[OS X TeX] backing up /usr (and MacTeX)

[Alex Hamann]

On 30.01.2009, at 17:53, George Gratzer wrote:

> 1. I bought Intego Backup, and through it away. Replaced it with  
> Data Backup from Prosoft, very good. If you buy the backup book  
> from Tidbit, you get Data Backup half price.

Intego Backup X4 also claimed to respect Extended Attributes.... it  
turned out it did not. Who is going to bring all those Skim notes back?

>
> 2. Compare FireWire 800 and USB 2.0, and you will realize why Apple  
> is no longer interested. Most new movie cameras use USB 2.0. And  
> USB 3.0 is so much more powerful, coming soon.

Do the new MacBooks boot from USB? Even if, I bought a FW-only  
external HD.... sad story.

>
> 3. I also use SuperDuper!, so as to get a bootable backup. So if I  
> need to use a disk utility that does not do the boot drive, I boot  
> from the backup. I cannot imagine why you use Super Dooper! to a  
> computer not accessible to you.
>
> 4. I you are really paranoid, like i am, when travelling i use  
> iDisk. Gives peace of mind. I backup all the new staff.

Yeah, thought about it. But decided to avoid the costs.

>
> GG

Thanks for the reply,

Alex

>
>
>
> On 30-Jan-09, at 11:10 AM, Alex Hamann wrote:
>
>>
>> On 30.01.2009, at 16:41, Gary L. Gray wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On Jan 30, 2009, at 11:33 AM, Alain Schremmer wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Jan 30, 2009, at 8:35 AM, Rolf Schmolling wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> what about cloning it to an external Disk. I'd recommend  
>>>>> SuperDuper
>>>>
>>>> doesn't work with large files over ethernet. I had to give it up  
>>>> after "they" couldn't help.
>>>
>>>
>>> Every night at home, I use SuperDuper! to clone to network drive  
>>> (also in my home) via a wireless connection. It usually takes  
>>> about an hour or so, but it sure is painless. The key is to clone  
>>> to a sparse disk image. For the first clone, you can have the  
>>> drive hooked up to your machine so it is fast, and then just do  
>>> smart updates after that. Cloning over a network is nicely  
>>> described in the SD! documentation.
>>>
>>> -- Gary
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks  to Rolf and David who made suggestions regarding backup  
>> strategies both on- and off-list.
>> In fact I use Intego Backup (the X4 version - don't get me  
>> started...) for backups but my firewire HD is deep in Germany  
>> while I am sitting here in London. So I can not make a clone  
>> capable of booting. Moreover, now that Apple is moving away from  
>> firewire (WHY did they do that to me?!) that might not be the best  
>> storage option anymore.
>> Anyway, not a big deal... this iBook will eventually (or rather in  
>> the near future) break down completely so I am careful not to keep  
>> important data on my HD and keep small selected backups on a USB  
>> storage device. Unfortunately, last time I reinstalled from  
>> scratch and tried to save a clone on that USB-HD I ran into major  
>> problems and had to reinstall 5 times.
>> Long story, short conclusion: my current approach is to maintain  
>> backups of the really important stuff on my HD (my customized  
>> MacTeX distro being part of that). Therefore it would be nice to  
>> know if I can just create an archive of /usr and move that to the  
>> USB storage device or if this would lead to problems when trying  
>> to revert to that backup.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Alex
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>
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