[notsure]

So, I have this brand new MacBook Pro and it's running like a top. I don't plan on using it to store much data that can't be recovered in the case of a hardware problem but I would like to backup some of it.

I noticed my system came with something called Time Machine but this only seems to work for other "mac" disks. In my case, I would like to backup my data to an nfs server (already mounted and works fine). Does software for that purpose exist for the mac?

TIA!

 

[hkaye]

You should really consider time machine and an external drive. Not only does it do backups and you can go back in time to get a previous revision of a file or deleted file with ease, it can do a complete restore in case of hard drive failure.

My wife had a hard drive failure, brought the iMac in and had the drive replaced. Got home and just selected restore from Time Machine backup and she didn't lose a minute of work. Completely automated and easy to do and everything was exactly back in place as it was before the HD failure.

 

[notsure]

While I'd still like a way to backup to my nfs server... would you recommend a USB or Firewire based external drive?

I'm thinking a 1TB drive might not be out of the question (this machine has a 250GB HD).

 

[hkaye]

We use a Firewire drive. But I would think USB would be just as good. The only reason we picked up the Firewire drive was because the computer store we bought the iMac had a great deal on a bundle - new iMac + Ram upgrade + Firewire drive.

1 Tb would be more than plenty as Time Machine does incremental backups and manages the drive if it gets full. I think ours is only 500Mb.

I would use either USB or Firewire, probably the USB drives are less expensive. So I would recommend whatever manufacture you are comfortable with.

 

[ExRobotGuy]

The problem with a USB only drive is, you can't boot your machine with it. A cheap drive in a a $50 [FireWire+USB] enclosure-CarbonCopyCloner[$10] or SuperDuper [better @ $28] and Time Machine back-ups on same drive.

Drive must be formatted as GUID to be bootable.

NFS server? Must be a Windows thing.

John

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/13260

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22126

 

[Gino Cerullo]

Google is your friend

Here are a couple of write-ups on how to use Time Machine with an NFS share.

http://blog.jthon.com/?p=19

http://www.abdevelopment.ca/blog/tip-use-nfs-instead-samba-time-machine-backups

There may be other suggestions.

http://www.google.ca/search?client=...oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&ei=8c8kTK6CM4L88AbJhbXQDw

 

[notsure]

NFS server? Must be a Windows thing.

Errr.... no, actually it is not.

I've been Windows free at home for a few years now.

 

[notsure]

Thank you Gino! Looks to be exactly what I needed.

I will investigate when I return from vacation.