bluestupa1 Posted July 6, 2007 Report Share Posted July 6, 2007 Hi all, first time caller here and user of latest 7.5 on XP. We have a small lan here in a studio and we are replacing (one by one) the PCs with MacIntel machines (Imac and macbookpros). I was using Acronis ATI to do the backups for years and that worked well, but ATI support tells me they don't support the mac at this time (meaning HFS I assume). So, we got this tool hoping it would, but I don't have a clue on how to do it (yet). Can I just use this PC version and install MAC clients on the new IMACs and macbookpros and it will all magically be apparent? Ie. I can just do network backups? That would be GREAT! And I also need help understanding the lingo in retrospective (pardon the pun ) as I am a long time ATI user so that's probally not helping. I am used to a backup tool that takes an exact replica of an entire NTFS partition and saves that, including the MBR. If anything goes wrong, it restores everthing without any worries. Can this be done in retrospective 7.5? It seemed to me it was backing up files and settings only. In my expierence, and I have been around since 5 1/4 floppies, this never really works. ATI was cool as it allowed you to mount the backup partition and read and write to it even. That was great for getting one file, or doing an entire system restore in case of a disaster. So, can I do the same here? Hoping so with a mix of PCs and MacIntels! thx, BS in Nepal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted July 6, 2007 Report Share Posted July 6, 2007 Quote: Can I just use this PC version and install MAC clients on the new IMACs and macbookpros and it will all magically be apparent? Ie. I can just do network backups? yes, yes. Just in case you are considering migrating to Retrospect Mac in the future for your Retrospect backup machine itself, note that the backup formats used by Retrospect Mac and Retrospect Windows are incompatible - one cannot read the other's backups. However, Retrospect Windows, connected to Retrospect Mac CLIENTS, can backup and restore the Macs. There may be some issue, however, with some Mac metadata if the Mac clients have ACLs turned on (not on by default on Mac OS X non-server, and it takes a bit of effort to turn it on using command line commands). Retrospect does not make image backups. Instead, it makes incremental backups but presents an interface as if full backups ("snapshots") were made of the source machines. Files are backed up; that's the paradigm. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluestupa1 Posted July 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2007 Thanks Russ, well that sounds ok then, as long as it works. What is duplicate volume all about then? I guess volume does not equal partition, I always get confused there. It seems that in retro you can turn a folder into a volume and use that as a container for the backup no? Anyway, I am at a standstill because of this error: http://forums.dantz.com/ubbthreads/showf...SSID=#Post98252 - wonder if you can help me with that? I am doing a test to see if I can backup the server itself first before I start deploying clients. Maybe that's not such a good idea. Anyway, this tool has lots more features then ATI, so I think if I can get it to work I will be happy here... BS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted July 6, 2007 Report Share Posted July 6, 2007 Quote: What is duplicate volume all about then? It is a file copy, as contrasted with an incremental backup. Duplicate is not backup. It takes a while to get your mind into the right paradigm of "snapshots", which is a view into the backup database that makes it appear that each backup was a full one. The "snapshot" shows the state of the drive at the time the (incremental) backup was taken, and is a compilation of the history of incremental backups up to that point. That's the difference between Retrospect and other backup solutions - the presentation to the user of the backup state. Quote: It seems that in retro you can turn a folder into a volume and use that as a container for the backup no? Not quite. A Retrospect "subvolume" is akin to "chroot" in FTP or the like - it provides a new root (filesystem starting point) for the filesystem tree/path from that point downward. The main advantage of a Retrospect "subvolume" is for fast backup/restore of a part of a filesystem (volume). If you did the same thing by a "Selector" that chose only files whose path started with the path from the true filesystem root to that point, Retrospect would have to traverse the entire filesystem, making a file-by-file and directory-by-directory choice of whether to back up the file/directory. With a "subvolume", only the filesystem tree from that point down is recursed. So, for example, you might have a different backup policy (selector) for one area of the filesystem (e.g., user directories) and another, perhaps, for mail system data, etc. Subvolumes can also be useful if the data is being restored to a different place. Sorry, can't help you with your error. We are Mac only. Good luck. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluestupa1 Posted July 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2007 Well Russ, even if you are MAC only u speak plain english, thanks. Maybe it's because u are. Which brings me to another question. Maybe we should have gotton the mac version of this program, installed it on the macbookbro, and made that the backup server. The only problem then is when the laptop is gone for business trips. Arg. If we had the bucks we would dump all these PCs in the Bagmati and be done with them. They are a disaster from a maintence point of view. But two years ago it was impossible to even get mac systems here. Later on down the road we replace non-critical PCs with Macs, maybe then....Okay, back on point... Quote: It takes a while to get your mind into the right paradigm of "snapshots", which is a view into the backup database that makes it appear that each backup was a full one. No problem, understood. In ATI it's called a "view." Quote: A Retrospect "subvolume" is akin to "chroot" in FTP or the like - it provides a new root (filesystem starting point) for the filesystem tree/path from that point downward. Very cool. Now if I could only get XP to agree Thanks again! BS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted July 7, 2007 Report Share Posted July 7, 2007 Quote: Maybe we should have gotton the mac version of this program, installed it on the macbookbro, and made that the backup server. No. The Mac version is way behind the Windows version, and has been very neglected. It still is PowerPC code that is emulated under Rosetta on Intel Macs. A Macbook Pro probably wouldn't have the horsepower or RAM to do backup of a network of clients using Retrospect emulated under Rosetta. No plans have been announced for a Universal Binary version, now, what, two years after introduction of the Intel Macs. The only plans that have been announced are minor tweaks some unannounced time after this coming October when Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) will be introduced, simply for "compatibility with Leopard". There are many features missing in the Mac Retrospect that are present in the Windows Retrospect. Those admins that have not switched to another backup product and who have a mixed shop of Macs and PCs have pretty much switched to Retrospect Windows. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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