Every time I get into a conversation with a PC user about my Mac they give me shit. I know I’m a new convert and I speak and act like a drone but lemme nutshell what just happened and you tell me if you would have had the same experience with a PC.
So I need to buy an external Hard Drive for the MacBook because we are going out of town and I am taking it and I am scared shitless that something will happen and I will lose important data, pics, my novel, etc.
I talk to THREE different Mac Store Dudes and they each tell me that installing the EHD is simple. A no brainer. So I buy a LaCie 320 gig which I convince myself will be enough and, for good measure and because I am loving life today I buy Leopard as well as an educational program for ages 6 months to 2 years. Can’t start her too early, y’know?
I get the thing home and I am immediately prompted to install the backup program that comes with it. Something called Retrospect. It’s freaking gobbledy gook. Not only does it read and act like a Microsoft program but the tutorial doesn’t jibe with what is happening on my screen. I want to pull my hair out. It’s freaking Saturday night. I was so looking forward to backing up the drive, installing Leopard then using Time Machine and being all happy and shit.
So, I decide to take the bull by the horns and do what would be impossible with a PC. I call the store.
The dude asks me three questions and, when I am just a wee bit confused, he says “hold on.” He comes back. He needed to get on a macbook so he could walk me through the process. It’s a simple drag and drop (it always is on a mac)
“Toss the Retrospect.” He says. “You don’t need it.”
5 seconds later I am backing up my hard drive.
Can YOU call the store and get that kind of help for a PC? I think not. I never could.
Thank you, Apple. I knew there was a reason I loved you.
Now that you can actually install Windows on a Mac and use both systems if you so choose and literally have the best of both worlds, I don’t see the point in not owning an Apple computer any more. But to each his own. Windows people get really freaky weird and defensive about it, though. I just learned not to say anything, it’s just not worth it.
And Time Machine is just freaking genius. It’s amazing.
The trouble is I don’t WANT to put windows on my mac. there’s no reason for it and I don’t want that space taken up.
Oh wow… you’ve got to check out SuperDuper. It’s a free app. but if you pay the shareware fee, more features are available. CarbonCopyCloner is totally free. Either of these apps. will provide a bootable complete clone of your HD.
Personally, I wouldn’t be without SuperDuper. I used Retrospect for a couple years but it’s overkill for my needs and is not regularly updated for Macs.
I will check out SuperDuper but I’m just loving everything about Time Machine right now.
Especially the fact that I can FINALLY delete stuff from my hard drive and not worry about finding them easily later.
Macs are just making life so much easier.
Be aware that Time Machine will not keep files forever if they have been deleted from your mac. Once the time machine disk gets full, it will have to start deleting older files to make room for the new stuff. Since you said you have a 320 gig drive this isn’t anything to worry about right away, but don’t think that stuff on the time machine disk will be there forever!
But it doesn’t make a new copy of the entire hard drive each time, right? When it updates, it adds new stuff and makes a restore mark with the changes, right?
because I figure, if it can last me two to three years, that’s fine and by then the terabyte EHDs will be more affordable.
Am i right?