Amazon's Choice for 'best external hard drives compatible time machine' Seagate Backup Plus 2TB Portable External Hard Drive for Mac USB 3.0 + 2mo Adobe CC Photography (STDS2000100) by Seagate.
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What is the best backup utility, and is there a program similar to OS X's Time Machine for Windows? Time Machine is a backup program that automatically copies every file, unless I exclude them, to an external hard drive. I can remove the hard drive, and when I plug it back in it automatically copies over any changes I made.
Then, if my computer fails I can restore everything from the backup and it will be exactly as I have left it. I love Time Machine, but I also love Windows. As I'll be in college, using OneNote and doing homework, if I dont have my data on my laptop always backed up, if something goes wrong I could be in a lot of trouble. Also, if no such program exists, what is the best backup utility for Windows? Well it's not so much having a fresh install of Windows, or an image of anything, as much as I'd like to have all the latest data backed up seamlessly to another drive. I should have mentioned this, but I'd rather have the full-size files rather than compressed files like Acronis and Norton Ghost. I'm anticipating getting a 1 TB backup drive for the 320 GB laptop drive so space shouldn't be an issue with this method.
Does SyncToy work well with Vista? I remember it came out around Windows XP's Power Packs and add-ons. I use a program called Allway Sync.
It's similar to SyncToy, in that you tell it 2 folders and it copies everything from one folder to another. In this case. One internal folder to one external folder. It can sync both ways. But I only have it do a 'one way' sync, so it copies everything from my internal drive to my external drive.
It copies new or changed files, and if you delete files, it deletes them on your external too. It's a mirror of your internal drive. I have it set up like this: C.
My Documents - P: My Documents C. Firefox Profiles - P: Firefox Profiles D: Websites - P: Websites D: Pictures - P: Pictures D: Music - P: Music C: and D: are my internal drives, P: is my external drive. You create a 'job' for every pair of folders you wanna sync. I have it copy all my files and folders, and even my iTunes Libraries and Firefox profiles. So every last detail is backed up! After it's done, I have an exact copy of the files and folders from my internal hard drives. Not compressed files, images, etc.
And best of all, it only copies new or changed files. It's not copying everything every time.
So, it's pretty fast, only taking the time to copy new files. I run it after I dump a large bunch of pictures from my digital camera, and every few days so everything is backed up. It's better to have your files in two places instead of one, right? I tried SyncToy, but I found it sloooow. So I looked for other options. You can use Allway Sync for free.
But if you use it more than a couple times a week, it yells at you to buy the Pro version. I ran it every day or so when I first downloaded it, and I quickly ponied up the $20 to shut it up. It's worth it.The free version will only copy 20,000 files per 30-day period. My digital pictures alone are 23,385. Buy the Pro version!
I'm an organization freak, so I often rename folders and move files around on my hard drive. After running Allway Sync, those changes are reflected on my external too.
I backup every few days to a bus-powered portable USB hard drive, so I can carry an exact usable copy of my files with me wherever I go. And a couple times a month, I also backup to another Firewire external hard drive.
Can't be too safe, huh? $20 is a small price to pay to easily mirror your data to an external hard drive. And if you're extra paranoid. Use a Drobo or a RAID 1 solution as your external drive! And while you're at it, keep another drive in your safety deposit box! I feel safe knowing that as I add, change or delete files daily on my hard drive. In a few short minutes I have an exact copy of that hard drive for safe keeping.
I just click the icon, grab a coffee, and when I return my files are backed up! While I don't see where the OP mentioned the specific OS he plans to use, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Shadow Copies which has been around since XP SP1 appeared, then Server 2003, and everything since then. Of course it's not in Vista Home Premium (I swear, I wish Microsoft would stop fucking the customers over, bleh) but it is in Business, Ultimate and obviously Enterprise. It's worthwhile to check out, has a long proven background behind it and can fill the bill adequately unless the OP absolutely must use third-party software to handle it.
24 Shares Finding the best external hard drive for your Mac can breathe new life into your workflow. Especially if you have a MacBook, iMac or Mac Mini, you may have limited internal upgrade options.
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Adding an external hard drive can increase your storage by orders of magnitude, giving you ample room for backups, movie collections, music libraries, ongoing projects and more. Regardless of whether you will be storing personal memories or files from work, choosing the right Mac external hard drive is vital to protecting your digital valuables.
With that in mind, what features are most important in an? What are some of the currently available for your Mac?