Mozy’s Mac client has left beta and is now an official 1.0 release. I’ve used the paid Mozy service since September and have been relatively happy with it. There were a few rough spots, like the last beta release (version 0.9.4) which failed to successfully complete a backup, forcing me to roll back to the previous release. But I’ve installed MacMozy 1.0 and it’s been running fine and completing backups.

I currently backup over 120,000 files totaling over 3GB. My only real complaint is that selecting files for restore is a bit slow although the 120K files probably has something to do with this. It’s not unbearably slow, but if your the impatient type or need that file in a hurry it’ll be like boiling that watched pot.

Another minor issue is that occasionally MacMozy will tell me it needs to back up several GB, even though I’ve had few changes. It processes all these files for backup but when It comes time to send them to the server it sees there already on the server so doesn’t send them again.

Like any online backup a lot of the performance depends upon your ISP. I don’t even attempt to backup my 150GB music and video library. With my upload bandwidth there’s not enough time in the week. So it’s not an all-encompassing solution but it does provide the offsite piece of my backup strategy.

I’ve been relatively quiet about Mozy lately but that’s because it’s been working (right up until the final beta which I already mentioned). Hit the tag links down the bottom or hit the search box for my previous articles about Mozy.

Mozy is currently running several promotions. No matter which plan you think is best for you, you should start with the free version and move up to a paid plan when you know it works for you.

The free plan offers 2GB of storage (no time limit) for personal, non-commercial use. Enter referral code E62DWM during registration to receive an extra 256MB of storage. I use a free account to backup my MacBook.

If you want to sign up for a paid plan you can use the promo code MAY for 10% off a annual sign-up or promo code MAY2 for 10% off a two-year sign-up. The annual/biennial sign-ups are paid in advance in return for free month(s). You can also sign-up for monthly billing.

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While I hadn’t had any problems since updated to Leopard (MacMozy 0.7.0.0 or higher is needed for Leopard) I immediately started getting ConnectionError1 during my first backups after upgrading on my iMac. (My MacBook backups are small and I may just not have done enough to get it there). This is a known issue with a temporary work around of opening port 443 for outbound connections in the firewall. I hadn’t needed to do anything Mozy related with the Leopard firewall since upgrading to Leopard. Besides, the Leopard firewall doesn’t provide a way (through the preferences) to manage ports, rather it wants to manage apps. I added Mozy to the list of applications to allow incoming connections (click the thumbnail to the right). This seemed to resolve the problem as the error did not occur since the change. Still, I’m skeptical that it was a fix and not coincidence. The Mozy work around dealt with outbound connections being blocked and according to the setting I opened Mozy up for inbound connections. I’ll add it to my list of questions about the firewall.

I recently downloaded a iso image of the latest Fedora release which was 3.3 GB. Normally I wouldn’t bother backing this up since I could just download it again and it would take the better part of a day to back it up with my Internet connection. But I decided this would be a good test for Mozy and told Mozy to back it up. I typically throttle bandwidth to about 75% of the connection (Comcast seems to dislike full-out usage for extended lengths of time so I find I get better overall results by throttling) but I removed the throttle for this test. Mozy did consistently use over 90% of my upload speed, which may have been all Comcast was willing to give it.

Just like every other upgrade I restored a few files and made sure they’re still valid. I pull some down that were backed up with older versions (I just pick a file from the oldest backup set) and some that were just backed up with the new versions. I didn’t find any problems.

The list of fixes from the release notes includes:

* improved update check logic
* fixed web links for some server errors
* added os version, architecture and memory size to log output
* automatic backup idle time setting can now be set to zero
* added change log notes to readme file
* only wait 10 minutes for response before retrying
* throttling measurements now match activity monitor
* added definition of “back up” to readme file
* added uninstall option in status drop-down menu
* changed default backup schedule to once daily
* backup set editor UI improvements
* status app can now be run by multiple users at the same time
* added readme file to disk image
* fixed waiting forever to write data
* updated quick start guide
* added known issues to readme file
* fixed ical backup set for leopard

The last item is related to iCal backup sets in Leopard. I’ve noticed that with this version both the “iCal” and “Keychains” backup sets search forever (at least as long as I’m willing to wait) on the configuration screen and don’t find any files. I also backup these items by selecting them in the “Files and Folders” configurations which may be why I haven’t had a problem. I’m not sure this is really fixed. I hadn’t noticed this problem under 0.7.

