new user needing help please

[TomBB]

Hello all.
I am confused on figuring out the best way to set up a rotating schedule for my system, and would like pointers. I have an intel imac with a 500gb internal drive, using about 170gb right now. I am running parallels so have windows xp on my internal drive as well. I have an external fw drive that is 300gb in capacity to backup to.

Should I:

1. forget about rotating backups
2. use sparse disk images with compression for backups (not sure how to set this up in a rotating manner).
3. partition external or internal drive in some fashion
4. give up, live life recklessly, eat dessert first

Thanks in advance for helping a newbie out!

[dnanian]

If you have 170GB of data already, you don't have nearly enough space on a 300GB drive to rotate, without getting another drive. So, if you'd like to do that, I'd suggest another drive.

But, until then, get backing up to this one!

[TomBB]

Should I stick to manual backups that include compression to help out, and forget about an updating weekly strategy? I appreciate your help here, dnanian.

[dnanian]

Well, you could cause yourself a lot of hassle and time, or you could get a second drive at about $100... it's probably more likely that you'll actually back up with the 2nd drive...

[TomBB]

It'll take a couple of weeks to ship, but this brings me back, hopefully, to the original questions. What would be a good strategy for rolling backups with SD? To refresh, my internal drive in my intel imac is a 500gb drive, with about 160gb being used right now. I like the idea of rotating backups, but don't quite grasp how best to set them up-- even after reading a couple of posts on the topic. There are quite a number of options, despite the simplicity of SD-- partitions, multiple backup sets, alternating days-- makes my head swim.

I appreciate any input and suggestions. Thanks.

[dnanian]

I'd do three: a daily (updated every day), a weekly (updated every Monday) and a monthly (updated the first pick-your-day of the month). Three partitions, three backups.

Make sense?

[TomBB]

Thanks for all the help!