The .mp3 are fine but a lot of my music is .wma What to you mean DRM? What's that?
So do you copy your photos manually to the externals each time you add new ones &/or edit? Or how are you automating the clone?
DRM is digital rights management... basically any music you buy legally has been affixed to just your computer and those rights won't transfer to the new computer
it will let your Mac play wma files. Get the free version. Note that they will not play in iTunes, but you can play them. Now, if you purchased those wma files (vs ripping from CD), then chances are they will not play even with FlipforMac. If you ripped them from your own CDs, it would be far easier to start up iTunes, insert your CDs and rip them into iTunes, than do any conversion.
I back up my Mac using TimeMachine, but also take a snapshot image using Carbon Copy Cloner, about every 3-6 months. This way I also have an external bootable drive for emergencies. For photos, I copy from my CF cards to an external drive using Lightroom, and then these get backed up online via Crashplan.
Format & Defrag: I'm currently formatting both of my 2TB external drives for back-up use. Because I'm still kinda paranoid I'd like to have these readable by both pc or mac so I'm formatting them exFat. I understand I won't need to defragment the drives that have the mac format... but will I occasionally need to defragment the external drives formatted as exFat or does that apply to all drives written on with the mac?
Doesn't seem like you need to worry about defragmenting the external drives. I've never defragmented an external drive used for backup puproses. Think about how the info is added to the drive (and, for the most part, not removed), and you realize it doesn't fragment to the same extent.
Back-Up: The macs come with time machine & can be used with my current external drives... but wondering from those of you backing up your macs... do you like time machine? Is it reliable? Or are there other mac specific back-up products you prefer &/or recommend? Time machine looks like it's probably pretty straight forward & simple are the backups readable in that if I need to get only 1 or 2 files off of it without reverting to a set date that I can? I'm also going to research online back up solutions & once I get that in order I'm thinking I'll probably only need to keep one on site external back-up + plus the online backup verses 2 externals rotated in & out for on site & off location. I sometimes get lazy about keeping both externals up to date every other week or so so in real life that might not prove to be so good in a disaster so something online more automatic would be much preferable ;-)
I use Time Machine for everything _except_ photos. It has worked well. Yes, you can go "back in time" for just one or two files. Your plan for one external + online backup sounds sufficient. Another drive that is a 'bootable' backup of your main drive is nice in a disaster situation - but if you have carefully planned your backup to include all data, you don't really need a bootable drive (it will save you time in that event, but you can get back to where you were without it).
As I said, I use Time Machine for everything except photos. My photos are backed up by Aperture's "Vault" system (and to an online backup). I like this approach because it ensures that I am not retaining (even briefly) backups of photos that I have deleted from my photo library. My Vaults are on external drives that are used for no other purpose, and my Time Machine backup is to a drive that holds nothing else.
Music: Agghhhh... I was super bummed to transfer all my music & discover my mac can't read/play most of my music & that converting them to something mac can read is likely gonna be a chore & more $ :-( How have you'll dealt with this?
The .mp3 are fine but a lot of my music is .wma What to you mean DRM? What's that?
So do you copy your photos manually to the externals each time you add new ones &/or edit? Or how are you automating the clone?
DRM is digital rights management - protection for everyone in the music business except you. If you buy music from Amazon, and now from iTunes (a software application, and an online store that used to use DRM but not now, or not always now) or rip your own CDs you avoid this. If you have music from your own CDs, you probably want to re "rip" them into iTunes.
Are you going to use Aperture or Lightroom? I recommend that you do (and I much prefer Aperture, though you will hear others who are strongly in favor of Lightroom). Aperture can (almost) automate the backup of photos (you need to click on something when you want it to happen, so it isn't on a schedule but it is otherwise managed). The Aperture documentation refers to this as "Vaults" - I think Lightroom has a similar tool. It makes for a nice workflow that doesn't tend to create unwanted duplicates of image files.
Superduper and Carbon Copy Cloner are roughly equivalent apps that allow you to clone a drive and to even "bless" it as a startup drive. They can be set to run on a schedule.
