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DaveF · 12-03-2007, 06:52 AM

Michael is exactly right about how SuperDuper differs from TimeMachine. I'll add a few more comments that I ignorantly left out earlier.

Time Machine creates rolling backups of your data. It provides both a backup of your data and an easy way to recover files. If your hard drive crashes, you can recover from your TM backup. Two limitations are 1) backup is not bootable. You reinstall Leopard then recover from the TM backup. 2) The rolling backup process aggregates short-term steps as they "age". Hourly backups are aggreated into dailies; daily to weekly, and weekly to monthly. You don't have uinchanging snapshots, which is the conventional view of a backup system.

A program like SuperDuper! creates snapshots of whatever you backup. And you can create a bootable copy for immediate recovery. The limitations are 1) less frequent snapshots (daily or weekly versus TM's hourly 2) Less easy (I think) to recover individual files 3) $28 cost.

My opinion is that people will benefit more from TM's ability to immediately (and with panache) recover older files than they will from having a bootable backup. Most people don't need a bootable backup.

And this is why a really conservative person will have both TM and SuperDuper. Best of all features with no trade offs, except cost to have more storage space.

I think TM is great and think every Leopard user should turn it on without question. But I need to see how the long-term backup aggregation works to decide if I also want SuperDuper to complement it.

12-03-2007, 06:52 AM	#94 of 113
DaveF Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Local Time: 08:13 PM Local Date: 10-15-2008 Posts: 4,973	Re: Official Mac OS X Leopard Installation & Discussion Thread Michael is exactly right about how SuperDuper differs from TimeMachine. I'll add a few more comments that I ignorantly left out earlier. Time Machine creates rolling backups of your data. It provides both a backup of your data and an easy way to recover files. If your hard drive crashes, you can recover from your TM backup. Two limitations are 1) backup is not bootable. You reinstall Leopard then recover from the TM backup. 2) The rolling backup process aggregates short-term steps as they "age". Hourly backups are aggreated into dailies; daily to weekly, and weekly to monthly. You don't have uinchanging snapshots, which is the conventional view of a backup system. A program like SuperDuper! creates snapshots of whatever you backup. And you can create a bootable copy for immediate recovery. The limitations are 1) less frequent snapshots (daily or weekly versus TM's hourly 2) Less easy (I think) to recover individual files 3) $28 cost. My opinion is that people will benefit more from TM's ability to immediately (and with panache) recover older files than they will from having a bootable backup. Most people don't need a bootable backup. And this is why a really conservative person will have both TM and SuperDuper. Best of all features with no trade offs, except cost to have more storage space. I think TM is great and think every Leopard user should turn it on without question. But I need to see how the long-term backup aggregation works to decide if I also want SuperDuper to complement it. Last edited by DaveF : 12-03-2007 at 06:55 AM.