I recommend selecting the checkbox for “Require Secure Connections”, because I’ve found it to provide more robust and stable connections. This will entail entering a valid license #, setting a username & password, and requiring a secure connection. Install & configure the ChronoAgent system preference on all the client Macs. These are the simple steps you’ll need to take:ġ. The idea here is that you will have one centralized server Mac backing up a large number of client Macs to 2 external backup drives: Backup Drive A and Backup Drive B. (More detailed instructions can be found in the ChronoSync help documents.) There are an almost unlimited number of ways to configure ChronoSync and ChronoAgent to your liking, but to set it up in a way that is fairly similar to how Retrospect 6 used to operate, I’ve created some basic instructions here for you. So, ChronoSync and ChronoAgent really fit the bill for me. But there are 2 problems for me with that approach: (a) the backups are not centrally managed, and (b) you can’t backup a single client to multiple hard drives without manually re-configuring that client machine. You can backup an entire network of 25 Macs for only $190, with no upgrade fees ever! I have no idea how they can stay in business on such affordable pricing! And the best news of all is that these products come from a company that has been committed to creating top-notch Mac software ever since the company was founded, unlike the Retrospect people who abandoned the Mac platform for many years.īefore I dive into more details on how to use ChronoSync and ChronoAgent, I should briefly mention that you could use Time Machine on each one of the client Macs on your network to backup to a Time Capsule (or any drive connected to any other Leopard or Snow Leopard Mac). ChronoSync and ChronoAgent perform backups elegantly & reliably, they do it with incredible speed, excellent error reporting, an intuitive user interface, and with outstanding pricing as well. The most profound benefits of ChronoSync and ChronoAgent are that they do everything better than the way that Retrospect 8 did things. With the additional purchase of ExpanDrive, you can even use ChronoSync to backup to your FTP servers, thus giving you immediate off-site backups.īut ChronoSync is not just an alternative to Retrospect 8. (Although ChronoSync doesn’t backup to tape drives, so if you use a tape drive, you’re out of luck here.) In fact, ChronoSync and ChronoAgent do just about every single thing that Retrospect 8 does - including backing up Windows clients! See below for all of your options on backing up Windows clients. ChronoSync and ChronoAgent work absolutely flawlessly on a nightly basis for backing up multiple computers to multiple external hard drives, and they will totally accommodate you in just about any sort of backup schedule that you desire (for example, rotating hard drives off-site once a week). I’m using these products successfully at multiple different office locations, including one office location that has about a dozen Macs on their network. I am now using ChronoSync and ChronoAgent as my Mac backup software of choice for backing up networks of Macs. Hello to ChronoSync/ChronoAgent!Īfter 8 months of total hell with unreliable and incomplete backups from Retrospect 8 (you can see the thousands of angry posts from hundreds of other dissatisfied Retrospect users in the EMC Retrospect 8 forums), I have finally found my replacement backup software! I am now gladly & happily saying goodbye to Retrospect for good! Retrospect 6 used to be phenomenal, but Retrospect 8 is a new product that fails on every single level. So, goodbye for life, Retrospect… you have burned way too many bridges with me and have caused me way too much grief for any one person to have when it comes to software. This is a great solution if you aren’t already using the “Portable Home Directory” feature of Mac OS X Server (for more details on this, see below). I briefly mentioned this at the bottom of my last article on backups, but I really wanted to dedicate an entire post to the wonderfully reliable & robust solution that I have found for backing up an entire network of Macs. April 2010 Update: I wrote a streamlined version of this article, called Backup Your Entire Mac Network, in the April 2010 issue of Mac|Life Magazine.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |