Best HD for music storage/backup.

I use the software SuperDuper! on my Mac Mini to back up my AIFF music files. It's $25 and well worth it. I just use a Western Digital 2TB Passport USB-powered drive. Plug it in, run SuperDuper! to do the incremental backup, then unplug and store off-site.

Regards,

Carbon Copy Cloner (free) with 1TB Fantom GF1000T Firewire drive.

I want to thank all responders. To clarify, I do not share data between computers, and I have a time machine backup disk for each. The Mac Mini is dedicated to my primary system and is used only for music playback. The MacBook Pro serves as my general computer and as a server for my secondary systems. As most of my music library is duplicated across both computers, I feel the need to backup only the files on the Mac Mini.

I will look into the SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner backup programs. I am not familiar with benefits they provide. Any additional information would be appreciated.

I seems to me that one issue is whether I am interested in backup only, or if I want to use a backup disk as a library source for playback in regards to the use of USB vs. firewire based drives. Given the cost of drives, I believe I will backup on both types. USB would serve better for transfer to other types of servers should I get away from the computer. Firewire would serve better as a playback device when using computer. Am I missing something here?

Again, thanks for the input, and in advance for any additional info.

Mesch, I use Firewire since it is native to Mac, places lower load on main processor and has nice daisy chaining, but for compatibility reason USB might be better. I have three identical drives (two backups). One backup in storage at home and one at work. After adding/ripping 5 or more CDs I backup to one drive only (alternating them).

Carbon copy can make exact copy of the drive if they are of the same type but sometimes it just transfers files - I don't know why. It doesn't make any difference to me and is even faster. I've heard good things about SuperDuper.

Thanks Kijanki. I think I will backup using USB for now. probably get a Western Digital passport drive. Most important for now is to have the backup.

Metrella, I think I’ll try the superDuper. Thanks.

I’llget back to everyone once I have accomplished this.