I hadn’t seen the “waiting forever to write data” in the 0.7 release but had encountered it earlier. The throttling change confused me at first as I thought they had limited choices. It had been Kbps which matched how my ISP rated the connection. This time I went in and saw 96KBps as the choice just below no throttling. They switched from bits to Bytes so it now matches activity monitor, and iStats Menu for that matter.

The new feature to “set the automatic backup idle time” to zero means a backup will be done every two hours, even if you’re using the Mac. Mozy will only do an automatic backup every two hours, so setting the idle to zero means it will kick off when that timer expires. This is good for my laptop which is rarely idle. This way it will get at least one backup per session.

The known issues that have been identified by Mozy are:

* Mozy does not fully support bundles.
* Mozy does not back up resource forks or symbolic links.
* Occasionally, Mozy has trouble communicating with our servers (ConnectionError1). If you have a firewall, please allow Mozy to make outbound connections on port 443. If not, please wait a few minutes and then restart the backup process.

Even though Mozy is still in beta for the Mac it’s been awhile since I’ve had any serious problems with it. I’m obviously a big fan of Mozy and have trusted by own backups to it (although not my only backup). One reason I’m a fan is they offer a free account with 2GB of storage so there’s no risk. I used this for months before deciding to commit to the unlimited account. You can go to Mozy’s website to get a free 2GB account (aff) and use referral code E62DWM to get both of us an extra 256MB of storage. They’ve redesigned their site and made the free account a bit harder to find. Select MozyHome from the main page the look for “MozyHome Free”

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I did the MacMozy install last thing Friday night so it would have the whole night and some of the next morning to back up before I was back at my Mac.

I ran the installer for the latest MacMozy software which was version 0.7.0.0 (640). I entered my account information and when Mozy verified my account it saw that I had files already backed up using a private encryption key. It prompted me to enter the encryption key which I did. Then it ran the setup wizard and prompted me to chose the items to back up. I picked the same directories I had chosen previously.

I noticed that the “Backup Set” queries ran much quicker than before. So I picked several of them to make sure I was covered in case I missed the directories.

Once the backup started it told me it had a little over 3GB to backup. That wasn’t too bad, although it could take up to a day. One thing I noticed is it appeared very slow or even hung up. Scanning for files took much longer than usual. Then it stayed in a “communicating with server” status for what seemed forever (I eventually gave up and went to bed while it ran). But in checking the Mozy log through the console I could see it was in fact going back and forth with the server sending information about 500 files at a time. I imagine that since the local history was gone it was rebuilding it or validating the information it received from the server about the files it wasn’t backing up

The backup was still running in the morning. When I checked the logs later I saw that it had run about 10 hours. Of the 3GB it thought it had to send, only about 1GB was for files that weren’t already on the server. The files that had been moved but otherwise unchanged were logged as already on the server.

I then did a test restore for a couple of th newly backed up files along with a couple that were backed up before Leopard. The restores went just fine.

I later installed MacMozy to my laptop and reconfigured the free Mozy account with similar results. That last link is an affilliate link that will get you an extra 256MB of storage. Or you can use referral code E62DWM.

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The Mozy website doesn’t list what changes are included in this version and there aren’t any obvious changes. So, I’m assuming it was bug fixes and/or performance enhancements.

After updating the Mozy client the backup software would report connection errors (Connectionerror2) each time it tried to do a backup. Once I rebooted my Mac the errors went away and the backups resumed working.

I didn’t have any problems restoring files backed up with older versions. Files backed up with the latest version also restored just fine.

I currently have 105,405 files totaling 29.4GB. It took about a week to get the initial backup due to the relatively slow upload speed but since then the backup times have been reasonable.

Mozy does offer a free 2GB account so you can try it and I ran that for several months before finally taking the plunge. You can use code E62DWM when you sign up for a free Mozy account(aff) and get an extra 256MB of space.

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MacMozy was 100% reliable for the entire month of September and the software seems about ready to leave beta (my opinion, no release date from Mozy). All my test restores have also been perfect. I signed up for a one-year subscription to save a little money. If I cancel Mozy will refund a pro-rated amount (based on the full $4.95/mth), partial months aren’t refunded. So while I hate paying for beta software I decided I wanted the offsite backup and Mozy was the best choice for me.

Mozy offers “unlimited” backups, there isn’t an arbitrary cap based on file size or number of files. But reality does step in and just like in anything else, there are limits. The drive has to be seen by the OS as a fixed drive in order to be backed up. My external USB/Firewire drives on my Mac can be backed up with Mozy and it sees thumbdrives (although I haven’t backed any up). Network attached drives can’t be backed up. Mozy’s FAQ states things may slow down with lots of files and they mention 200,000 files as having be done successfully. I’ve backed up 105,000+ files without seeing any performance problems beyond the one I mention below (backup sets).