I've been using Macs off and on (mostly on) for over 20 years. I rarely have issues playing any type of .wma unless it's password protected. Quicktime with flip for mac or perian (both free) installed will play everything. Also iTunes can covert .wma files to mp3 when you import them (see below)
Back-Up: The macs come with time machine & can be used with my current external drives... but wondering from those of you backing up your macs... do you like time machine? Is it reliable? Or are there other mac specific back-up products you prefer &/or recommend? Time machine looks like it's probably pretty straight forward & simple are the backups readable in that if I need to get only 1 or 2 files off of it without reverting to a set date that I can? I'm also going to research online back up solutions & once I get that in order I'm thinking I'll probably only need to keep one on site external back-up + plus the online backup verses 2 externals rotated in & out for on site & off location. I sometimes get lazy about keeping both externals up to date every other week or so so in real life that might not prove to be so good in a disaster so something online more automatic would be much preferable ;-)
Personally I don't use time machine, to buggy for my tastes. I use Data Backup or Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) both are very stable and work quite well. If you use Lightroom you can also save in multiple location upon import.
Music: Agghhhh... I was super bummed to transfer all my music & discover my mac can't read/play most of my music & that converting them to something mac can read is likely gonna be a chore & more $ :-( How have you'll dealt with this?
Very easy to fix this issue. Just import all your music into iTunes, (Click "File>open" and select the WMA files or folder you are interested in converting) once they are all in iTunes, select all the filse you want to convert (command "A" if you are converting EVERYTHING), right click (you may need to set this up in the system preferences since by default the Mac is set up for single click) then select "create MP3 version" iTunes will do the rest.
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Time Machine is great. I'm not sure I would use it for my photos, though. That would be a simple automated clone for me, plus Backblaze.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
So do you copy your photos manually to the externals each time you add new ones &/or edit? Or how are you automating the clone?
I use superduper for cloning.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/windows-media-player/wmcomponents
it will let your Mac play wma files. Get the free version. Note that they will not play in iTunes, but you can play them. Now, if you purchased those wma files (vs ripping from CD), then chances are they will not play even with FlipforMac. If you ripped them from your own CDs, it would be far easier to start up iTunes, insert your CDs and rip them into iTunes, than do any conversion.
I back up my Mac using TimeMachine, but also take a snapshot image using Carbon Copy Cloner, about every 3-6 months. This way I also have an external bootable drive for emergencies. For photos, I copy from my CF cards to an external drive using Lightroom, and then these get backed up online via Crashplan.
Doesn't seem like you need to worry about defragmenting the external drives. I've never defragmented an external drive used for backup puproses. Think about how the info is added to the drive (and, for the most part, not removed), and you realize it doesn't fragment to the same extent.
I use Time Machine for everything _except_ photos. It has worked well. Yes, you can go "back in time" for just one or two files. Your plan for one external + online backup sounds sufficient. Another drive that is a 'bootable' backup of your main drive is nice in a disaster situation - but if you have carefully planned your backup to include all data, you don't really need a bootable drive (it will save you time in that event, but you can get back to where you were without it).
As I said, I use Time Machine for everything except photos. My photos are backed up by Aperture's "Vault" system (and to an online backup). I like this approach because it ensures that I am not retaining (even briefly) backups of photos that I have deleted from my photo library. My Vaults are on external drives that are used for no other purpose, and my Time Machine backup is to a drive that holds nothing else.
DRM is digital rights management - protection for everyone in the music business except you. If you buy music from Amazon, and now from iTunes (a software application, and an online store that used to use DRM but not now, or not always now) or rip your own CDs you avoid this. If you have music from your own CDs, you probably want to re "rip" them into iTunes.
Are you going to use Aperture or Lightroom? I recommend that you do (and I much prefer Aperture, though you will hear others who are strongly in favor of Lightroom). Aperture can (almost) automate the backup of photos (you need to click on something when you want it to happen, so it isn't on a schedule but it is otherwise managed). The Aperture documentation refers to this as "Vaults" - I think Lightroom has a similar tool. It makes for a nice workflow that doesn't tend to create unwanted duplicates of image files.
Chooka chooka hoo la ley
Looka looka koo la ley
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Personally I don't use time machine, to buggy for my tastes. I use Data Backup or Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) both are very stable and work quite well. If you use Lightroom you can also save in multiple location upon import.
Very easy to fix this issue. Just import all your music into iTunes, (Click "File>open" and select the WMA files or folder you are interested in converting) once they are all in iTunes, select all the filse you want to convert (command "A" if you are converting EVERYTHING), right click (you may need to set this up in the system preferences since by default the Mac is set up for single click) then select "create MP3 version" iTunes will do the rest.
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