Is SuperDuper for me?

[musichouse2]

I would like to make a backup copy of my Mac iTunes Library and iPhoto Library to an external HD. I would also like it to be exactly the way it is in the original library (metadata, dates, events, etc. in iPhoto and song titles, composers, artists, dates, time, etc. in iTunes). The last thing I need is to be able to do incremental backups. Is SuperDuper for me? Thanks.

[dnanian]

Yes, although in general I'd suggest backing up your entire source volume, not just two selected bits of it. (Note that by "incremental" I assume you mean what Smart Update does, which is only copy and delete what it needs to to make the destination once again reflect the state of the selections from the source.)

[Robert57]

I also want an exact back-up of my iTunes and iPhoto files on my external BU firewire drives and need some reassurance on Smart Update.

I have recently been doing an extensive amount of editing of my music library--replacing cover art embedded in the music files, editing metadata, etc.-- and so far have done a simple delete BU folder and then drag/copy routine, from the source library ext. HD to the target BU ext. HD (both firewire) in Mac Leopard 10.5 Finder, just to be sure I am capturing all the minute changes I am making with so many thousands of music files. This also allow me to keep a previous BU file on the target BU drive in case there is a drive failure in the course of the BU session. With my big library (almost 700 GB, 30K+ songs), I am really taxing the external drives with 5- hour back-up sessions (getting fairly hot), so I would prefer to use Super Duper now, with Smart Update, to do incremental back-ups, and hopefully make these back-up sessions a lot less wearing on the external drives.

Just to be clear, will SD Smart Update capture even minor changes and additions in embedded cover art in an album, or minute changes in metadata (like adding some characters to an artist or grouping field) in my iTunes music files? I am worried also about having a failure of my source drive during a long BU session, and then having no complete BU of a previous version on the cloned target drive.

Also, I have been using Icy Dock external firewire drive enclosures for my primary and BU drives, each with WD 2- TB Caviar Green drives inside, and they are getting disturbingly warm (almost hot) to the touch after these long BU sessions. Is this normal? They have no internal fan, just rely on the aluminum case for heat dissipation. I love how quiet and speedy they are, but I am worried the heat will soon cause a failure.

Thanks.

Robert

[dnanian]

Yes, we capture those things (but remember that much is stored in the iTunes database, too, so be sure to back up that as well).. but please quit iTunes before making the copy.

As far as "hot" drives go, perhaps assist ventilation with a desk fan? Heat is certainly the enemy of hard disks, and whatever you can do to keep the drive cool can't hurt.

[Robert57]

Thanks for the quick reply. If my primary "source" drive were to fail mid-way through a Smart Update session, would the target drive still have all the "old" data, uncorrupted? In using SD, I would have to give up the security of also keeping the previous library BU on the same target BU disc.

Robert

[dnanian]

Well, if it failed during a copy of a given file, that file would likely (although not definitely) be overwritten and partial (as it would be with Finder, too). Otherwise, whatever hadn't been copied would be in its original state.