DropBox Review

Image via CrunchBase

DropBox Review Summary

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Source: Macworld.com

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Put simply, Dropbox is an amazingly useful combination of a Web service and a Mac OS X program that work together to make your data accessible from anywhere and to keep it synchronized between your computers.

Once you've installed the Dropbox application and set up a Dropbox account, anything you place in a special Dropbox folder on your Mac is automatically copied to the Dropbox servers, as well as to any other Macs you've set up with that Dropbox account.

If this sounds a bit like the iDisk feature of Apple's MobileMe service, that's because it's similar - except that Dropbox is fast and reliable.

Dropbox is also smarter about copying files: It transfers smaller files before larger ones, copies only the parts of each file that have changed, and compresses all data for the trip.

And Dropbox is better about handling sync conflicts - if the same document is modified on two computers at the same time, Dropbox keeps both copies, adding a "oeconflicted" message to the name of one.

For example, I personally use my Dropbox folder for storing all my in-progress documents, letting me work on those documents from any of my Macs.

I can also access those documents using the Dropbox app for iPhones and iPads, and I can even edit them on my iOS devices using apps such as the Elements text editor.

In addition, many Mac programs, such as TextExpander and 1Password, can use Dropbox to ensure all your Macs have the same settings and data; and because your Dropbox folder is a standard Finder folder, you can use Automator or a utility such as Hazel to automate task across your Macs.

Strengths:

Dropbox offers hassle-free access to synced files on all of your machines.

An amazing feature is that you can also retrieve deleted files, so this product also provides a versioned backup solution.

Dropbox offers a generous 8GB of free storage space, which can be upgraded to 50GB or 100GB plans for a monthly fee.

Weaknesses:

Some users may find 8GB of storage space is rather limiting, but this can be upgraded for a monthly fee.

Overall:

Dropbox truly is one of those amazing must install applications.

More importantly, customer service on the forums is excellent.

Overall:

I've only been using Dropbox for about 3 months now, but I can say, hand on heart, that it is one of the best pieces of software that I have ever used in my life.

Dropbox is an indispensable part of my workflow, and it keeps getting better and better with each release.

Now that it handles most Mac metadata properly, it integrates seamlessly with the Finder; and with Web-browser access, as well as Dropbox software—and Dropbox-enabled third-party programs—available for OS X, Windows, Linux, and iOS, you can access and edit your data from anywhere and any device.

I have yet to find an easier way to share data with other computers and other people. And did I mention the outstanding DropBox documentation?

Note in the PC world review they list "but forces you to do all your sync management from one unmovable folder" This is not true.

Related Resources:

• Videos about DropBox
  
• How to get more out DropBox
  

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Concepts:

dropbox, folder, Mac, reviews, sync, feature, storage, backup, Networking, Macworld, computers, account, app, Mice, Automator.

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Steve Jobs - Is he the Seed of Apple Computer Innovation

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

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Source: suite101.com

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There are many interesting entrepreneurs but Steve Jobs certainly has been an inspiration and marvel in his field, leading Apple to an immensely successful company.   As Philip Elmer-DeWitt posts on January 17, 2011 in his article Thinking the unthinkable: Apple without Steve Jobs “Jobs brings something to Apple that's harder to measure […].

A Different Sort of CEO

Wikipedia reports that Jobs' biological parents – Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian Muslim graduate student who later became a political science professor, and Joanne Simpson, an American graduate studentwho went on to become a speech therapist– later married, giving birth to and raising Jobs' biological sister, the novelist Mona Simpson.


After attending Cupertino Junior High School and Homestead High School in Cupertino, California, Jobs visited after-school lectures at the Hewlett-Packard where he was hired to work with Steve Wozniak as a summer employee.


Hard to imagine that the successful CEO in those days slept on the floor in friends' rooms made a few pennies by returning Coke bottles and receiving free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple.

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• Can Apple Survive as a Market Leader Without Steve Jobs? (prweb.com)
• Why did Steve Jobs take a leave of absence from Apple in January 2011 (wiki.answers.com)
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• 'The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs' - A One-Man Show (macstories.net)
• Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish: Three Stories by Steve Jobs (blogs.forbes.com)
• The Macintosh Computer Turns 27 Years Old Today (businessinsider.com)

Digitimes: iPad 2 Will Ship With 5 New Features

Image via Wikipedia

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Source: thenextweb.com

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Digitimes has cited a report from Chinese news portal Economy Daily News which suggests that Apple’s next generation iPad will incorporate five new features, adding video calling, lighter body, USB ports, new display technology and new 3-axis gyroscopes.

