How do you do OSX backups with Mac Client?

[today]

I've tried asking this elsewhere and was told to ask here instead.

 

The 6.3 Mac Client appears to be completely useless unless you are planning to back up everything. Renaming files with a special bullet character to make things not back up? C'mon, this isn't the 90s anymore, you can't go doing that on a Unix filesystem and not expect to break things.

 

I really thought with this 8.0 version of the Mac backup software that Retrospect would have spent two days implementing the same simple file screening they have for the Windows client.

 

So those of you using the Mac Client to do backups, what do you do, set up separate backup scripts and selectors for each machine to prevent certain folders from getting backed up? Do you make your users send you a list of what they don't want backed up and you type that in by hand into a selector? Or do you just backup everything?

 

 

[Maser]

There are a couple of ways I approach this here:

 

1) I only backup "Favorite Folders" from each client (usually just the "Users" folder).

 

2) I *do* tell people to use the option-8 character for things that *they* do not want me to backup. This has not caused a problem for *user document* folders (at least not that I've seen.)

 

I find this better (frankly) than the Windows client method of having to explicitly indicate the patch of the folder/file to not be backed up -- what if the user moves the files?

 

 

 

3) I use "rules" to mark files I don't need to retain in a backup for *all* clients (like "iTunes Music" or Cache files...)

 

4) For specific users who have large folders (like iPhoto library files I know they backup elsewhere), I have an explicit line in my rule to deal with that client (ie /users//pictures or /users//movies)

 

I don't use separate rules for my individual clients (I have different rules for my Mac clients and my Windows clients, though.)

Edited February 15, 2010 by Guest