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Backing Up and Restoring Files

Overview

Both operating systems provide a way to back up files. Mac OS X has Disk Utility, although this is suited more towards working with disks as a whole. While it can be used as a backup solution, it isn't very flexible. Windows XP, on the other hand, has a Backup or Restore Wizard which is geared much more towards users who simply want to back up selected files. As such, XP is considerably more user-friendly in this area.

Mac OS X:

While Apple has created a backup utility, it is only available to subscribers of their .Mac online services which costs $99/year. But this doesn't mean that there aren't methods available in OS X to backup a user's files and data. The Disk Utility application can be used to back up an entire volume and restore it to a previous state. It's not that flexible or discoverable to the average user, it's not really meant to be a complete backup solution.

Here's how to backup a Mac's primary boot drive with Disk Utility to an external hard drive:

  1. Launch Disk Utility located in Applications > Utilities

  2. Select the Mac's primarty boot drive in the column on the left (usually labeled Macintosh HD)

  3. Choose the 'Restore tab' that appears in the items on the right

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  4. Drag the Mac's primary boot drive from the left column into the 'Source' file box

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  5. Connect an external Firewire drive to the Mac. When it shows up in the left column of Disk Utility, drag it over to the 'Destination' file box.

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  6. Choose whether or not you wish to "Erase Destination". This will erase all contents on the destination volume before copying any new data. Not checking this option will simply merge the contents from the 'Source' volume with the contents of the 'Destination' volume. I recommend checking this option.

  7. Click restore

This will make an exact duplicate of a Mac's primary boot drive to an external drive. You should check whether or not the backup was successful by going to System Preferences > Startup Disk and selecting the external firewire drive you backed up the Mac's boot drive to. If everything went right, you will be to boot OS X off of this drive.

Restoring a previous backup of a Mac's primary boot drive from an external drive is pretty much the same process as mentioned above with some minor changes. You will first have to boot off the external firewire drive that contains the backup of the boot volume you wish to restore. Under the 'Restore' tab in Disk Utility, you will need to drag your external firewire drive into the 'Source' file box and the internal hard drive you are restoring the data back to in the 'Destination' file box. Basically, you are just switching the two hard drives around used when backing originally backing up the Mac's primary boot drive.

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One of the issues with the back up method discussed above for OS X is that everytime you want to create a new backup of a volume, Disk Utility copies all the data over from scratch. If the volume you are backing up has a lot of files, it can take a while before it completes. This can be a waste of time if all you want to do is simply backup the files that have changed since your last back up.

Although Disk Utility can't do this, there is a UNIX command line utility called 'rsync' that you can run from the OS X Terminal (Applications > Utilities) that can.

This method is more suited for power users who are comfortable using the command line. The article "Backup Your Mac With rsync" is a nice primer on using rsync on OS X to backup your files.

Windows XP:

XP comes bundled with a full featured backup utility to backup and restore your files. Even better, you can schedule automatic backup tasks.

To launch Microsoft's back up utility, go to Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > Backup Utility. By default, you will be presented with the Microsoft Backup or Restore Wizard.


You can choose to either backup your files or choose to restore from a previous backup.


You can choose either Microsoft's quick presets of items to backup or specify your own.


Choose where you want to back up your files to and the name of this back up session.


Running in 'Advanced Mode' provides much more advanced backup and restore options. Clicking the 'Schedule Jobs' tab allows you to schedule automated backup of your files and settings. Very useful.


Conclusion

Microsoft makes it easy for XP users to backup their files and important data. While OS X does offer methods to backup your data, they're not easily discoverable to the average user.

OS X

  • Disk Utility can backup and restore volumes connected to your computer
  • Disk Utility is not meant to act as a true backup solution and is not very flexible

XP

  • Comes bundled with its own backup utility
  • Flexibile backup and restore options
  • Can schedule automated backups

Mac OS X: 4
Windows XP: 9