Data Compression For Remote Internet Backups?

[8c5b5aa9-8822-4759-8224-b72f90dd1292]

I use Retrospect 6 on my older Macs and Time Machine on my new 17" MacBook Pro, and am planning my backup strategy going forward. I will probably replace my 9 year old MDD DP G4 Mac desktop with a new Mac Mini in a few months. So both my new Macs will be running Lion 10.7. My current plan is to get a used Mac Mini (that can also run 10.7) and connect a "Stardom Safe Capsule" (offering RAID 1) to it, so my local Macs can backup to this "Mini Mac server" using Time Machine and maybe Retrospect 9.

 

I also then, at some point, want to set up a 2nd Mac Mini server at my dads house that I can also do remote backups too. We both have decent cable modem speeds and get about 9.7Mbps speed. But I just realized that is our download speed. My "upload" speed is only about 0.97Mbps. That might slow me backing up to a Mac or hard drive at my dads house via my internet connection. I see still Retrospect 9 encrypts data (files) sent out over the internet? Which is great. But does it also support some kind of data compression to enhance speed a bit backing up over the internet? Something like "Mode Z" compression supported by a lot of ftp servers? This might get my upload speed to maybe 1.5Mbps, until I can get a faster upload speed from my cable provider or someone else...

 

Does Retrospect 9 support any kind of data compression when connecting to a remote machine over the internet (or you getting this benefit anyway if Retrospect compresses files for archiving)? If not could you add this feature?

 

Thanks,

Jeff

[prl]

Applications on Macs (Snow Leopard and newer) and media files generally are already compressed and gain little from further compression. You may get less out of compression than you may expect. Generally when I've used it for local backups in Retrospect, I've got 20% or less compression overall.

 

The speed asymmetry that you mentioned, 9.7Mb/s download and 0.97Mb/s upload, is typical of ADSL networking (the 'A' is for Asymmetric speeds), and will affect the speed of the backup as you fear: the best the backup can do for line speed is the slower of the upload and download speeds, in your case 0.97Mb/s. Compression will improve the effective speed, but it will depend a lot on the nature of the files being backed up as to just how much compression will gain for you.

 

Peter

[423043c8-65f3-4926-84f8-f6c699af4555]

Yep, data is already compressed.

 

So JeffNY I think it's better to contact with your provider.

 

And order the most powerfull connection. It'll save your time.

 

Applications on Macs (Snow Leopard and newer) and media files generally are already compressed and gain little from further compression. You may get less out of compression than you may expect. Generally when I've used it for local backups in Retrospect, I've got 20% or less compression overall.

 

The speed asymmetry that you mentioned, 9.7Mb/s download and 0.97Mb/s upload, is typical of ADSL networking (the 'A' is for Asymmetric speeds), and will affect the speed of the backup as you fear: the best the backup can do for line speed is the slower of the upload and download speeds, in your case 0.97Mb/s. Compression will improve the effective speed, but it will depend a lot on the nature of the files being backed up as to just how much compression will gain for you.

 

Peter

[51ae86ee-d35a-4c46-b879-c3b8399377a3]

There are other products that might be better suited for what you want to do (CrashPlan and Synchronize Pro both come to mind). Retrospect CAN do it, but it hasn't proven to be the best tool for the job, particularly when it comes to scan times.