It took about a week to get my 28GB uploaded to Mozy. I throttled the bandwidth to 512Kb/s which is 2/3 of my rated upload speed. I found that maxing out the upload for hours at a time (with Mozy or anything else) can sometimes be unreliable with my broadband connection. With the bandwidth throttling the upload would run for over a day and end normally.

I did the initial backup in chunks and I started with the data I really needed backed up. The reason for doing it in chunks is because I didn’t want to wait the full week I expected the backup to take before it could backup those initial files again. I did about 4GB a day. This allowed me to back up both changes and the new files in about a day.

Because I now have so many disk partitions (Boot Camp, external drives) I found that the Backup Sets feature in Mozy would take a long time to scan everything before starting the actual backup. The whole Backup Set philosophy never sat well with me, even in other backup products. I’d rather know exactly what directories are being backed up. So I unchecked all the Backup sets and picked everything in “Files and Folders”. This significantly reduced the time between the backup launching and when files are actually being sent to Mozy.

The only data I’m not backing up is my iTunes library. At 120GB and my Comcast broadband it’s not realistic to back that up over the Internet using anything.

Click one of the tags to read more about Mozy or other backup solutions I’ve tried. Mozy offers a free 2GB account so you can try it without paying anything or providing a credit card. You can support this site and my software addiction by using this link to Mozy (aff) to sign up. You can get an additional 256MB of storage for both of us by using referral code E62DWM. (I still use the free account for my laptop.)

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Jungle Disk runs under OS X, Windows and Linux. I’ve only used the Mac version and everything in this article is related to the Mac version.

Jungle Disk isn’t typical backup software and they rightfully refer to themselves as “online storage”. Still, I think it has it’s use if you can live within it’s limitations.
Some things to be aware of when using Jungle Disk:

• Files are never deleted when using the automated backup. You must delete them manually or run the “Backup Cleanup” process. This can actually be a good thing from an archiving perspective. It’s a bad thing if you don’t know and are paying for gigabytes of files you no longer need.
• The Jungle Disk drive is mounted and can be accessed the same way any drive can. Such as in Finder or Explorer. This makes it easy to copy to and from the Jungle Disk instead of using the automated backups.
• Out of the box you can only have one Jungle Disk bucket on Amazon S3 for Jungle Disk. There are workarounds but they require reconfiguring Jungle Disk to use different ports and directories.
• File size is limited to 5GB (an Amazon S3 limitation). Many “files” on a Mac are actually “packages” of many files and the limitation applies to the individual files inside the package. For example, an Aperture or iPhoto library may be 6GB, but the largest file in the library is only 1GB so there won’t be a problem.
• Jungle Disk does not support block-level backups. So if any part of a file changes the entire file gets backed up. Example: I added a single 250KB photo to iPhoto and this alone generated a 560MB backup since the thumbnail and other library information is kept in large files. Since we pay for bandwidth nightly backups could be expensive (well, more expensive than it has to be). Even ignoring cost, upload speed is a limiting factor for me and most people so the 560MB backup took hours, all to get a 250KB change. I could easily run into a situation where a few changes take longer than a night to backup.

A Problem - Or Not

A backup usually caused my cable modem to lock up sometime during the night when the backup ran, which required me to power cycle the modem in the morning. Any backup requiring more than a couple hours has had a problem. This is the issue I’ve mentioned in previous OS Quest Logs. Eventually I found the problem wasn’t unique to JD, although it occurs more frequently with JD than other options.

Pricing

The use of Amazon S3 makes for a slightly unconventional pricing model.

The Jungle Disk software is $20 for a license with free lifetime updates. You can use the software for 30 days as a free trial. The trial is full featured. The license covers all your computers and all OS’s.

Amazon S3 has a rather complicated pricing structure and there’s no free trial. It may be complicated but it’s cheap. You pay $0.15 per GB per month for storage. This is pro-rated for both size and time. For example, I have 19GB currently on S3. My current bill for that this month is $0.79 because I’ve used an amount equal to 5.229GB-month.

In addition to storage you also pay $0.10-GB for bandwidth in and $0.18-GB for transfer out (less if you hit the 10 or 40TB plateaus)

The above charges are fairly easy to figure. But then there’s charges for upload and download requests. A penny per 1,000 PUT and LIST requests (think upload) and another penny per 10,000 GET requests (think download). I’ve uploaded thousands of files and downloaded hundreds while testing. I’ve paid $1.57 for 156K upload requests and $0.19 for 188K download. Just based on volume it appears GET requests are used for listing directories and by the Jungle Disk software.