The new features have long been subject to speculation, different sources have already suggested that Apple will feature its FaceTime technology in the iPad 2. With both front and back cameras, users will be able to use the FaceTime service on their iPad, contacting friends and family on their iPhone 4, iPod Touch and Mac computers.

It has also been rumoured that Apple were experimenting with using carbon fiber panels and utilising thinner glass, reducing the mass of the iPad, a device that is currently considerably heavier than other tablet devices in the market. Introducing Apple’s Retina Display technology, coupled with thinner and lighter glass, will ensure high-resolution output and colour performance whilst making the device more portable.

The mention of USB ports is very interesting, particularly as Apple users have long campaigned for them to be added to their tablet devices. This would also signal that iOS would need to be updated to include file management support, something Apple has never offered within its operating system previously.

By adding 3-axis gyroscopes, its possible that Apple will usher in a new wave of tablet physics games, allowing the company to target gamers and younger customers.

Apple understandably remains tight-lipped about its plans, we can expect more information to become available at the beginning of 2011.

Related articles

• Apple to up iPad 2 resolution to 2048 by 1536 (think-act-do.blogspot.com)
• Apple adding PCB suppliers to boost iPad 2 production (electronista.com)
• Digitimes Says iPad 2 Will Have Retina Display, While Moore's Law Says It Won't (cultofmac.com)
• Digitimes: iPad 2 Will Ship With 5 New Features [TNW Apple] (thenextweb.com)
• Digitimes: Verizon iPad Coming In 2011 (cultofmac.com)
• New iOS Beta includes Camera, FaceTime and PhotoBooth icons for iPad (thenextweb.com)
• Do iOS icons confirm iPad 2 front-facing cam? (news.cnet.com)
• Second iOS 4.3 beta picked apart for clues about upcoming iPad 2 (arstechnica.com)

Apple to up iPad 2 resolution to 2048 by 1536

Image via Wikipedia

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Source: digitimes.com

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As Apple is set to start mass producing its next-generation iPad 2 at the end of February, and sources from upstream component makers pointed out that Apple is increasing iPad 2's resolution to 2048 by 1536 and the new strategy is expected to widen the company's technology gap with its competitors.

Apple has also recently started adjusting its iBooks 1.1 application with some designs for bookmark icons to allow it to support the larger resolution, noted the sources adding that the larger resolution should provide the company's App developers more convenience, while all future applications will be able to run under any of Apple's machines including the 27-inch iMac.

In 2011, Apple's iPad series should be able to ship more than 40 million units, the sources estimated. Apple is estimated to have ordered 1.6-1.8 million iPads in January with the order volumes for February expected to drop. iPad 2's initial shipments are expected to be 400,000-600,000 units.

Related articles

• iPad 2 Retina Display rumors under fire: prototypes aren't next-gen iOS tablet (slashgear.com)
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• Taiwan parts firms point to iPad 2 res rise (go.theregister.com)
• Oversized Assets Indicate 2048×1536 Resolution On iPad 2 (techcrunch.com)
• Apple iPad 2 to Launch on February 9th? (daaaveeeee.wordpress.com)

Image via CrunchBase

iPad 2 to Have SD Card Slot & Qualcomm Chip [RUMOR]

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Source: mashable.com

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Summary:

