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Extract Directly from Time Machine

Normally you use Time Machine to restore lost data in a file like this: within the Time Machine interface, you go back to the time the file was not yet messed up, and you restore it to replace the file you have now.

You can also elect to keep both, but the restored file takes the name and place of the current one. So, if you have made changes since the backup took place that you would like to keep, they are lost, or you have to mess around a bit to merge changes, rename files, and trash the unwanted one.

As an alternative, you can browse the Time Machine backup volume directly in the Finder like any normal disk, navigate through the chronological backup hierarchy, and find the file which contains the lost content.

Once you've found it, you can open it and the current version of the file side-by-side, and copy information from Time Machine's version of the file into the current one, without losing any content you put in it since the backup was made.


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Eolake Stobblehouse

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Safe Computing | 14 Apr 2009 | Listen  | Print Printer-Friendly Version of This Article

Backblaze Publicly Launches Online Backup Service for Macs

by Joe Kissell Send Email to Author

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Several months ago, I wrote about a new online backup service called Backblaze, which at that time was available to Mac users only in a beta form, by private invitation (see "Backblaze Launches Mac Beta of Online Backup Service," 2008-12-09). After extensive beta testing, and a few much-requested modifications, the company has now finally opened the service to everyone. If you've been thinking about using online backups, or if you've tried another service and been disappointed, Backblaze may well be worth a look.

Like several other online backup systems, Backblaze uses Mac client software to back up your files, compressed and encrypted, to secure servers over the Internet. It operates continuously in the background, automatically uploading new data as you create or modify it. You can restore data by selecting files and folders in a Web-based interface and downloading a Zip file, or by requesting that the company send your data overnight by FedEx on DVD ($99 for up to 4.2 GB of data) or on a USB hard drive ($189 for a 500 GB hard drive, up from 160 GB during the beta program).

One of the key changes the company made during its beta program was adding support for resource forks on Mac files, including full de-duplication of resource fork data. In addition, the company says it correctly backs up and restores each file's type, creator, creation date, and modification date, and that packages (or bundles), such as those used to store iPhoto libraries, are handled correctly. All of this should be good news to users who have found these features lacking in Mozy, a similar but better-known backup service.

Among the numerous other changes in the 1.0 release (or 1.0.0.134, to be exact) are greatly improved support for external drives (which the software now tracks even after they're disconnected), more helpful notifications and reports, improved translations into several different languages, performance and compression enhancements, and more intelligent exclusion of cache and temporary data. Backblaze now also includes an uninstaller.

For users who participated in beta testing, Backblaze should automatically and silently update its client software in the background. New users can download the software (a 3.6 MB file) from the Backblaze Web site. Setup is a matter of running the installer, entering your email address, and choosing a password. No other configuration is required, although users can manually exclude any folders, volumes, or file types they don't want to back up.

Backblaze charges $5 per month, or $50 per year (which works out to $4.17 per month) for unlimited data storage, and the company offers a 15-day free trial.

 

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