Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Dibble Helix · 12-30-2002, 01:37 PM

Hello,

My area of expertise is PCs but a friend who�s a Mac user has asked me for some advice. I was wondering if any of you Mac Gurus out there in infidel land could point me in the right direction.

This friend of mine is an author and I recently discovered that he stores all his work on the hard drive of his iMac completely UN-BACKED-UP!!

The iMac is one of those earlier ones (with the coloured transparent plastic backed monitor). It has no floppy drive (his previous method of back up!) and so nothing is backed up. My suggestion would be to buy an external CD-writer or perhaps a Zip drive. But I�ve no idea where (in the UK) would be the best place for him to buy one or which ones might be compatible with his system.

Any ideas?

Yours gratefully � The Dibster.

trunks2k · 12-30-2002, 04:27 PM

I would think that most Zip Drives would be compatible with a Mac. CD Burners may be a different story. You could always just go to something like MacWarehouse.com and buy a cheap floppy drive.

Barney Gumble · 12-30-2002, 05:57 PM

There's little point to purchase a floppy or zip (ugh) at this point, especially if he wants assurances that he can take his backup media to any other Mac. Only a CD-ROM ensures that portability.

I haven't seen some of the older iMac's in a while, but I'm quite sure they all have firewire, and that's what your friend should be looking into - an external firewire CDRW. USB 1.1 just isn't fast enough, you'll end up purchasing a 32X/48X writer and only be able to burn at barely 8X speed.

(What's his OS version also, btw?)

lowmagnet · 12-30-2002, 08:12 PM

you'r friend should get a usb/firewire external cd-rw drive, since the g3's didn't have firewire until the DVs came out. That way, the drive doesn't become a pile of slow rubbish if your friend changes systems.

MacPrince · 12-30-2002, 08:31 PM

Mac guru reporting for duty, SIR!

Since floppy disks used to suffice for your friend's backup needs, something like a CD burner or an external hard drive is probably unnecessary. A good solution for him would probably be a USB flash drive, maybe 32 or 64MB. That way, he can just plug the drive into the spare USB port on the side of his iMac's keyboard, drag over the files that he wants to back up, unmount and unplug the drive and his data wil be safe. This also assures the he'll be able to get his data in the future; USB will probably be around for quite a while on both platforms.

Here are just a couple of brands of flash drives:
Lexar JumpDrive
Sony MicroVault
CDCyclone Flash Key
Sonnet Piccolo

Catseye · 12-31-2002, 10:14 AM

I have an Iomega zip drive which works fine on both Mac and PC. Since the disks don't need to be formatted to either system in the way floppy disks do, zip drives work pretty well for this.

If the things your friend needs to back up take up any more space than will comfortably fit on one zip disk, though, I'd go with the earlier suggestion of getting an external CD-RW - preferably a FireWire one.

Demosthenes · 12-31-2002, 10:52 AM

Does anybody here actually backup their hard drives? They're so reliable, that I never do. The closest I come to backing up my hard drive is saving my term papers on the network datastore at my university

Dibble Helix · 01-01-2003, 04:02 PM

Just a quick note to say thanks chaps for all those suggestions. I shall look into the various options in a little more detail and let you know what I decide.

Yours gratefully - The Dibster

lpetrich · 01-02-2003, 01:04 AM

I back up my hard drives, though not as much as I ought to; I had recently backed up after going without a backup for 4 or 5 months(!)

My procedure is to use a FireWire external hard drive and Retrospect. I use the latter instead of simple copying or archiving, because Retrospect can run at the privilege level necessary for backing up the OSX system stuff and some other such stuff.

And I bring that hard drive out only when I want to do a backup; I put it back into a fire-resistant box when I'm done with it.