Due to bandwidth and “request” charges it’s difficult to estimate exact costs, but it appears that 30GB of my normal usage would be about $5/mth which is what Mozy charges for an “unlimited” account. If I was to just leave the data out there I could keep 33GB for $5/mth. If your data changes frequently and your backups are large you’ll pay more for bandwidth.

Amazon S3 does have a cost calculator available.

Bottom Line

Amazon S3 is a great option for online backups and I really like Jungle Disk. The fact that it’s cross-platform is a huge plus and the ability to run it off a USB thumb drive is a big benefit.

It requires a slightly more technical user than other all-in-one backup services. The documentation at the Jungle Disk website provides clear setup instructions.

While Amazon S3 is very low cost you do need to monitor usage to avoid any surprises, unlike other services with a fixed charge.

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Requirements

My requirements are simple:

1. Must be able to schedule backups.
2. Must be able to trigger a backup manually.
3. Must be easy enough for a non-technical person to understand and use. Ease of use for changing any backup scripts or scheduled backups I create is not a requirement.
4. Data files only. No registry keys.

Software Installation

Microsoft .Net v2.0 is required for SyncToy and will be installed during the setup if it’s needed. If it is installed during the SyncToy install you should run Windows Update to be sure there aren’t any security updates for .NET.

Download the setup.msi file from Microsoft and run it. The setup wizard is self-explanatory, just asking you to accept the license and installation location.

Backup Setup

I’ve decided to schedule daily backups of the entire “Documents and Settings” folder for my user ID. In other words, my entire profile. This will allow me to backup everything I want with one command line. I will result in some errors since a few files may be open but this won’t affect the files I want. This will catch any new program settings installed to my profile.

I create a directory called “Backup” on my external Maxtor drive. When I run SyncToy I will tell it to create a subdirectory under \Backup for each day of the week under it. The first time SyncToy is run the welcome screen is displayed. (click the thumbnail to the left, and future thumbnails, to see it full size). SyncToy does everything off this screen.

I’m going to be setting up seven backup tasks, one for each day of the week. This will provide some historical backups in case a file gets deleted by accident and goes unnoticed while providing daily backups. While this uses considerable disk space it’s not a problem for me.

Clicking the “Create a New Folder Pair” link or button starts a four screen wizard. The first screen asks for the “left folder” which is the source folder. I browse to the root of my profile and select it.

The next screen asks for the “right folder” and I type in E:\Backup\Monday since the directory doesn’t exist.

Then I’m asked what I want to do. I pick Echo.

Echo will take all the changes on the left and make them on the right. This includes adds, deletes, updates, and renames. I chose this over synchronize because a sync will also bring any changes made to the right (destination) back to the left and I don’t want that. The other options are variations on the theme.

The last screen asks for the name of the folder pair. I call this one “Monday Backup”. I repeat the steps to create folder pairs for Tuesday through Sunday. I also create additional folder pairs called “Monthly Backup” and “Adhoc Backup”. The Monthly backup will be used to create a monthly backup like it says while Adhoc backup can be used for manual backups. Before an software install or upgrade for example.

After all the folder pairs are set up I select “All Folder Pairs” and then click the “Run All” button. This will take some time as it runs the backup but in ensures everything is set up properly and seed the destination directories. You can skip this step to save time, just be sure to check each backup the first time it runs.

When the sync is running it will display the status screen shown to the right. The current file and an estimated completion percentage will also be shown at the bottom of the screen.

After the backups run I return to the All Folder Pairs screen and uncheck each one. This will prevent them from being run should I user “Run All” in the future.

Scheduling Backups

The backups can be scheduled using Windows Scheduler. The screens will vary by Windows version but the command lines to schedule are:

<path>\Synctoy.exe -R”Sunday Backup” will run the folder pair called “Sunday Backup”. Change the name when scheduling the other pairs.

<path>\Synctoy.exe -R will run all folder pairs.

On Windows Vista the Synctoy executable is in C:\Users\<name>\AppData\Local\SyncToy by default.

On Windows XP the Synctoy executable is in c:\documents and settings\<profilename>\local settings\application data\synctoy by default.

This makes for a simple low-cost backup solution.