More details are surfacing about the next generation of iPhone and iPad, including that both devices will feature Qualcomm chipsets and that the iPad 2 will have an SD card slot.
The Verizon iPhone 4 utilizes a Qualcomm chipset instead of the Infereon version used in the AT&T/GSM iPhone in order to connect to Verizon's CDMA network.
However, Engadget reports that the Verizon iPhone 4 is just the first of many Apple devices that will use Qualcomm as its primary chipset.
Both the iPhone 5 and the iPad 2 will utilize a dual CDMA/GSM chipset from Qualcomm, assuring that both devices work on Verizon and AT&T simultaneously.
There won't be a need for two different versions of the same device.
According to Engadget's sources, the new iPad will be slimmer and sleeker, but will retain its 10-inch screen.
It will have two cameras (something that we've often heard) and a "super high resolution" screen much like the Retina Display in the iPhone 4, though it won't have the same pixel density.
The most surprising revelation though is that the iPad 2 will have an SD card slot built into the device.
And contrary to previous reports, it will not have a USB port.
Still, the ability to load and unload media and documents via a traditional SD card is a surprising but welcomed addition.
The iPad is on track for an April release, once again in line with previous reports.
There is no word about what new additions will be made to the iPhone 5, but it is going once again be a complete redesign of the device.
It will run on Apple's A5 multi-core CPU.
One thing it won't have is support for 4G LTE connections, though.
While we have to classify all of this information as unconfirmed rumors, all of this information lines up with previous leaks and reports about Apple's upcoming 2011 line of iOS devices.
We want to stress though that Apple still has a few months before the release of either device, so they could easily change designs or features before their eventual releases.
InsiderLeak: iPad 2 going CDMA/GSM dual mode, iPhone 5 dual-coreElectronistaPC Magazine -Mashable -Beatweek Magazineall 73 news [...]
http://aditmemble.com/gadget/ipad-and-iphone-will-use-chip-dual-mode/ iPad and iPhone Will Use Chip Dual-Mode?
version used in the AT&T/GSM iPhone in order to connect to Verizonâ¬(TM)s [...] Read more on Mashable This entry was posted in Ipad and tagged iPadonly, newspaper, postponed.
http://technologyischangingus.wordpress.com/2011/01/15/ipad2-and-iphone5/ iPad2 and iPhone5 «Technology Is Changing Us
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

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Concepts:

Lists, ipad, iphone, rumor, social media, screenshot, chip, news, video, dual-core, Qualcomm, apple, app, Mobile, tech.

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• Apple Inc. Working On The Next Generation iPad 2 & iPhone 5 With Dual Core Processors (trendsupdates.com)

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Rumours of a New IPad in Early 2011

Image via Wikipedia

Apple May Unveil a New iPad in Early 2011, Analysts Say

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Source: businessweek.com

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Summary:

Nov 19 2010(Bloomberg)
Apple Inc. may introduce a thinner iPad in the first half of next year with features such as a camera for video-calling and chips made by Qualcomm Inc. that let it work on global wireless networks, analysts say.
Production may start as early as January, with an introduction to the public by February or March, said Mike Abramsky, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.
The device will feature Qualcomm chips that allow a Web connection on both GSM and CDMA networks, the dominant radio standards used in mobile phones, said Brian Blair of Wedge Partners, who said he expects an April debut.
"They can sell it around the globe without having to worry if it works with one carrier's network or another carrier's network," said Blair, who is based in New York.
Infineon Technologies AG, whose wireless business is being acquired by Intel Corp., now makes those radio chips for the iPad.
The announcement's timing would put the iPad on an annual cycle of introductions similar to those of iPhones and iPods.
Paul Jacobs, chief executive officer of San Diego-based Qualcomm, declined to comment when asked in a Nov. 16 interview if his company's chips will be part of new products by Apple.
Apple declined to comment, said Natalie Harrison, a spokeswoman.
Suppliers of parts to the iPad have had fourth-quarter orders cut by about 10 percent, said Patrick Wang an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities in New York.
The most likely explanation is that Apple wants to draw down inventory ahead of the new model's launch in the first quarter of 2011, he said.
New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.
The shares have risen 46 percent this year.
Qualcomm, up 3.7 percent this year, advanced 24 cents to $47.96 in Nasdaq trading.
The iPad, which went on sale in April, accounted for about 13.7 percent of Apple's revenue last quarter, more than the nine-year-old old iPod media player.
The device helped establish a market for tablet computers that blend the capabilities of a smartphone and notebook computer, leading rivals such Samsung Electronics Co. and Research In Motion Ltd. to introduce their own models.
Apple may sell 48 million iPads next year, said Blair.
--Editors: Margot Slade, Romaine Bostick
To contact the reporters on this story: Adam Satariano in San Francisco at asatariano1@bloomberg.net; Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net

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Concepts:

