[OS X TeX] OT: Backup software

[Peter Lichtner]

On Oct 9, 2006, at 6:28 PM, Gary L. Gray wrote:

>
> On Oct 9, 2006, at 8:11 PM, Herbert Schulz wrote:
>
>> On Oct 9, 2006, at 6:56 PM, Alain Schremmer wrote:
>>
>>> This is OT.
>>>
>>> I dutifully backup with Retrospect, say every hour, but just now  
>>> I needed one of yesterdays versions of one of the over 10000  
>>> files that make up the Magnum Opus. And I couldn't get Retrospect  
>>> to cough-up the file even when given the path name. Of course, I  
>>> know a Retrospect "expert" who will get me the file but I am fed up.
>>>
>>> I just spent over an hour googling for backup software (over  
>>> FireWire or Ethernet) to an external hard drive and, most  
>>> important, one that is idiot-proof.
>>>
>>> SuperDuper ($27.95) ,  Data Backup ($49),  Intego ($70) all  
>>> appear reasonable but of course they each claim to be the best.  
>>> The only Open Source I found was on the terminal so that ruled it  
>>> out.
>>>
>>> I would very much appreciate any suggestion.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> --schremmer
>>
>> Howdy,
>>
>> I used to use retrospect and got fed up with its terrible  
>> interface. I now use SuperDuper but I'm not at all sure it will do  
>> what you want. It will maintain a bootable image of your hard  
>> drive but there is no way to retrieve old versions of files.
>>
>> It really sounds like you need some sort of version control  
>> system. CVS is the traditional one and SVN a more modern system.  
>> Both are a bit of a pain to set up and will need Terminal work  
>> before you can use a GUI front end. For CVS I've been using CVL  
>> and for SVN I've been using svnX as the front ends.
>>
>> Once SVN and/or CVS is set up, using SuperDuper to make the  
>> bootable backup is very nice.
>
>
> To say that setting up a version control system is "a bit of a  
> pain" is an understatement, at least it is for me. :-) If that is  
> what you are interested in, a recently announced version control  
> system app "for the rest of us" looks interesting. It is called  
> Versomatic and more info can be found at:
>
> http://www.acertant.com/web/versomatic/default.htm
>
> I haven't tried it, but I would be interested in hearing from  
> anyone who has.
>
> Regards,
>   Gary

An excellent version control system is Mercurial that is worth  
checking out (http://www.selenic.com/mercurial/wiki/index.cgi).
...Peter


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