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So I installed the latest upgrade. Unlike the previous upgrade, this one kept the backup history. This version, like the last, seems to be slow communicating to the Mozy backup server. There are long delays when the status is “communicating to the server”. The backups are also slower than before, rarely ever reaching even 1/8 of the available upload bandwidth. This could be the Mozy servers and not the software. It could also be my connections so I did a speed test using Mozy’s recommendation (Speakeasy - West Coast Server) and received an upload speed over eight times what MacMozy was showing when it was backing up.

On the plus side, the new version completed a backup after the previous version had twice hung up at 97.5% so ‘ll keep my fingers crossed.

If you want to try a free Mozy 2GB account you can click this referrer link which will give us both an extra 256MB of storage. Mozy offers the 2GB accounts for free and Unlimited Backup for $4.95/Month(aff).

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Both Macs - Quirky

I downloaded and installed the upgrade. After the upgrade the status said a backup had never been done. There wasn’t any backup history. But I was able to restore files that were previously backed up. When I picked “Restore Files” from the menu I got a message that no backup has yet been done but then the restore dialog opened and I was able to pick files and restore them.

I manually kicked off a backup and the backup history showed it as completed but the status still said no backup has ever been done. I waited for a automatic backup and it was the same thing. The backup was logged in the backup history, the files were on the server, but the status says no backup was ever been. At some point, awhile after a reboot, the status correctly indicated the last backup time. I’m not sure if it was the reboot or just timing that made it appear.

The Macbook has been fine since, the iMac went downhill from there.

iMac - Downhill

I went into the Mozy configuration and changed the files being backed up. This resulted in about 900MB of new files to be backed up. The backup started just fine but around midnight the DSL connection went away (unrelated to Mozy). Once it was restored Mozy picked up doing the backup. But when I checked again in the morning it had stopped at 93.5% and seemed to be hung up “communicating to server”. Checking the console log showed it said it hadn’t done anything for 6 hours, so I canceled the backup. I started another backup and Mozy crashed.

I rebooted for a clean start and began another backup. It again hung a 93.5% even though there were fewer files to backup. I waited two hours then canceled the backup and tried again. This time the status window didn’t appear. I rebooted. I tried configuration, restore and backup. No window ever appeared. So I re-installed MacMozy and reset my configuration to my previous settings (what was being backed up before the upgrade). Since most files were already one the server I expected it to be quick.

The next backup worked although the status still says never backed up. I’ve rebooted and it still says never backed up. The backup history says it worked and the files are available for restore. As it stands now I added a gig of new files into the configuration, while removing others, and I’ll wait for the automatic backup to run tonight when the iMac is idle and see what happens.

Update: The backup ran on it’s own and completed fine. The status still indicated no backup but the newly backed up files could be restored. Immediately after a reboot the status correctly indicated the last backup.

It should also be noted that when I changed the backup selections to add the new files I removed others. This brought me closer to my quota and if you add the new files to what was there then I’d be over quota and in fact after the first failure the server showed my usage was at my quota amount. But the quota is actually determined by the selections in the configuration so this should not have been a problem since it was under quota.

Mozy has also redesigned their website and they have a new logo, shown in the top left of this post. If you want to try a free Mozy 2GB account (But I’d recommend you wait until the next version of MacMozy) you can click this referrer link which will give us both an extra 256MB of storage. Mozy offers the 2GB accounts for free and Unlimited Backup for $4.95/Month(aff).

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I installed the software and did a manual backup without incident. The Mozy software has been very reliable for me although I don’t have many of the situations that triggered the bugs that were listed.

The new scheduling panel is shown below (click to see full size):

The list of changes below is pasted from the Mozy website, some of these were in early versions.

* [added] improved preferences* [added] better information display when some files fail to
* [fixed] now handling directories and renames correctly
* [fixed] avoids “scan cache is locked” errors
* [fixed] network usage now matched Activity Monitor
* [fixed] error name prefixes changed back to “Mozy”
* [fixed] status app’s “range or index out of bounds” error
* [added] all log output now goes to /var/log/mozy.log
* [added] removed splash screen
* [fixed] Backup sets not saving
* [fixed] Machine name bug
* [fixed] Other machine usage bug (365mb used by….)
* [fixed] Memory leak/ absurd resource usage
* [fixed] Repeated MozyServerError2
* [added] Clicking the status window could open a Mozy error page in the browser
* [added] Backup sets can now find files Spotlight doesn’t find
* [added] Backs up files and folders moved into locations that are being backed up.
* [added] Can hide the mozy icon from the Configuration menu and bring it back the same way.
* [added] Clears out temporary files when backups are canceled.
* [fixed] Problems preparing files larger than 2 GB
* [fixed] Randomly losing files from backup sets
* [fixed] Backing up the same files over and over (This was fun :))
* [fixed] Unable to select files on partitions beside the operating system’s partition.
* [fixed] Log file filling up hard drive.
* [fixed] Unable to select files on external hard drives.
* [fixed] Selecting files and folders yielded strange sizes.
* [fixed] The backup would hang midway through when backing up locked files.

