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SuperDuper! or Déjà Vu with encryption; Mac backup strategy review
Topic Started: Dec 14 2010, 04:26 AM (857 Views)
Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
After poking around the Internet, I come up with a backup scheme that I will describe below and see what you backup-conscious Macophiles think ...

Some background:

  • The purpose is to create backup copies of data on external harddisks that I can rotate and transport off-site.
  • Since the external harddisks will be stored off-site, I want the data encrypted.
  • Since it's to backup data only, it is not necessary to make the backup harddisks "bootable."


So here's the scheme I have in mind:


  1. Get two external hard disk drives -- hdd A and hdd B.
  2. Both drives will be formatted using HSF+ with Journaling (or whatever a Mac running Snow Leopard can efficiently deal with natively)
  3. For each disk, create an encrypted sparse image (or encrypted sparse bundle, not sure whether to use sparse image or sparse bundle yet) -- e.g., A.sparseimage on hdd A and B.sparseimage on hdd B.
  4. First fortnight -- mount A.sparseimage, have SuperDuper! or Déjà Vu backup to that. At the end of the fortnight, unmount and transport hdd A off-site.
  5. Second fortnight -- mount B.sparseimage, have SuperDuper! or Déjà Vu backup to that. At the end of the fortnight, unmount and transport hdd B off-site.
  6. Repeat every four weeks.


A couple of things I am unsure about:

  1. Which one to choose, SuperDuper! or Déjà Vu? At first, it seems obvious that since I intend to backup only data, not clone a bootable "whole disk," that Déjà Vu would be the more appropriate choice; but I know for certain that SuperDuper! can back up to an encrypted sparse image volume, but not sure whether Déjà Vu can back up to an encrypted sparse image volume, hence the dilemma.
  2. Which is more suitable for the task -- a sparse image or a sparse bundle?

    Thoughts?
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
*bump*
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Axtremus
Dec 14 2010, 11:06 AM
*bump*
You can say that again.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
John D'Oh
Dec 14 2010, 11:10 AM
Axtremus
Dec 14 2010, 11:06 AM
*bump*
You can say that again.
Did you, though?
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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Mark
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HOLY CARP!!!
I guess you need to find out if Déjà Vu can back up to an encrypted sparse image volume.
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o 0
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
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Mark
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HOLY CARP!!!
I have no idea. I use TimeMachine, Retrospect and Carbon Copy Cloner. I don't worry about off site backups for my personal stuff.

If it gets destroyed so what?

All business and customer related stuff is always in a state of off-site backup. :lol:
___.___
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o 0
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Deja Vu's developer replied to my query that it " should" work with encrypted sparse image, and urged me to just try it out. Though he doesn't say which is better: sparse image or sparse bundle.

I think I'm going to use sparse image on one disk, and sparse bundle on another disk, and just observe which one works better over some period of time, then standardize on one if there is an appreciable difference on how well each works.
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