Business, Jobs, Blog, Apple, Ipad, Schools, Innovation, Management, Marketing, Stocks, Networks, Technology, Investing, Special Reports, Qualcomm

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• iPhone 5 to Use Apple A8 Chip and Qualcomm Silicon? (Hint: Yes--and No) (fastcompany.com)
• Report: Future iPad, iPhone to have Qualcomm chips (news.cnet.com)

Image via Wikipedia

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Source: macworld.com

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By Dan Frakes, Macworld.com - December 2, 2010

Quickly Create A New Document In The Current Folder With Neu 1.0.1

Windows has at least one feature I'd love to see OS X appropriate: the capability to quickly create a new document right in the current folder

A common feature request I get - often from Windows users switching to the Mac, but also from long-time Mac users - is for a way to more-quickly create a new file in the Finder.

This can be very convenient - after all, when you create a new document, chances are you already know where you're going to put it and, in fact, that folder is often already open.

This Windows feature is certainly a more-convenient process than the traditional Mac OS alternative: switching to the appropriate program; creating a new document; choosing the Save command; navigating in the Save dialog to the desired folder; and clicking the Save button.

Because of this convenience, two of my all-time favorite Mac Gems have been NuFile and Document Palette, which offer a contextual menu or an onscreen palette, respectively, for creating a new document in the active Finder window. Sadly, NuFile stopped working as of Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6), with no update in sight, and Document Palette seems to have gone the way of the dodo. (Document Palette actually works perfectly under Snow Leopard; it's just no longer available for downloading.)

So I was more than a little excited to discover Neu, a Snow Leopard-compatible - nay, Snow Leopard-only - utility that combines the best features of NuFile and Document Palette, as well as a few new ones, in one program.

Neu's menu-bar document chooser With Neu running, whenever you're working in a Finder window, you can use Neu in one of five ways to create a new document:

• Neu's systemwide menu-bar menu,
• Neu's Dock menu,
• the Finder's Services submenu (in the Finder menu),
• the Finder's contextual menus, or
• either of two configurable keyboard shortcuts.

Whichever approach you use, Neu offers two commands: Create Document and Create And Open Document. The former simply creates a new document in the active Finder window; the latter creates the document and then automatically opens it in the appropriate program.

When you use one of Neu's menus to create a new document, the command's submenu displays a list of available templates - choose one to create a document based on that template.

When using Neu's keyboard shortcuts, Neu displays, depending on your settings, either a text list or an icon grid of template options.

Neu's list-view document chooser Neu offers a number of useful options. For example, you can choose to hide Neu's Dock menu or systemwide menu-bar menu, and you can opt to have Neu prompt you to name each new document, using a traditional Save dialog, on the fly.
For advanced users, Neu offers an interesting feature for automatically substituting template text with dynamic data.

For example, by using the correct syntax in your templates, you can have Neu automatically replace variables with, for example, your username, the path to the new file, the date and time the new file was created, and which template was used to create it.

Because of a the way Finder Services work, Neu's Services options appear in the Finder menu only if you first select a file in the active Finder window. Similarly, the contextual-menu commands appear only if you right-click (control-click) on an existing file or folder in the window.

For example, I wish you could customize the order in which templates appear in Neu's grid and list views and its menus.

(Note that if Neu's options don't appear in the Services submenu of the Finder menu or within contextual menus, you may need to manually enable those services in the Keyboard pane of System Preferences.)

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Image via WikipediaApple’s Mac App Store Opens for Business
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/01/06macappstore.html

Apple’s Mac App Store Opens for Business

The Mac App Store brings the revolutionary App Store experience to the Mac, so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes® account, download and install them in just one step.

The Mac App Store is available for Snow Leopard® users through Software Update as part of Mac OS® X v10.6.6.

"With more than 1,000 apps, the Mac App Store is off to a great start," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We think users are going to love this innovative new way to discover and buy their favorite apps."

The Mac App Store offers apps in Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity, Utilities and other categories.

Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what's hot, see staff favorites, search categories and look up top charts for paid and free apps, as well as user ratings and reviews.

Entirely new apps, as well as current Mac favorites, are available from developers such as Autodesk, Ancestry.com and Boinx.

