want to buy SuperDuper - got setup questions, raid, OWC. Thanks,

[gelco]

Hi Everyone. Need your advise. I want to buy SuperDuper to "officially" start my backup for my 2 Mac at home. As a newbie, got a "million" questions to ask. Here are my main ones :)

I got a Intel-based Macbook with 160GB HD & a iMac G5 (PowerPC based) with 230GB HD. I've been reading postings in this forum as much as I can so this is what I'm think to buy.

1 250GB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro 7200RPM FireWire 800/400+USB2 Solution for the iMac

1 320GB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro 7200RPM FireWire 800/400+USB2 Solution for the Macbook (could sell this next year and get a 24"iMac with 320GB so planning for the future)

Questions are

- Will the above drives work for the Macs I have? With the Oxford chipset, I think I should have no problems booting and restoring from them if I need to right?

- Do you recommend I buy a RAID backup device for each of the Mac or the above is enough? My thinking is that a single backup should normally be enough "insurance"? If my Mac internal HD goes bad, I always have the OWC drive. If the OWC drive goes bad, then at least my Mac is still functional ok. What's the chance that both will go bad at same time? I think that with a RAID, I essentially get 3 insurance - 1 from Mac internal HD and 2 from each RAID drive. Put some sense into me please.

- There is a QUAD version of the OWC drive with eSATA interface. Do you think I will ever need eSATA with a Macbook, iMac or future iMac? (1) I assume FW800 should be fast enough for normal usage right? (2) I can save some money with the non-eSATA version if I dont really need them.

- any other advise or suggestion you can offer based on my Mac and setup? My needs are like most people which is backup of photos, personal files, videos, work, etc.

Many thanks for taking the time to read and reply
Cheers,
Gelco

[davebarnes]

Gelco,

"Will the above drives work for the Macs I have?"
YES.

"Do you recommend I buy a RAID backup device for each of the Mac or the above is enough?"
Don't spend the extra money on RAID. If you are going to be serious about using a RAID, then you need to use RAID-5 or better.

"There is a QUAD version of the OWC drive with eSATA interface."
Buy the quad. Just in case. It is only $10 USD more for the two sizes you mentioned.

"any other advise or suggestion you can offer?"
YES.
You need to buy larger drives. Why do I say this?
You need to have space on your external drive for both types of backed up data: SuperDuper! and TimeMachine. So, your external drive needs to be almost twice the size of your internal drive.
Personally, I would buy a quad 500 and a quad 750 as they are only $176 more for the pair.

,dave

[gelco]

Dave, many thx for your reply. Good advise on the Time Machine - at some point I will definitely upgrade to Leopard i'll get the most storage i can afford.
Cheers,