Here's a weird one I haven't seen corroboration of, on any web searches. Since (not necessarily because of) installing OS X 10.8.5 on my laptop, I have noticed that I don't seem to have any local backups, also called local snapshots, being made on my internal HD. I went into Terminal and manually entered the "sudo tmutil enablelocal" command to (successfully) turn them back on again. But, what gives? Why would they be turned off, when they've historically been on and I definitely have not manually disabled them?
As above, it is again possible that these local snapshots haven't been happening for a while, and I simply hadn't noticed their absence up to now. I've only noticed them specifically not happening since upgrading to 10.8.5. Network backups to my Time Machine drive have continued just fine. Has anyone else experienced the same issue?
As an aside, I also find it odd that within the CLI command "tmutil", there is not a specific verb argument to tell you whether local snapshots are currently enabled or disabled; you can simply enable or disable them without the chance to find out what the previous state was. I'm not asking Apple to add a big, obvious local snapshot toggle switch to the Time Machine Preference pane GUI or anything. I'm happy to use Terminal for something that shouldn't be set from (but, I should point out, also shouldn't be broken for exclusive users of) the GUI.
I just wanted to know what my previous local backup state nominally was, before forcing it to… err, "awaken" Schrödinger's cat, I guess, would be the most apt analogy here.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Monday, April 01, 2013
Backups on the go
As you know, I'm a tinkerer. In fact, I'm working on something right now that may soon see the light of day in some form, to teach those of you interested in having a bit more online security while out and about, one good way to get it.
But that's not what this post is about. Well, not exactly. It's about using your mobile devices, and a type of security. Specifically, your feeling secure that you have a backup of your data. Sure, many of us do (and all of us should) let our computers do the automatic backups to an external or networked drive on the premises, that many of them (like the Mac, ever since OS X 10.5) offer to do. But most of us figure one backup is enough.
But what if it's not? What if something happens not only to your computer, but to the backup hard drive? Fires, floods, neighborhoods in Arkansas filled with oil from an interstate pipeline that it took the national news media a good day to report (see http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/31/us-exxon-pipeline-spill-idUSBRE92U00220130331)… lots of things can happen. Sure, nobody wants to live in constant fear. Our culture has been tilting way too far in that direction for a while, anyway. But the unexpected can happen.
So how can you be prepared for the unexpected loss of your data? Back it up online. Or in the au currant parlance, "in the cloud". There are several companies who offer this service: Mozy, Carbonite, CrashPlan, and to a more limited extent (ie. not even possibly the entire drive of a modern Mac, PC or Linux box… rather they let you pick and choose), Google Drive and Dropbox, to name a few. I do not offer endorsements for commercial products*, but I can tell you what works for me, and why.
Most of these services have limits to how much data you can store with them, or where that data is on the computer. Some require software packages, like Java, that you may not want to install on your computer due to security or performance concerns. The one I went with, Backblaze, does not have those limits, and does not require any software except their client that installs itself in your System Preferences and on your menu bar. Being a tinkerer, I've checked out how much of my computer's system resources the Backblaze software takes up, and it's generally below 10% of a single processor core's capacity in my dual-core machine, and I've never seen it get above 25%, even when it's working as hard as it can on a task. Your mileage may vary.
One thing which would be nice (here's where the mobile thing comes in, for those who like to skim ahead) is once that data is backed up, being able to access and/or manage it from anywhere on your mobile device. Sure, there are some kinds of your data you may already be able to access from your mobile device, even if it's not (or no longer) stored there: Apple's iTunes Match service handles music, their Photo Stream service handles photos, as a few examples. If you want to go Google or Amazon, they have their services too. But those individual services each back up just that one kind of data.
So how do you get to all of your personal data from your computer, on a mobile device? Why, "there's an app for that!", of course!
And that's true for many of the above-mentioned online backup services. Sadly, thus far, it hasn't been true for Backblaze. This has been the one drawback of of my otherwise stellar experience with them.
But fear not! They've had an iOS app in development for a while (see http://blog.backblaze.com/2013/01/30/backblaze-mobile-for-iphone/) that they're putting the finishing touches on an initial release for, I would imagine while waiting through the App Store approval process. In fact, as someone who has shown interest in its development (the sign up link is somewhere in the text of the page I link to at the top of this paragraph), they've just emailed me an offer to be considered for selection to beta-test the app before its more general release.
