arguments... [1].

[1] Maintaining the UKRM tradition of recommending what you own/use.

 

Tried that, and the command line hack.

It connects, says it's "preparing the backup", then craps out after a few
minutes. Googling suggests there isn't a way round it if those tools don't
work.

 

I've heard good things about it

http://www.bacula.org/en/

Been thinking of trying it Solaris

 

Windows Vista Backup.

It comes with all this other useful functionality too...

 

What a bugger

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

no, it won't. time machine relies on a filesystem with hardlinks.

if you drop the requirement for an smb share, you might consider .mac:

http://www.apple.com/dotmac/backup.html

pro:
- you don't have to provide any additional hardware or configuration

con:
- apple pwns yr jpgs kthx

 

Yes it will


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

you snipped this bit:

"time machine relies on a filesystem with hardlinks."

are you going to debate this? or are you claiming that smb supports hardlinks?
ben was talking about an smb share, as you well know.

 

*sigh* I use a modified version of time machine (iTime machine) to back
up my mack to my Terastation every time I go home. AFAI*K* (and there
could well be other stuff going on) it works just fine.

I make no claims that smb supports hardlinks, or even that my Mac talks
to my Terastation via smb but since the server connection starts smb://
I guessing that it probably does.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

if it's a modified version, it's not bloody time machine is it?

 

I installed Vista Ultimate in a Bootcamp partition on this machine
when I first got it. It was unbelievably shit. Slow doesn't even
come close.

XP Pro was fine. In fact, I'm running Agent[1] on XP in a VMWare
virtual machine[2] as I type and it feels native.



[1] Because all Mac newsreaders are invariably crap or seem to think
you want a million fucking windows on the screen.
[2] Because my GPS mapping software is Windows only.