If you want to try the MacMozy Mac Client or use Mozy on windows you can sign up for a free 2GB account (aff) and use code E62DWM to get an extra 256MB for both of us. Unlimited backups are $5/mth with discounts for paying one or two years in advance.

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Mozy doesn’t list fixes included in each specific version, their FAQ says the following bugs were fixed since version 0.4.1.4:

• Backup sets not saving
• Machine name bug
• Other machine usage bug (365mb used by….)
• Memory leak/ absurd resource usage
• Repeated MozyServerError2
• Clicking the status window could open a Mozy error page in the browser
• Backup sets can now find files Spotlight doesn’t find
• Backs up files and folders moved into locations that are being backed up.
• Can hide the Mozy icon from the Configuration menu and bring it back the same way.
• Clears out temporary files when backups are canceled.

I’ve been running MacMozy 0.6.0.0 for about two weeks and I installed MacMozy 0.6.0.2 earlier today. I run MacMozy on two Macs, backing up about 1.4GB on one and only about 300MB on the other. The software’s been extremely reliable backing up and restoring on both.

Although, one Mac is experiencing a minor problem. Whenever the configuration is started it cycles through the backup sets for Powerpoint, Word, and Excel files several times. All other sets are only checked once, Eventually it loads the configuration screen (sometimes after cycling through them for almost 5 minutes). I have these sets de-selected for backup but they’re still checked. I did have the MS Office “test drive” files still on that Mac so there were some matching files. I deleted the test drive but even though there weren’t any matching files it still cycled through them when loading the configuration.

New Features

The Mozy Preferences are now on three panels instead of one and now includes the ability to throttle bandwidth.

The “General” preferences panel (click the thumbnails to seem them full size) contains the option to hide the Mozy icon from the menu bar along with the option to install updates automatically. These options were in previous versions so there’s nothing new here.

The scheduling panel gives the options to do a backup at a specific time each day or after the computer has been idle for a specified period of time. The defaults are shown in the screenshot to the left. I’ve been doing backups when the computer has been idle for 2 hours. Also, even if a 30 minute idle time is set Mozy will only backup once every two hours. Other than some tweaking of the words this is the same as previous versions.

The Performance panel is completely new and adds the ability the throttle the bandwidth used when doing backups. This was in the Windows version but it was just added to MacMozy. The limit is set by specifying a specific KB/Sec and not a percentage of the connection.

I don’t usually throttle the bandwidth but as a test I set the limit to 64KB/s. According the Mozy status screen the bitrate stayed around 64KB/s but sometimes hit 70KB/s. When I removed the throttle limit the upload speed was around 290KB/s (my DSL is rated at 384kps for uploads).

MacMozy Beta Status

I’m actually pretty impressed with the reliability I’ve seen with the recent versions, especially since it’s still beta software. The ability to restore files through the software (instead of having to go to the website then manually decrypting the download) was added in an earlier version so I’ve been restoring files and directories every week or so. So far I haven’t had any problems. Restores are much quicker due to the faster download speed. I use a private encryption key (not Mozy’s) and the files are automatically decrypted as part of the restore process.

I’m still using the free plan but the MacMozy software seems stable enough to consider the paid plan, if that was the only consideration. My slow DSL upload speed, with no acceptable alternatives, means my initial backup time would be measured in weeks if I was to back up all 150GB (and growing) that I would want backed up.

If you want to try the MacMozy Mac Client or use Mozy on windows you can sign up for a free 2GB account (aff) and use code E62DWM to get an extra 256MB for both of us. Unlimited backups are $5/mth with discounts for paying one or two years in advance.

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The only documented fix over version 0.5.0.0 is a fix identified as “Memory leak/ absurd resource usage”. A full list of earlier fixes and additional information can be found in the MacMoxy FAQ.

While not new to this latest version a couple of new features have found their way into the beta. One is that now files greater than 4MB will take advantage of block level differential backups. This means that once a file (greater than 4MB) is backed up only the blocks that change will be sent when the file is updated in the future. This could save bandwidth and time.

File Restores

Another needed feature that is that now is the MacMozy client is an integrated file restore. Previously it was necessary to go to the Mozy website, select the files and what for Mozy to generate a file for you to download. Then you had the added step of decrypting them.