"We're delighted to bring our professional-grade paint and drawing app, Autodesk SketchBook Pro, to the Mac App Store on its first day of launch," said Carl Bass, Autodesk's CEO. "We've seen tremendous success on the Mac, iPhone and iPad with multiple apps.

We're excited to offer SketchBook Pro on the Mac App Store so artists can easily create everything from quick sketches to high-quality artwork right on their Macs."

"By offering the Ancestry.com Family Tree Maker app on the Mac App Store, we're making it even easier for people to discover and access their family history," said Tim Sullivan, Ancestry.com's CEO. "The Mac App Store will drive a new generation of innovation on the Mac platform."

"We're thrilled to have our award-winning animation, video production and photography software available on the new Mac App Store," said Oliver Breidenbach, Boinx Software's CEO. "The Mac App Store makes it easier than ever for consumers to access all the innovative software designed for the Mac."

To get the Mac App Store, download the Mac OS X v10.6.6 Software Update or visit www.apple.com/mac/app-store.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software.

Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store.

Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.
To get the Mac App Store, download the Mac OS X v10.6.6 Software Update or visit www.apple.com/mac/app-store. To find out more about developing for the Mac App Store visit developer.apple.com/programs/mac.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

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Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

Importing iPhone clips into iMovie

Just a basic understanding of how iPhone movies are treated by a Mac and new and older versions of iPhoto and iMovie.
Shoot a movie with your iPhone or 4G iPod touch and then attach the device to your Mac via the sync cable.
Check iPhoto's Library pane and you'll see your iPhone listed as a camera.
Again, by default, its contents will appear in iPhoto's main window.

Movies

Prior to iLife '11

Movies you've captured with your iPhone will appear with a small camcorder icon in their bottom left corner.
Select those movies and click the Import Selected button and the movies will be imported to your iPhoto library.
When you launch iMovie it will likely ask if you'd like to update thumbnails for videos in your iPhoto library.
Let it do that by clicking the Now button. When iMovie's done you should see the clips you've recently imported into iPhoto. This describes how it was done prior to iLife '11.

With the latest version of iMovie - iLife 11

If you have the latest version of iMovie you have a more direct route. iPhoto will still launch and you can still import your iPhone and 4G iPod touch movies into it, but you can also import movies directly into iMovie '11.
Launch iMovie '11, attach your iPhone or 4G iPod touch to your Mac, and click the Camcorder icon that appears just above the Event Library.
In a short while iMovie will recognize the iPhone or iPod touch and produce an Import From window that includes all the videos on the attached device.
At this point, import the clips just as you would from any compatible camera or camcorder.
Select the clips you want and click the Import Selected or Import All button.
In the sheet that subsequently appears, choose the event you want to place the clips in (or create a new event).
If you like, enable the After Import Analyze For option and choose Stabilization and People, Stabilization, or People from the pop-up menu.

Concepts:
movies, iPhone, iMovie, iPhoto, clips, iPod touch, launch iMovie, importing, camcorder icon, Mac, Stabilization, videos, window, camera, attach.

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Apple Mac Mini is it the ultimate small PC for the living room

Image via Wikipedia

Apple Mac Mini PC 2010 - Reviews, Specs, Ratings, Details

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Source: www.desktoppcs.org.uk

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For a long time now, the Mac Mini has been Apple's odd child, as it has been the only consumer level desktop machine from the brand that does not have a fully integrated experience.

Now, it seems to have become much more attractive as a home theater computer as Apple has given it a complete makeover.

It has its price up by a considerable amount too, so, let us find out if the Mini is worth the premium and if it is the ultimate small PC for the living room.

This is caused by two reasons, one being the fact that the lip on the fascia sports an intake, which is vented out the rear and the second reason being its creative concealing of the WiFi antenna, which would otherwise be stifled by that all aluminium enclosure.

With the same idea too, there is even an HDMI to DVI adapter included in the box, and you can obviously score a VGA mini DisplayPort adapter too.

The HDMI port has been mentioned to be "HDMI 1.3-compliant," and the port will be able to carry up to eight channels of audio and run displays with resolutions of up to 1920 x 1200 pixels, even if it does not support the hardly used Deep Color.

We feel this is very silly as most hard drives have the bad character of failing specially when they are run on non stop servers and video playback devices.

