Help with back-up system: Dual OS: OSX and Win 7 Pro

[RickWyatt]

Hello,

I have an iMac and MacBook Pro both running OSX and Windows 7 Professional.(Iv'e never seen Windows work so well until I put it on my Mac!) I have to use the Windows OS for creating files for my Laser and CNC router in my sign shop. I use the Mac side for all other aspects of my business. I usually keep the MacBook running OSX and the iMac Running Win 7. I Use a 50 gig Dropbox account to easily use files from both computers.

I am starting to acquire a lot of files that need to be backed-up. Both on the hard-drive and on Dropbox.

If I get a 2 Terabyte hard drive and connect it to my airport extreme base station, will Time Machine back-up both sides of my machine? And, Will it include the dropbox files?

Any suggestions on setting-up a good back-up system would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time and help!

Rick

[Turboladdade]

will Time Machine back-up both sides of my machine?

No.

And, Will it include the dropbox files?

Dropbox files are stored "in the cloud" so no. There isn't going to be any automatic backup system for Dropbox since Dropbox itself is supposed to be sortof a backup system.

What I suggest you do is stop using Boot Camp or otherwise booting your Macs into Windows directly. Instead, create yourself a virtual machine using Oracle VirtualBox (free) or Parallels Desktop ($79.99). Among the many benefits of using a virtual machine is that its virtual disk will be stored as file on your Mac which will be backed up by Time Machine along with everything else. It also means you can use your Windows and Mac OS X applications at the same time, and transfer files between the two without using Dropbox or a USB stick or emailing yourself.

Above you can see VirtualBox running Windows 7 Ultimate on my machine. I use it to mostly test websites and web applications on Internet Explorer, but I also sometimes use it it to test software I've written on different versions of Windows.

EDIT: I've just been informed that Dropbox also stores a local copy of files in a folder in your home folder, so those files Time Machine would also backup by definition.

[RickWyatt]

Thank you for such a quick and helpful reply. I read only a little about running parallels, but stopped because I heard you have to partition your drive equally.... I guess that wouldn't be a big deal. But what would happen to my already partitioned drive? would I lose any files or have to reinstall software? Or can I simply install parallels and "re-partition without losing anything?

Thanks again,

Rick

[Turboladdade]

Thank you for such a quick and helpful reply. I read only a little about running parallels, but stopped because I heard you have to partition your drive equally.... I guess that wouldn't be a big deal. But what would happen to my already partitioned drive? would I lose any files or have to reinstall software? Or can I simply install parallels and "re-partition without losing anything?

There is no partitioning required for Parallels or VirtualBox (I would recommend VirtualBox over Parallels since its free and really very good). You install Windows (or Linux or any other OS you want to virtualize) into a disk image that is created by the app. It's just a file that resides on your hard drive like any other file. That's a large part of the point of it - to not have to bother with multiple partitions.

VirtualBox makes it easy with a wizard that guides you through the four or five steps to setup a machine, create a virtual disk, and set memory for the virtual machine and then boot it. You insert your Windows install disc and it thinks its running on an actual PC. See here: http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch01.html#gui-createvm

I'm sure Parallels has a similar wizard but I haven't used Parallels in years and years now. You can also skip the wizard and set your virtual machine up manually so you can fine-tune advanced settings to best suit your needs.

If your drive is already partitioned, and you switch to a virtual machine, you would just delete your old Windows partition and reallocate it to Mac OS so you'd have one big Mac OS partition again just as you would would you first bought your Mac. There are some methods to import your old Windows installation and apps over (basically copying them to the new disk image) but I wouldn't recommend that as it would have drivers or other bits specific to running on your iMac's hardware rather than the virtual machine's "hardware" which is identified differently to Windows.

Again, VirtualBox is free, so just download it and set it up using your copy of Windows and see how you like it. Feel free to ask questions here specific to setting up VirtualBox as I have done it many times and use it regularly.

[RickWyatt]

Thanks again! I will try out your suggestions with VirtualBox and get back with my results.

Rick

[leonAzul]

@Turboladdade

WTF? RickWyatt comes here with a functional system and the first words out of your mouth are that he is wrong. He asked for advice on a back up system, not for a renovation. I reckon that for a man who only owns a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Worst of all, your suggestion totally evades the OP: how to manage back ups and, most importantly, restoration across multiple platforms.

@RickWyatt

Your drop box already serves as an off-site back up for your documents. Time Machine will only recognize and write to an HFS+ volume. Windows also has utilities to make back ups of documents. So far, so good.

One of the other goals of a back up system is the rapid restoration of a failed hard drive. This is somewhat complicated when a drive contains multiple volumes, and further complicated when the volumes are formatted with differing file systems, yet there does exist a way to make a copy of an entire device, block by block, using the command line utility 'dd'. Before anything else, please launch Terminal.app and enter the command 'man dd'. You can use this to create a file from which you can restore a device, or to make a perfect clone from one hard drive to another. If you need further clarification, please ask, and please take the time to test how well a back up can be restored before you rely on it.

HTH

[Turboladdade]

WTF? RickWyatt comes here with a functional system and the first words out of your mouth are that he is wrong. He asked for advice on a back up system, not for a renovation. I reckon that for a man who only owns a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Worst of all, your suggestion totally evades the OP: how to manage back ups and, most importantly, restoration across multiple platforms.

I'm pretty sure using a VM and requiring only one physical partition of your drive and one single passive backup solution (Time Machine) is much simpler and hassle-free than what your alternative is. I didn't directly answer his question because I felt it was the wrong question - something that commonly happens when people aren't aware there are better solutions. VMs have exploded in popularity in recent years for a reason.

[MitchH]

It does seem a VM is a good way to go to simplify backups. But why no mention of VMware Fusion? I am planning to install VM software on my newly acquired 13" MBP and the advice I am getting from my colleagues leans toward VMware Fusion.

On another point regarding Time Machine, I note that the "Time Capsule" from Apple supports both MacOS and Windows, although Windows integration perhaps not as tight.

Then there is the NAS approach. I have not set one up before, but they do seem reasonably straightforward, and most of them support multiple OS. Seagate looks to be a solid choice...I would be interested to hear more from others on this topic.

[Turboladdade]

There's no particular reason I didn't mention VMware, that is of course another option. Parallels Desktop is the dominant payware solution on the Mac, while Oracle's VirtualBox is the one I'm most familiar with and is growing rapidly in popularity, so that's why I mentioned those two. I'd recommend trying VirtualBox first, and then decide if you need one of the payware solutions.