Now to do a restore you just select “Restore Files” from the Mozy menu:

Then you’re presented with a dialog to select the files you want to restore. The format is similar to their web restore interface. Notice the ability to restore historical files from the past. (click thumbnail for full size)

One feature I’d like to see is the file size and date during the selection process. The number of files and the total size of the restore is shown in the lower right corner, but it would be nice to know how big the files are when selecting them. While you can go back in time by selecting the backup date there may be times when you want to know the actual date of the file, which could be significantly before the backup date. Both file size and date are available when selecting files through web restore.

I found the restore file selection process done through the client to be considerably faster than through the website. I frequently wait minutes for the web page to refresh the file list. The client displayed the restore list within 30 seconds and there weren’t any delays in navigation from that point on.

The actual restore time will depend on your broadband connection. Download speeds are typically several times faster than upload speeds so restores should be faster than backups. You’re forced restore to an alternate location which is what I religiously recommend so I don’t see it as a problem. A status is displayed during the restore:

I use a private encryption key and did not have a need to decrypt the files after the restore. I haven’t tested it but I suspect if you change the encryption key used by your MacMozy client that you will have to manually decrypt files that were backed up under the old key.

Summary

I hadn’t had any problems with MacMozy since upgrading to 0.5.0.0 back on June 6th right up until today. When I checked the Mozy status prior to upgrading I noticed a backup was running. It had been running for about 10 hours and was hung up. This was a frequent problem with earlier beta releases but it was the only time it occurred with that version. A backup done immediately after the upgrade when fine.

If you want to try the MacMozy Mac Client or use Mozy on windows you can sign up for a free 2GB account (aff) and use code E62DWM to get an extra 256MB for both of us. Unlimited backups are $5/mth with discounts for paying one or two years in advance. I found the free account to be all I need. I have a slow upload speed (384kps) so any sort of online backup for all my data would require a significant time investment for that first backup (I’m thinking weeks if not months).

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It was so trivial I was done before the coffee was brewed. You can adapt these procedure for pretty much any synchronization. The procedures are for backing up the files on my website down to my local Mac. The databases are not backed up, only files.

Create the Automator Script

1. Create a Favorite connection in transmit that connects to the top directory of the tree you want to back up. In my case it’s /public_html on my server so I back up my production and test websites which are are subdirectories under this directory.

2. Create a folder on your Mac to serve as a backup destination. I created WebBackups/websites under Documents. The ftp synchronize will put the files in the websites sub-folder. I created it as a sub-folder of WebBackups so I could also add other backups later such as database backups or safety backups before an upgrade. I’ll also but the automator script in WebBackups.

3. Open Automator, locate “Transmit” in the Library list, then select “Synchronize Files” in the Action list and drag it to the workflow window. Click the thumbnails to see full size.

4. In the “Connect To” drop down select “Favorite”. This will give you the following options:

5. Select the Favorite you created in step one as the “Favorite”.

6. Select Download as the “Sync Direction”.

7. Select Mirror as the “Sync Method”. This will make the directory on your Mac match the server each time it is run. This will delete files so be sure the source and destination are set correctly.

8. Select the directory you created in step 2 as the “Local Path”.

I don’t skip any files even though some will be hidden in Finder by default. I’ve found the automatic time offset works fine. The screen shot below shows my settings.

9. Save the Automator script (yes, just one action) as an application. From the menu select File -> Save As then select “Application” as the file format. Save the file as WebsiteBackup.app to the /WebBackups directory created in step 2 (not the Websites subdirectory).

Schedule the Backup

1. Open iCal.

2. This is optional but recommended. Create a new calendar called “System Tasks”. This will allow you to segregate your scheduled computer tasks from your appointments and todos. Select File -> New Calendar from the menu.

3. Create a new event. Select the time you want the backup to run and tell it to repeat every day. For the Alarm select “Open File” as the action. The alarm type will say iCal, change it to the the WebsiteBackup automator app you created up above. Do this by selecting “Other” and browsing for it. Set the alarm to 0 minutes before. The completed event is shown below.

Summary

You do need to be logged onto the Mac for this to run and the Mac cannot be in sleep mode when the event is scheduled to occur. Neither iCal or Transmit need to be running. Transmit will open, run the sync, then shut down. As I mentioned, some files will be hidden in Finder. These are the files that begin with a dot (.) such as .htaccess. These files will be viewable in Transmit and can be copied back if necessary.

The first sync will take some time although exactly how much depends on your website and link speed. Future syncs will be quicker since only changes are copied.

