Back up question .mac vs thumbdrive

I read a bunch of opinions on both but i wanted to know from long time Mac users what do you think is the best way to back up info from the Air ?
I was thinking about getting a 16GB USB thumbdrive and back up photos, songs and contacts but i also read about .mac and you can also back up your info.
What do you think is the better way to go ? I dont mind paying 100 bucks a year for it but my main reason will be to back up 5 years worth of pictures and a hand full of songs.
Just want the safest way.

Thanks

 

I like .mac for the email account and the iWeb functions.

 

If all you want to do is backup files, then get an external HD or Time Capsule or NAS. If you also want to centralise all your contacts and email etc. subscribe to .Mac.
If you are unsure, try out .Mac for free.

 

.Mac comes with 10GB of space although you can buy more. That space is shared by everything including backups, iDisk, web pages, galleries (pictures and video) and your email account. Space can potentially become an issue.

At the same time, what if you lost your flash drive or it gets damaged...then you lost everything.

I think doing both is a good idea. They complement each other.

 

buy an external usb 2.5 HD. problem solved. .mac is nice, but it has limitations, and cost most each year.

 

.Mac is convenient, definitely. And its other features as well, if you will use them. I personally won't, so I don't have .Mac.

I backup with external and more "always-needed" files on my 1 GB flash drive. I want an 8 GB SanDisk Cruzer .

 

I have a removable drive, a time capsule and dot mac. Oh, and a network drive left over from windows that is used mainly for photos.

If you only have 5 gig of photos, grab a dvd burner and burn them to a dvd and leave it in a safe place other than wherever your computer is.

I have .mac family version. I get 10 gig and the kids get 2.5 gig each. It's fairly expensive but the price isn't any worse than rookie stuff like AOL which offered much less for the money. There are a lot of free places out there to put your files. With dot mac, you have a contract with Apple to keep your stuff safe. With the free places, you might just wind up getting what you paid for. nothing.

There are other options as well. You can get web hosting for 5 bucks a month that includes 5 gig of storage. But you gotta manage copying all your stuff there by ftp. Dot mac is well integrated with the OS and I press a button and it works. For me, it's worth the price right now.

 

Ok so if i go with .mac do i have to download a special back up software ? Or is that what idisk is ?

 

.mac is already inside OSX.

 

Mac OS X already has everything you'll need for .Mac backup and stuff .

 

You probably want to use Backup 3.1.2 from apple. It's free for .mac members. Just log into .mac online and click on the backup icon in the sidebar and there's a link there for the download.

Edit: Backup_3.1.2.dmg is also in your iDisk (Go - iDisk - My iDisk - software folder - backup OSX 10.5 folder)

Backup 3 makes it really easy to make backups of anything on your mac, you can customize a plan or select one of the many default plans.

I found out yesterday, the hard way, that while backing up to iDisk the backup files are broken down into 90MB chunks so the process appears to be repeating itself (copying files, compressing archive and then uploading...then repeating until the whole backup is done). For example, if you're backing up 900MB, it would do it in identical and sequential 10 phases.

I found out from apple that it's really designed for backing up individual files that are under 100MB each.

I was backing up my whole home folder which was 2.7GB and it was taking more than 6 hours before I cancelled it. I was later advised that while the backup itself would work, the restore function may have issues with individual 90MB segments of backup files.

Backup 3 also works well with external HDs and DVD/CDs.

I think for large backups, such as backing up your whole home folder (including your pictures, videos and iTunes library), I would avoid using iDisk and instead use optical media or an external HD.

 

an external 2.5", even 120GB can be had for less than 1yr of .mac.

id go that route, i did. There are no requirements then. No uploading, no worrying. Just keep the drive at a family members house, or even in your car, thats where mine goes.

simple, sufficient, cheap, and best of all, trouble free.

 

Well, there are more advantages to .Mac than just backup space as well though, you can have your own (simple) website and hosted, you can have Gallery stuff...if its useful to you, .Mac isn't bad.

 

Absolutely. My .mac membership was the best $70 I ever spent.

I'm just starting to make full use of it; creating my own website, web gallery, @mac.com email account, using iDisk to share files instead of via email (have colleagues download files from my iDisk) and publishing my iCal calendars for family and friends to view.

It's a great value. I just don't think, now, that it's suited for large(r) backups like the one I was trying to do. For that, an external HD, large flash drive or optical media are much better suited.

 

of course there are many advantages to it. But its one of those things that keeps sucking money from people, which is too bad.

from a backup standpoint, .mac is ok, but an external HD will give much more bang for the buck.