12-30-2002, 01:37 PM	#1
Dibble Helix Regular Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: UK Posts: 473	Calling all Mac Gurus!! Hello, My area of expertise is PCs but a friend who�s a Mac user has asked me for some advice. I was wondering if any of you Mac Gurus out there in infidel land could point me in the right direction. This friend of mine is an author and I recently discovered that he stores all his work on the hard drive of his iMac completely UN-BACKED-UP!! The iMac is one of those earlier ones (with the coloured transparent plastic backed monitor). It has no floppy drive (his previous method of back up!) and so nothing is backed up. My suggestion would be to buy an external CD-writer or perhaps a Zip drive. But I�ve no idea where (in the UK) would be the best place for him to buy one or which ones might be compatible with his system. Any ideas? Yours gratefully � The Dibster.

12-30-2002, 05:57 PM	#3
Barney Gumble Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,382	Re: Calling all Mac Gurus!! There's little point to purchase a floppy or zip (ugh) at this point, especially if he wants assurances that he can take his backup media to any other Mac. Only a CD-ROM ensures that portability. I haven't seen some of the older iMac's in a while, but I'm quite sure they all have firewire, and that's what your friend should be looking into - an external firewire CDRW. USB 1.1 just isn't fast enough, you'll end up purchasing a 32X/48X writer and only be able to burn at barely 8X speed. (What's his OS version also, btw?)

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12-30-2002, 04:27 PM	#2
trunks2k Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 6,997	I would think that most Zip Drives would be compatible with a Mac. CD Burners may be a different story. You could always just go to something like MacWarehouse.com and buy a cheap floppy drive.

12-30-2002, 08:12 PM	#4
lowmagnet Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: North Raleigh, NC Posts: 959	you'r friend should get a usb/firewire external cd-rw drive, since the g3's didn't have firewire until the DVs came out. That way, the drive doesn't become a pile of slow rubbish if your friend changes systems.

12-30-2002, 08:31 PM	#5
MacPrince Regular Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: A suburb of Chicago you've probably never heard of Posts: 282	Mac guru reporting for duty, SIR! Since floppy disks used to suffice for your friend's backup needs, something like a CD burner or an external hard drive is probably unnecessary. A good solution for him would probably be a USB flash drive, maybe 32 or 64MB. That way, he can just plug the drive into the spare USB port on the side of his iMac's keyboard, drag over the files that he wants to back up, unmount and unplug the drive and his data wil be safe. This also assures the he'll be able to get his data in the future; USB will probably be around for quite a while on both platforms. Here are just a couple of brands of flash drives: Lexar JumpDrive Sony MicroVault CDCyclone Flash Key Sonnet Piccolo

12-31-2002, 10:14 AM	#6
Catseye Regular Member Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: UK Posts: 145	I have an Iomega zip drive which works fine on both Mac and PC. Since the disks don't need to be formatted to either system in the way floppy disks do, zip drives work pretty well for this. If the things your friend needs to back up take up any more space than will comfortably fit on one zip disk, though, I'd go with the earlier suggestion of getting an external CD-RW - preferably a FireWire one.

12-31-2002, 10:52 AM	#7
Demosthenes Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: a speck of dirt Posts: 2,510	Does anybody here actually backup their hard drives? They're so reliable, that I never do. The closest I come to backing up my hard drive is saving my term papers on the network datastore at my university

01-01-2003, 04:02 PM	#8
Dibble Helix Regular Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: UK Posts: 473	Just a quick note to say thanks chaps for all those suggestions. I shall look into the various options in a little more detail and let you know what I decide. Yours gratefully - The Dibster

01-02-2003, 01:04 AM	#9
lpetrich Contributor Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Lebanon, OR, USA Posts: 16,829	I back up my hard drives, though not as much as I ought to; I had recently backed up after going without a backup for 4 or 5 months(!) My procedure is to use a FireWire external hard drive and Retrospect. I use the latter instead of simple copying or archiving, because Retrospect can run at the privilege level necessary for backing up the OSX system stuff and some other such stuff. And I bring that hard drive out only when I want to do a backup; I put it back into a fire-resistant box when I'm done with it.

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