Frustating enought backups are limited to 100 mb, unless you upgrade to full subscription to .Mac. Doesn't matter wether you're backing to .Mac or not, full subscription is required.
You can backup whatever you want. It's almost trivial. That you haven't figured out how to do it has nothing to do with the usefulness of this program.
You can easily create your own custom backup plan which can include whatever you wish to backup, including the contents of your entire hard disk, if you like. You don't have to just go with the defaults. They are simply there to make it easy to get started.
I like Backup because it is tidy and allows as much or as little customization as I like. It is easy to use and it works. I have restored from it successfully several times. I particularly like that it gives the option of choosing from several versions of any given file, based on the date. That way, in case I backup something that is not quite right, I still have an earlier version that I like to choose from instead. So I can't overwrite a good file with a bad one, just because it's newer.
Can be as simple or powerful as you want it to be. Easy selection of which folders/files to copy and not to copy. Pretty good app, although can be a bit slow at times. GUI is clean and seems good to me. I use it for quick weekly backups to a FireWire drive of my most important files. As long as it does its job when restoring, I'm happy.
I would give this version zero stars if possible. Color me nutty, but I think of backing up like insurance: It's all about the "God forbid..." scenario.
That said, I recently backed up my essentials prior to a hard drive crash. I followed everything to the letter and checked the package contents to make sure all's was hunky-dorey, and so it was.
Following the insanely frustrating disposal & replacement of a hard drive -- performed all by Apple -- I then went back to my discs to restore my info to my "new" laptop.
And guess what? Yup, although the app recognized the data on the disc as native to that app, and although the app launched, nothing happened. Nothing! The only thing that did seem to happen correctly was that the DVD I restored to appeared as a valid restore source. Could I then actually restore that data? Nope. Did it give a reason? Nope. Were the help notes...well, helpful? Not a chance.
Unfortunately for these review purposes, Apple gets an F. What good is an application if it doesn't -- can't or won't -- perform the basic of core-related functions?
RECOVERY TIP: The only way I was able to recover my data from DVD was to do something that the average user wouldn't ever know about: I viewed the package contents, then mounted the .sparseimage, then manually dragged what I needed onto my new hard drive.
I suspected that might happen with backup once I went looking for information of what to do after a hard drive failure and couldn't find it. I went with SuperDuper and wow it is SuperDuper. I just survived a hard drive failure and moved everything from my Powerbook to a new Imac intel machine. After an hour of tranfering everything over my new computer looks exactly like my old one. I have had to enter a password here and there, for Apple Apps like iwork but otherwise no problems at all. I highly recomend SuperDuper for it's ease of use, much better than backup annoying me all the time, and for it's low price.
Anonymousreviewed on 28 Oct 2005
Pretty good but the GUI. More options than Backup 2 (they are hidden, you'll have to find how to acess them, that's not a smart interface).
[Version 3.0.1]
Anonymousreviewed on 27 Oct 2005
Worst GUI I have ever seen. Backup 2 was good. Is this one usable?
[Version 3.0.1]
Anonymousreviewed on 27 Oct 2005
As an original iTools user…
This interface as well as Tiger is becoming, well, ugly and more complicated… Thousands of small cryptic files (visible and invisible) everywhere!
We are being forced feed software that requires faster hardware just because…
If you're on dialup then go out to a movie while this tries to talk with Apple.
[Version 3.0.1]
1 Reply
Anonymouscommented on 27 Oct 2005
At best, this should be a comment not a review. Nowhere do you review Backup 3 or its benefits/problems. It serves no purpose to give one star on Apple policy and development when this is about the software program Backup.
Satellite internet connection, but Backup's worked before on it. Apple tech help has no idea what to do. Help!
[Version 2.0.2]
2 Replies
Anonymouscommented on 14 Oct 2004
I have exactly the same problem, and the same set-up: I am using the latest version of Backup (2.02) and a satellite connection and I always get an unrecoverable internal error. When I go to the Apple store's Genius Bar, it works fine. Back to the satellite dish and the same error. Bottom-line: This error appears causally related to the connection latency. Apple should fix this ASAP.
Anonymouscommented on 16 May 2005
Same issue here. Wireless network straight into high bandwidth LAN. Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger vanilla build on 1GHz G4 powerbook 12"
Isn't this 'issue number 1' for a backup system - graceful recovery from network failure?
One of the reasons I upgraded from 10.3 was because Backup started behaving this way. Assumed it was to do with my system. Now I think it's systematically associated with the .Mac offering.
+4
+1
+8
+8
Kenneth Lister reviewed on 01 Mar 2007
I like it.
+8
John F. reviewed on 25 Jan 2006
mtbeckner reviewed on 22 Jan 2006
That said, I recently backed up my essentials prior to a hard drive crash. I followed everything to the letter and checked the package contents to make sure all's was hunky-dorey, and so it was.
Following the insanely frustrating disposal & replacement of a hard drive -- performed all by Apple -- I then went back to my discs to restore my info to my "new" laptop.
And guess what? Yup, although the app recognized the data on the disc as native to that app, and although the app launched, nothing happened. Nothing! The only thing that did seem to happen correctly was that the DVD I restored to appeared as a valid restore source. Could I then actually restore that data? Nope. Did it give a reason? Nope. Were the help notes...well, helpful? Not a chance.
Unfortunately for these review purposes, Apple gets an F. What good is an application if it doesn't -- can't or won't -- perform the basic of core-related functions?
RECOVERY TIP: The only way I was able to recover my data from DVD was to do something that the average user wouldn't ever know about: I viewed the package contents, then mounted the .sparseimage, then manually dragged what I needed onto my new hard drive.
+1
+1
Anonymous reviewed on 28 Oct 2005
Anonymous reviewed on 27 Oct 2005
Anonymous reviewed on 27 Oct 2005
This interface as well as Tiger is becoming, well, ugly and more complicated… Thousands of small cryptic files (visible and invisible) everywhere!
We are being forced feed software that requires faster hardware just because…
If you're on dialup then go out to a movie while this tries to talk with Apple.
Internal System Error
An unrecoverable internal error has occurred."
Satellite internet connection, but Backup's worked before on it. Apple tech help has no idea what to do. Help!
Isn't this 'issue number 1' for a backup system - graceful recovery from network failure?
One of the reasons I upgraded from 10.3 was because Backup started behaving this way. Assumed it was to do with my system. Now I think it's systematically associated with the .Mac offering.
Cefn
http://cefn.com
Donald Barron rated on 04 Dec 2011
Ibear rated on 27 Feb 2011