Well, I've said I'm a tinkerer. As you'll see from some of my previous posts -and from my upcoming one(s?) about mobile security and a good way to provide it-, that's a pretty accurate description. I think I'd be a great beta tester! If you think so too… well, you can't do anything about the possibility unless you're Backblaze. But you can cheer me on, and you can also expect information on how, and how well, the final app works once it's out (Not the beta, of course. I'm sure there are NDAs I'd have to sign)!
So if you like that, great! If you're Backblaze, #BackblazeMobile !
___
* Until and unless it's my job to do so, and then I would do so in another forum.
But that's not what this post is about. Well, not exactly. It's about using your mobile devices, and a type of security. Specifically, your feeling secure that you have a backup of your data. Sure, many of us do (and all of us should) let our computers do the automatic backups to an external or networked drive on the premises, that many of them (like the Mac, ever since OS X 10.5) offer to do. But most of us figure one backup is enough.
But what if it's not? What if something happens not only to your computer, but to the backup hard drive? Fires, floods, neighborhoods in Arkansas filled with oil from an interstate pipeline that it took the national news media a good day to report (see http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/31/us-exxon-pipeline-spill-idUSBRE92U00220130331)… lots of things can happen. Sure, nobody wants to live in constant fear. Our culture has been tilting way too far in that direction for a while, anyway. But the unexpected can happen.
So how can you be prepared for the unexpected loss of your data? Back it up online. Or in the au currant parlance, "in the cloud". There are several companies who offer this service: Mozy, Carbonite, CrashPlan, and to a more limited extent (ie. not even possibly the entire drive of a modern Mac, PC or Linux box… rather they let you pick and choose), Google Drive and Dropbox, to name a few. I do not offer endorsements for commercial products*, but I can tell you what works for me, and why.
Most of these services have limits to how much data you can store with them, or where that data is on the computer. Some require software packages, like Java, that you may not want to install on your computer due to security or performance concerns. The one I went with, Backblaze, does not have those limits, and does not require any software except their client that installs itself in your System Preferences and on your menu bar. Being a tinkerer, I've checked out how much of my computer's system resources the Backblaze software takes up, and it's generally below 10% of a single processor core's capacity in my dual-core machine, and I've never seen it get above 25%, even when it's working as hard as it can on a task. Your mileage may vary.
One thing which would be nice (here's where the mobile thing comes in, for those who like to skim ahead) is once that data is backed up, being able to access and/or manage it from anywhere on your mobile device. Sure, there are some kinds of your data you may already be able to access from your mobile device, even if it's not (or no longer) stored there: Apple's iTunes Match service handles music, their Photo Stream service handles photos, as a few examples. If you want to go Google or Amazon, they have their services too. But those individual services each back up just that one kind of data.
So how do you get to all of your personal data from your computer, on a mobile device? Why, "there's an app for that!", of course!
And that's true for many of the above-mentioned online backup services. Sadly, thus far, it hasn't been true for Backblaze. This has been the one drawback of of my otherwise stellar experience with them.
But fear not! They've had an iOS app in development for a while (see http://blog.backblaze.com/2013/01/30/backblaze-mobile-for-iphone/) that they're putting the finishing touches on an initial release for, I would imagine while waiting through the App Store approval process. In fact, as someone who has shown interest in its development (the sign up link is somewhere in the text of the page I link to at the top of this paragraph), they've just emailed me an offer to be considered for selection to beta-test the app before its more general release.
Well, I've said I'm a tinkerer. As you'll see from some of my previous posts -and from my upcoming one(s?) about mobile security and a good way to provide it-, that's a pretty accurate description. I think I'd be a great beta tester! If you think so too… well, you can't do anything about the possibility unless you're Backblaze. But you can cheer me on, and you can also expect information on how, and how well, the final app works once it's out (Not the beta, of course. I'm sure there are NDAs I'd have to sign)!
So if you like that, great! If you're Backblaze, #BackblazeMobile !
___
* Until and unless it's my job to do so, and then I would do so in another forum.
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