Backups - The Necessary Evil

[jkpalmer]

Here's my "environment".

I have 3 Apple machines - 1 iMac 1.25 G4 and 2 MBPs and several PCs

All Apple machines connect to my home wireless (Linksys WRT54G Router) and I'm happy with the current configuration.

I use the PCs to store backups of the others and don't really use them much any more so they don't figure into my backup strategy.

I have my iMac "backed up" using TimeMachine to a G-drive. I don't have a bootable copy of the machine, which I really feel I DO need to have.

I have a friend that just went through something that I don't ever want to experience and would like to be better prepared. :eek:

I have been researching backup software and have seen much about SuperDuper.

My questions are more hardware than software.

If I acquire ONE sizable Firewire drive, can I use it to backup all three Apples? (I wouldn't mind moving the drive around to perform my backups.)

If so, is there a recommended strategy? Should I partition it so each backup resides in its own partition?

Or should I think about buying a firewire drive for each machine?

Or should I consider getting a TimeCapsule and forget about the multiple firewire drives?

What would you do if your were me? :confused:

Help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

-jP

[dnanian]

Well -- not so sure 'evil' is the right term. Necessary good, perhaps?

But, anyway. If you partition the drive into three appropriately sized volumes, using the "GUID" partiitoning scheme and the "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" format, yes, you can take it around and back up each Mac to its corresponding volume on the one big drive.

I think it's better to get a separate drive for each, because it won't be as much of a hassle, which means you'll actually do it.

It's always better to have a FireWire drive if you can. Using a Time Capsule is fine as a secondary backup (or for Time Machine).

[jkpalmer]

Thanks for the reply.

If I go with a FW drive for each machine, then each FW should be partitioned one for bootable image and other for data, correct? And the data partition can be used for TimeMachine, correct?

I agree - backups are good - 'evil' might be a little harsh, but things that I have a hard time getting my head around are not 'friendly'.

I've alway had a tough time with backup concepts. Getting into a routine - doing it, understanding what I have and then if I need to, can I really restore without losing something.

Regards,

-jP

[dnanian]

Certainly, you can do that. Recognize that TM likes a lot of space, so don't cut it too close. And, as before, make sure the Partition Scheme selected (behind Options in the Partition tab of Disk Utility) is GUID.

[greengrass]

The G4 iMac is a PPC machine and thus requires an APM partition.

[dnanian]

Ah, sorry. I'd back that up to a separate drive if you're using Leopard.