The one omission that can be felt is a Blu-ray drive.

While consumers have been using the Mini as the basic Home Theater PC for a number of years now, the HDMI port in the new model has made it seem as if Apple has given this little machine its blessing to conquer the living room.

Its relatively slow, 5400rpm hard drive can mean disk intensive applications and games load rather slowly, but the mini will turn its hand to almost any task.

The new Mini just has the addition of the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor to the mix.

You need to be just aware that getting the best experience out of the Mini is not necessarily just plug and play, unless you are willing to spend some time playing around with the semi obscure utilities such as Audio MIDI Setup, and having a Mini under your telly might cause more issues than it might actually solve.

As a first for any mac, its HDMI port addition has made it dead simple to be added to your HDTV set.

However, on the other side, the base price of the only stock consumer has gone up by a considerable level, and to be straightforward, some of the much cheaper PCs have had a HDMI port forever.

Once you factor a monitor and peripherals into the equation, Apple's entry-level MacBook offers similar specs and better value.

The entry level consumer model, reviewed here, will set you back £650.

The mini with Snow Leopard Server is available for a starting price of £930, and trades its optical drive for twin hard disks.

Read expert reviews and compare features of Apple, Acer, Sony VAIO, HP, Compaq and all latest Desktop PCs and Desktop Computers.

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Concepts:

mini, Apple, port, graphics, consumer, mini display, Mac Mini, HDMI, hard drives, video, WiFi, living room, home theater, games, Blu-ray.

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Related articles

• Apple shrinks Mac Mini price (go.theregister.com)
• First Mac and iPhone Compared, Upgrade Mac mini RAM, Mac Data Recovery, iPhoto 9.1.1, and More, Mac News Review (lowendmac.com)
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• Used/Refurbished Mac mini Buying Tips (brighthub.com)
• Will This Be the Brains Behind the New Mac Mini? (nytimes.com)
• Apple quietly cuts Mac Mini prices in non-US markets (engadget.com)

Use an old Mac as a backup server | Storage & Backup

Image via Wikipedia

Use an old Mac as a backup server

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Source: macworld.com

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In the innocent days of the very late 20th century there was The Family Computer. This single computer sat in a home's communal space and was shared by each of that home's residents. For many of us, those days are long past. As computers have become more affordable, portable, and necessary, it's now common to find multiple Macs scattered throughout a home. And because it is, it's just as likely that some of those Macs have been retired - replaced with faster or lighter models.

When that happens the question of what to do with an old Mac invariably arises. Given a multi-Mac household and the need to retain the data stored on those Macs, one of the first things you should consider is turning that old Mac into a backup server - one Mac to rule the backup roost. Doing so isn't an overly expensive proposition and it's relatively easy to set up, run, and maintain.

Why a backup server?

Ask Apple about multi-Mac backups and you'll likely be directed to its Time Capsule wireless hard drive.

Time Capsule is an acceptable and easy-to-use solution as it allows you to back up multiple Macs running Leopard or Snow Leopard to a single device via Apple's Time Machine. However, if some of your Macs are using an older version of the Mac OS, you're out of luck as they don't support Time Machine. Additionally, if you have a lot of data to back up, the 1 or 2TB of storage found on a Time Capsule may not be enough. And, of course, at $299 (1TB model) or $499 (2TB model) you're paying for features beyond storage, including wireless routing.

A Mac-based backup server allows you to get around these limitations. With the right software you can back up not only Macs running older versions of the Mac OS, but Windows PCs and Linux computers as well. You can add exactly as much storage as you need (and upgrade that storage at a later time). And you pay only for back up software and storage rather than a wireless router that may be redundant given the gear you already own.

About your setup

One reason an old Mac is ideal for this kind of work is because it needn't be a powerhouse.

Most of today's Mac backup software runs on either PowerPC and Intel processors, requires that the Mac have no more than 1GB of RAM, and much of it runs on older versions of the Mac OS. (Roxio's Retrospect 8, however, requires OS X 10.5 or later and 2GB of RAM.)

Ideally, the Mac you designate as your backup server isn't a power hungry beast (think Power Mac G5).

A first-generation or second-generation Mac mini or MacBook is a good candidate in this regard because it doesn't require a lot of power.