One the downside, there’s no logs and if the link is down at the appointed time the sync will fail silently. You should check the backup occasionaly to make sure it’s working.

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• Repeated MozyServerError2
• Clicking the status window could open a Mozy error page in the browser
• Backup sets can now find files Spotlight doesn’t find
• Backs up files and folders moved into locations that are being backed up.
• Can hide the mozy icon from the Configuration menu and bring it back the same way.
• Clears out temporary files when backups are canceled.

I’m glad to see backup sets/spotlight mentioned in the third bullet. That’s an area that seemed especially brittle to me and I still don’t trust. For critical files I rely on picking the file or directory.

I’d been seeing the MozyServerError2 message in the history with earlier versions but it cleared up with the last update.

The previous version had been reliable for me. I was basically hands-off and didn’t make a lot of changes (I added one directory tree to the backup). I did a couple of file restores as a test and they were successful. One of those tests included reverting to an older copy of the file. I have about 1.2GB in my backup.

I successfully upgraded (just run Mozy.pkg), did a backup of 10MB and restored some files without a problem.

If yo want to try the MacMozy Mac Client or use Mozy on windows you can sign up for a free 2GB account (aff) and use code E62DWM to get an extra 256MB for both of us.

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I wrote about various backup strategies I’ve had in the past but it’s time to update that and to do it in a smaller, concise article.

iMac Backup

My iMac, with a 500GB hard drive, is the only computer I have that contains data that I need to back up.

Full Disk Clone

The iMac wakes from sleep at 3AM every morning and SuperDuper! runs a scheduled clone of the hard drive to a Maxtor OneTouch III 300GB external drive. SuperDuper! is set to put the drive to sleep when the backup is finished. The Smart Update feature to only clone changes is used to save time.

In the event of a hard drive failure I could immediately boot from the backup drive and continue working with last night’s backup or work to recover files from the back drive. bandwidth throttling,

Offsite & Duplicate Backups

The gaps with the cloned drive are that there’s only one copy of the files and they’re sitting on my desk plugged into the iMac. So to plug those gaps:

I have a free Mozy account and use the MacMozy client to backup critical data to their servers. The MacMozy client is still in beta but it’s been reliable enough for me that I’m willing to use it as a backup for one copy of my files. This backs up changed files, that meet the criteria I picked, when the computer is idle.

Up to this point everything has been automated and I don’t need to do anything to get the backups. And that’s a real good thing. But to also protect my critical data I have some automator scripts that back up the critical data files (the same ones that go to Mozy) to an encrypted disk image file which is then copied to my iPod. I can also burn the file to CD for long-term storage (but never do) or copy it to a USB thumb drive. I typically copy it to the USB thumb drive and iPod every couple of weeks when I site down and pay bills and do other housekeeping on the iMac.

Website Backups

In addition to data on my computers I need to back up my websites. Bluehost does do backups but I don’t want to rely on them except as a last resort.

I use a plugin called Wordpress Database Backup to back up my Wordpress databases to a file on my local iMac. (This is a folder that’s then backed up to Mozy and my iPod). This needs to be done manually through the browser but is extremely easy. The standard Wordpress tables are backed up by default and I then select all the other added (by plugins) tables. A compressed file is then downloaded to my my PC. This is a manual process but it’s quick and easy so I’ve been consistent in getting the backup any day I add an article to the site.

To backup the files on the web server I use Transmit to synchronize the file server to a folder on my PC. This folder tree is then backed up to Mozy and my iPod. Transmit only copies changed files so it’s a fairly quick process. An additional benefit is that I can quickly copy a file back to the server if an upgrade fails or the file becomes corrupt.. This only needs to be done when files are changed on the server. I do it every Sunday and after major changes.

Safety Backups

Being the paranoid type, I do additional backups to make sure I have copies of my photo and music libraries which are to large for backing up to Mozy or a thumb drive.

My iPod serves as a backup for most of my iTunes library. The things that aren’t on it won’t be missed if I lose all my hard disk backups and need to rely on the iPod. Most of the library is ripped from CD so those serve as a backup too.

After photos are added to my library I copy the files to a archive folder. When the folder grows to 4GB I burn the files to DVD and file away the DVD. There’s no organization, other than date, but at least I’ll have the photos.

Future Plans

I’m looking into a way to copy most of my files to my Mac Mini on a automated basis, possibly using ChronoSync. In addition to serving as another copy of my files, if my iMac fails the plan would be to pick things up with the Mac Mini until the iMac is fixed.

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