[ScuseMe]

I have 2 cloned partitions on 2 external HD's, so I can play around with backup utilities to see how they compare to SD.

My latest foray into backup software was Synk Pro. Two features stood out: N-Way copies (multiple backups/clones at the same time) and ZeroScan (runs in the background and logs what files change; saves scanning the HD for changed files and tremendously speeds up backups). So, I started a test:

I erased one of my SD clone partitions and used Synk Pro to backup my iMac HD. The first problem I encountered was that Synk needed root access to do the bootable clone. Once I found that out, I allowed root in Synk's Security tab and started the backup. The backup proceeded without problems. However, when the backup was done, Synk forgot to reset my user account, so I was still under root and Mail thought I was a new user and proceeded to create a new Mail account for me. Oops.

I then waited a couple of hours to see how the ZeroScan function would work. If it worked as advertised, I could do clones many times a day, rather than once in the early morning (due to CPU utilization and system responsiveness). I then did another Synk backup, which ran amazingly fast (1 minute). Finally, I booted into the Synk clone.

Desktop popped up OK, but then I was greeted with some of my background programs (i.e. Boink) stating that their permissions are hosed, and to reinstall the program. After a few minutes of this, I booted back into my iMac, erased the Synk cloned partition, and deleted Synk from my Applications folder.

Now I not dissing Synk; it just didn't work with my system. It might work great in other environments. The N-Way backup is a nice feature; I really wanted it. I guess I'm saying that no matter how many bells-and-whistles, features, slick interfaces, dialog boxes, easily shown logs, etc. a backup program provides, at the end of the day the data must be cloned exactly. Anything else is unacceptable.

In another couple of months I'll probably try another backup program. But I suspect I'll come to the same conclusion - SuperDuper! is the best out there if you value your data. And to me, that's the most important thing.