Regardless of which Mac you choose as your backup server, create a schedule within the Energy Saver system preference so that it's on/awake when it needs to back up your other computers and off or asleep when it's idle. The backup server and all the Macs you wish to be backed up will have to be on the same network. For the fastest backups, use a wired Ethernet network (preferably gigabit Ethernet).

If that's not possible, use a wireless network and be prepared to leave your Macs on for an extended period of time while they're backed up.

Alternatively, if you have many Macs with a lot of data, are anxious to get this over with, but you're unwilling to wire your home, it might be worth your while to drag all your Macs into the same room as the backup server and perform the initial backup over a wired network (or bring your Mac server to each client computer).

Once that's complete, return the computers to their original locations and perform subsequent incremental backups over your wireless network. Those incremental backups won't take nearly so long.

In regard to storage, hard drives are today's easiest way to store backups. Storing backups on CD or DVD is fine if you have little data and a single Mac to back up, but it's more trouble than it's worth to babysit a multiple-Mac backup using optical media. Unless you have a Mac with an easily upgradable hard drive (an old Mac Pro or Power Mac G5, for example) you'll want to get an external hard drive. Shop around and you can find 2TB external drives for around $150 - internal 2TB drives can be had for half that.

A power-efficient Mac mini makes a great backup server. Next, calculate the amount of storage you need to back up all your computers and then double or even triple it.

Thanks to massive media files and libraries, we store a lot of data these days. Unless cloud storage really takes hold we can expect to store increasing amounts of data in the future. While a 1TB drive may seem impossible to fill today, next year it may prove to be positively cramped.

What to back up

Part of the backup battle is figuring out what you should and shouldn't back up.

If you don't have a lot of data and do have plenty of storage, there's no harm in backing up your entire Home folder. As long as you store your important data within this folder, you're set. However, if you routinely store data outside of your Home folder - at the root level of your hard drive, for example - you should consider moving it to within that Home folder or prepare to configure your backup software so that it looks in such nooks and crannies for your data.

If, however, you're backing up multiple Macs and all of them have a significant amount of data on them, you must be choosier. At this point, ask yourself this important question: Which of this data will cause me to burst into tears when it's lost? For many people the resulting list will contain these items: Personal photos and videos, e-mail, financial data, in-progress work projects, personal creative projects, contacts, calendar events, and bookmarks.

Now work your way through descending layers of potential regret. For example, if you've purchased a lot of content from the iTunes Store (music and videos rather than books and apps, as you can easily re-download the latter) or spent weeks ripping your CD collection, you'll want a backup of this content somewhere. On the other hand, you can probably exclude the college papers you penned in the mid-90s and that archive of jokes forwarded to your AOL account. Additionally, if you have your application installers (or can easily download them) you needn't back up your applications nor their support files - iDVD's themes and GarageBand's loops come to mind.

Software

There are many backup options available to you.

Apple's Time Machine couldn't be easier to use and is a solid solution for single-computer backups.

Both Bombich Software's free Carbon Copy Cloner and Shirt Pocket Software's $28 SuperDuper are solid choices for making bootable backups.

If you have a mixed environment of Macs and PCs (running Windows and/or Linux) the venerable Retrospect 8 (now owned by Roxio) is a good, though occasionally complicated, option.

Although its name hints that it's a synchronization tool, with version 4 ChronoSync became a more powerful backup tool. At its most basic you choose a source - a folder on your Mac, for example - and a destination, which might be the external hard drive attached to your Mac. Click the Synchronize button and the selected source files are copied to the destination in their current state - as individual files and folders, making it easy to restore just the files you want.

But it can also back up the data from Macs on the network. Simply mount the drive of a networked Mac, choose it or a directory on it as the source, and then select a destination - again, the backup drive attached to your Mac running as a backup server.

When choosing a networked drive you can ask ChronoSync to mount it if it's unmounted. (You have the option to store the username and password necessary to mount the server so that ChronoSync doesn't prompt you for this information when it performs the backup.) ChronoSync can also be configured to unmount the drive when the backup is complete.

