And another Mac-related question while we're polling the Collective Brain: I need to implement some sort of file security on my Macbook since I now have potentially identifiable data on it, plus I don't want someone to get at my financial info if they steal my laptop. So, I'm thinking about using FireVault. Any good/bad experiences or opinions?

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No currently deployed technology will keep your data safe against a highly motivated attacker (or rather, if there is, one of the funding proposals we just put in is going to get shot down pretty hard). However, FileVault and sensible usage habits (make sure the screen is locked whenever you walk away) raise the bar well above the level of a casual laptop thief.

Re: backups: The advantage of jwz's approach is that you automatically have a bootable clone of your main drive. The advantage of NAS (Time Capsule or otherwise) is that if something catastrophic happens to your case, your backup isn't hosed. The big advantage of Time Capsule (now that I think about it) is that it's medium- to long-term protection against "oh shit that wasn't the right rm". Take all of this with a grain of salt, since I've been cheerfully not implementing a backup solution for years (and have somehow managed not to lose significant amounts of data over the course of two HD failures).

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Thanks. I realize my info isn't safe from a motivated hacker - I just want to prevent opportunistic identity/study data theft by someone whose first motivation to snatch my Macbook is "ooh, shiny, laptop, resale value." I'll turn on FireVault this week.

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It's worth pointing out that Time Machine also provides the next-best-thing to a bootable clone of your hard drive; you need to replace the drive, but then you can restore it to your original state in a matter of one boot from a DVD.

And I mostly use my time machine volume to avoid booting up my server ("Which month did I download that again?"), but it's saved a few costly rms, too.

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I'm a big fan of rsnapshot.

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I especially like jwz's most important step:

"If you're using Windows, go fuck yourself."

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A couple things to consider about Time Capsule: I have been reading various forums about it because I was considering getting one and there seem to be a couple issues. 1) Wireless network performance gets mixed reviews, it seems to be not as robust as say the stand alone Airport Extream. 2) The router functionality uses the hard drive for some (all?) of its software so *if* the drive does fail, or you need to replace it for some other reason, you have no router while the drive is not in there and working. That being said, Apple claims that they use a "server grade" Hitachi hard drive that is very unlikely to fail. Still something to consider though. I feel that while not as elegant it might be more practical to get the Airport Extreme (or other router with USB and NAS capabilities) and plug a USB hardrive into its port. Same functionality, more flexibility.

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Thanks; that's good to know. Right now I'm leaning toward the jwz solution and then using part of those 500GB to back up mew0422's computer. She doesn't have the latest OSX, but it sounds like OSX can use any network storage for backup, so my computer should be no exception.

its software so *if* the drive does fail

You clearly didn't read the jwz post; you mean *when* the drive does fail. ;-)

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