| Sign in: |
| Members log in here with your user name and password to access the your admin page and other special features. |
|
|
|
|
|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Time Machine + Drobo?
Christian del Rosario, Photographer
 |
San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 3:24 PM on 09.22.09 |
->> Hi Guys,
I'm a recent convert to MAC and am getting things sorted out in terms of backup. I am familiar that Time Machine exists. I read that it helps restore files in case some are deleted or corrupt/lost...but how about applications such as Aperture 2 which internalize the project files? I was originally planning to get a Drobo as a location for Aperture 2 Vault items. Would that be un-necessary with Time Machine in place?
Sorry if this seems quite basic. Actually I hope it is, as the easier the better! I appreciate any help in understanding the best solution.
Cheers,
Christian |
|
Brian Dowling, Photographer
|
Philadelphia | PA | USA | Posted: 3:29 PM on 09.22.09 |
| ->> I opted to have an external hd for time machine which backs up my iMac's HD. Then the drobo is for achieving work photos and video only. Might not make the most sense to others, but it made the most sense for me. |
|
George Bridges, Photographer, Photo Editor
|
Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 3:32 PM on 09.22.09 |
->> The thing to remember about the Drobo is it has a redundancy on the backup. So if a drive fails you should not lose any files.
Time Machine is a backup program, not a storage device. You can use a Drobo as your Time Machine backup for redundancy but you kind of limit what else you put on the Drobo.
I would consider a dual backup. Use Time Machine on an external drive for immediate backup needs (you accidentally delete an invoice you can get it back quickly) and then other externals such as other drives you can store or a Drobo or RAID system for redundant backup of critical files such as your archive.
And every now and then create a Vault in Aperture (if that is your editing/database program of choice) and backing up the files that way as well.
It may seem like overkill but when a drive dies you want to make sure the critical files on it are backed up in at least one other place.
For instance, on my personal home computer the only photos I have are family photos in Aperture. I run a Time Machine backup on one drive and also have a full clone of my system using Super Duper that I will update regularly. That way if I have a crash of my internal drive I can recover files from the Time Machine and recover my entire system from the Super Duper backup. |
|
Scott Serio, Photo Editor, Photographer
|
Colora | MD | USA | Posted: 3:41 PM on 09.22.09 |
->> Time Machine is a nice program. It will allow you to restore everything that was on your computer. EVERYTHING. Remember in the old days when a PC failed and you had to re-install every single program? Not so with Aperture. It "ghosts" everything and when you do a restore from TM you get everything back. Make sure wherever TM is, that it is secure. I am almost to the point I want two copies of it. One base older copy tucked away on an external somewhere with all the programs, and then another active one. From what I have seen, you can't bounce between externals for TM. It wants one consistent one of you have to start over.
As for the Drobo. My next purchase and I will backup the guts of my Mac, the Aperture vault and everything else to there.
I have been burned so many times and consider the TM tool to be too valuable that I think extra is always better. |
|
Eric Patterson, Photographer
|
Louisville | KY | United States | Posted: 4:21 PM on 09.22.09 |
->> I use TM and just experienced a failed drive. TM worked perfectly.
I have two external Lacie drives. 1TB for raw photos and lightroom/aperture catalogs. 2TB for TM
I have TM backup my internal 250g G5 and the 1TB photo drive.
The 1TB photo drive had a firmware failure causing the drive not to mount. It was under warranty, but Lacie insisted they had to erase or replace the drive. Lacie sent a new drive and I used TM to "restore" the drive.
It was uneventful.
Also, you can set TM to backup several drives. |
|
Christian del Rosario, Photographer
|
San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 5:10 PM on 09.22.09 |
->> Cool, thanks for the info guys. So it sounds like TM would be adequate for a backup solution. But it doesn't hurt to utilize a Drobo to complement it's function (IE: use the Drobo as the TM target). This way the TM backup is redundant.
Wondering how this would work....let's say some project files become corrupt in Aperture. Would I be able to restore those specific project files via TM, or would I need to re-install Aperture and somehow point it to the TM backup for the project files? |
|
Joshua Brown, Photographer
|
New York | NY | USA | Posted: 7:35 PM on 09.22.09 |
->> I just set up a new mac pro + drobo and this is what I have settled on for now.
Mac Pro with 4 drives:
1 128GB SSD for my applications/boot drive
3 1TB drives in a RAID 0 for speed which contains my managed aperture library and final cut media :: connected by a RocketRaid 4311 hardware RAID. This has just my current working projects on it.
Externally I have a 2TB FW800 drive and a Drobo.
I have the 3TB Internal RAID being backed up with SuperDuper every night.
The Drobo has 4 1TB drives inside of it and is partitioned 3 ways (using disk utility)
1 for time machine backups of my boot drive
1 for my referenced Aperture files that I archive
1 for my video archive
Online backup of anything I really care about goes to Photoshelter and Dropbox. |
|
Christian del Rosario, Photographer
|
San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 9:21 PM on 09.22.09 |
->> Joshua,
Cool info. Ok, you answered a question I forgot to ask...using a Raid array such as Drobo for both TM and other files.
I'll look into Disk Utility and consider something similar. Thanks! |
|
Return to --> Message Board Main Index
|