ChronoSync is an affordable, flexible solution for multi-Mac backup. ChronoSync provides options for deleted and updated files. Enable the Synchronize Deletions option and any files you delete from the source will also be deleted on the backup. Enabling the Archive Replaced Files option instructs ChronoSync to keep a copy of all the revisions of a file. So, much as you can with Time Machine, you can visit ChronoSync's archive area and retrieve older versions of documents.

Although ChronoSync can mount networked drives and volumes, for a multi-Mac backup setup I've found it wisest to install a copy of the company's ChronoAgent on each Mac I wish to back up. (ChronoAgent costs $10 for a single copy and $40 for a 5-user license.)

ChronoAgent brings a couple of advantages. First, it communicates directly with ChronoSync. This direct connection allows it to scan files more quickly than it can using the normal AFP or SMP network protocols. It also allows ChronoSync access to the entire contents of a Mac’s drive rather than just approved folders and directories. ChronoSync, mounting and backing up network volumes by itself, may encounter permission issues. When used with ChronoAgent you don’t have these issues. Also, those Macs running ChronoAgent can be configured to back up their data as soon as they connect to your network. This is handy for backing up laptops that have returned from a road trip or have been unavailable during a scheduled backup.

With ChronoAgent installed on all my Macs, my workflow goes like this:

1. I install ChronoSync on my Mac mini backup server. Attached to the Mac mini is a 2TB hard drive.<\LI>
   
2. Each of the three Macs I back up has a copy of ChronoAgent. I create a separate ChronoSync Synchronizer document (the document that details a particular backup scheme) for each Mac.<\LI>
   
3. I then save these synchronizer documents in a ChronoSync container - a ChronoSync file that contains multiple synchronizer documents that are executed in order when you run the container file.<\LI>
   
4. Finally, I create a schedule so that the container file is executed at the end of each work day.<\LI>
   

Retrospect In the days of OS 9 and earlier, if you were really serious about backing up, Dantz's Retrospect was the tool to use.

Regrettably, the transition to OS X was a rough one for Retrospect. The interface became more convoluted and Retrospect lost some of its features.

In May 2010, Sonic Solutions acquired Retrospect from its owner at the time, EMC, and placed it in Sonic's Roxio division. The current version, Retrospect 8.2, is a product targeted largely at small to medium businesses. However, the $129 Retrospect Desktop 8 for Macintosh with three clients is an affordable and flexible solution for those who need to back up Macs as well as Windows and/or Linux PCs. If you need to back up a mixed environment of PCs and Macs, try Retrospect.

Where ChronoSync stores data as individual documents, Retrospect creates archives, called Media Sets, that contain the backed up data. A single media set can contain backups from multiple sources - your MacBook's internal drive, the iPhoto Library stored on a Mac Pro, and the user folder from a Windows PC. And these media sets can span multiple drives, discs, or tapes. A list of a media set's contents is kept in a catalog, which you can easily scan to locate just the files you want to restore.

Retrospect requires that you install client applications on all the computers you want to back up (additional client licenses cost $38 each, five licenses for $149, or 10 licenses for $299).

Similar to ChronoSync using ChronoAgent, Retrospect communicates directly over the network with its clients, without the need for mounting volumes or running a file server on the client computer. Also, like ChronoSync, Retrospect includes a feature - called Proactive Backup - that will back up a client as it joins the network, rather than waiting for a scheduled time. Retrospect also has the ability to wake sleeping computers on the network so that they can be backed up.

At one time Retrospect was quite challenging to configure and operate, due to a convoluted interface. It has since been significantly cleaned up. Once you've added your backup sources and destinations, creating a backup is as simple as clicking a Backup button and walking through a configuration wizard where you choose your sources and the media set you want to use. You can then assign a schedule to the backup scheme (or script, in Retrospect parlance) you've created.

Easier to use though Retrospect may now be, if you delve into the application's more arcane settings - configuring clients to be automatically added to the Retrospect server application and tweaking verification settings, for instance - you'll spend some time with the manual.

Avoiding the inevitable

The old saw of backup is that it's not a matter of if your computer's hard drive will die, but when. To avoid becoming yet another sad sidebar to the mortality of modern storage media, be proactive and put that old Mac to good use.

Christopher Breen is a Macworld senior editor.

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Concepts:

Mac, backup, drives, network, storage, hard drives, MacBook, ChronoSync, Retrospect, backup server, computers, multiple, media, store.

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