How much would you pay for a good, easy to use backup solution for
your Mac(s)?
Imagine that you are on a flight from Atlanta to Dallas. You reach
under the seat in front of you to take out your trusty iBook, and you
suddenly realize that your iBook is not under the seat in front of you.
It is back in the terminal at Hartsfield-Atlanta International - only
by now it is no longer in the terminal, but on a flight to Tampa with
its proud new owner.
Now how much would you pay for a good, easy to use backup
solution?
Tape Drives
When most of us hear the word backup, we think of a tape drive. Tape
drives are the most prevalent backup method currently in use. However,
tape drives are not generally a cost effective solution for the home
user.
A quick look at the MacMall website reveals
that tape drives range in price from $389 for a Seagate Tapestor 10/20
GB (the number before the slash refers to the native capacity; the
number after the slash is the maximum capacity of compressed data;
tapes rarely hold their full compressed capacity) USB 2.0 Tape Drive up
to $2,799 for a Lacie DLT 8000 40/80 GB External DLT Tape Drive. Add to
that price about $150 for a copy of Dantz Retrospect Desktop Backup 5.0
(check the product description - it may be included for free) and you
can see that tape drive backup solutions quickly rise beyond the low
cost category.
If you need to perform daily backups in a business environment, the
cost is well worth it. The flexibility and power of a nightly automated
unattended backup is unparalleled.
The typical home user does not usually need all the bells and
whistles provided by tape backup and would be paying for features they
would not use.
Zip Drive
The MacMall website also offers an Iomega 100 MB external USB VL Zip
drive plus five 100 MB disks for $79 or a 250 MB USB Zip drive for
$129, no disks included. A four-pack of 250 MB Zip disks will run about
$45. Software drivers are included. Later versions of the Mac OS
include native support for Zip drives and need no additional
drivers.
Zip drives are very convenient to use. They appear on the desktop,
and you can simply drag and drop files you want to backup. Eject the
disk, take it with you, and you have instant offsite storage!
Iomega makes software that allows you to automate the backup to a
limited extent, but I have never used it other than for testing
purposes. I actually find it easier to do the backup manually. I have a
single directory where I store most of my work, and I just drag this
entire directory to the Zip drive.
If/when disaster strikes, it will probably take me two solid days of
reinstalling software to get up and running again, but at least my
documents and other work will be saved. For many users, a Zip drive may
be the answer. For some, the relatively limited capacity will be a
drawback.
I fondly remember my Mac
SE/30, which I used until 1998, and its 40 MB hard drive. I get a
chuckle from the fact that, only four years later, I refer to a 250 MB
capacity as limited. Those of you who had even earlier Macs with
smaller hard drives (or even no hard drive!) probably get even
more of a chuckle from this.
My iMac DV has a 40 GB hard drive, and I have used almost 10 GB.
What is on it? To be honest, I could not tell you any single space hog.
In fact, there is probably less than 250 MB of stuff I would actually
miss. This just proves that given enough space, we will eventually use
it all up.
Do-It-Yourself FireWire/USB Hard Drive
For the ultimate in speed and storage capacity, choose an external
FireWire hard drive for your backups. Own an earlier model PCI Power
Mac with no FireWire connection? Try the Sonnet Tango
PCI adapter, which gives your older Mac FireWire and USB capability in
one card.
Have a pre-FireWire iMac? You can get a similar hard drive with USB
(it just won't be nearly as fast) or you can get Sonnet's
Harmoni G3 upgrade, which boosts your Rev. A-D iMac to either
500 or 600 MHz and adds a FireWire port.
UPDATE: The Sonnet HARMONi card was incompatible with early
versions of Mac OS X 10.4. The FireWire port would tie up 100%
of CPU resources. This problem was fixed in version 10.4.7 (if
not earlier). If you have a HARMONi card that's had this issue,
be aware that updating to 10.4.7 or newer should fix it.
A 120 GB FireWire hard drive will typically cost between $260-$280.
Using Price Watch, you
may be able to find one for less.
However, if you have an extra hard drive you are not using, you can
buy a FireWire drive enclosure for $60-90 and put your old drive in it.
This makes use of your extra hardware and saves money as well. If you
outgrow your backup capacity, just buy a larger hard drive and put it
in the enclosure. When I upgraded the hard drive on my iMac DV from the
stock 10 GB to a 40 GB drive, I put the old one in a FireWire case and
now use it for backups.
The two main qualifications for me to consider a backup solution
"good" are that It must be affordable and easy to use. If it is not
affordable, the user won't buy it. If it is difficult to use, they
won't bother performing backups.
For most consumers, either a Zip drive or external hard drive fit
both categories nicely. Many of us routinely put off these purchases,
using the rationale that we just don't have the money right now.
A good low-cost backup system will pay for itself if you need it and
use it even once. Coming from someone who can say, "Been there, done
that," trust me on this one. 
