I just did a Spotlight search for Backup(.1) (that’s what the Help file says it’s called…x replaced with 1) and came up empty.
Don’t need a backup but just want to know where they are and ensure the backups are indeed being performed. Prefs file is set properly and I just did a manual Backup & Optimize to make sure there was one before looking for the file.
TIA!
The backups are stored inside the database package.
I also use and recommend Scripts > Export > Backup Archive. Backup Archive produces the smallest possible compressed and dated archive of a database. It’s prudent to use this routine and to store the archive on an external medium, as insurance against a hard drive crash.
Thanks for your help, Bill.
I was thinking about using the “Backup to iDisk” script which will work fine while my database is relatively small (still in the trial period to see if I want to purchase the software). But it looks like it backs up everything from scratch each time…not just the incremental changes since the last backup. If that’s the case, it wouldn’t be a player when the DT database grows to a substantial size.
I have a 1TB Time Capsule running with hourly backups but it would also be nice have the DT db stored off site if there’s a way to just upload the changes.
I also use Time Machine, which does incremental backups just like Time Capsule. There are other backup approaches such as rsynch that do incremental backups of DT 2 databases.
A number of my databases are multi-gigabyte in size, and I’ve got a sometimes erratic broadband connection, so I don’t look seriously at ‘cloud’ backup storage.
I use Backup Archive for several reasons: it makes the smallest possible complete archive of a database; it also runs Verify & Repair and Backup & Optimize when it is invoked, which is good database maintenance; I don’t need to wait for a scheduled backup time if I’ve made significant changes that I want to protect – so I’ll run it at break time after an important database session; the filenames contain the database name and the date, so that I can keep a collection of recent database backups on external media for offsite storage at my bank – added insurance.
Redundancy should be part of a good backup strategy. Consider all the things that could go wrong, from hard disk crashes to lost or stolen computer equipment, to a house fire, or even the failure of a service company on which offsite storage is used.
Of course, it’s much simpler if your data isn’t important to you. Why worry? 