#Carbon copy cloner vs time machine software#
#Carbon copy cloner vs time machine free#

You can't do that with dropbox versioning. Because each file is versioned on its own cadence you would need to review each file and find which version do you need to restore to to end up with a state of your filesystem at a given point in time otherwise your restored data will be inconsistent.Īctual backup programs create a 'snapshot in time' of the state of your data - so you can say - restore this folder to the state it was on Friday, March 13, 2020.

#Carbon copy cloner vs time machine software#

What will happen if you want to restore your data - think some multi-file projects, like software source, or docx file, or some other project that consists of more than one file. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.ĭropbox is a sync with server side versioning on a per file basis. But I'm wondering if there's something else I'm missing about what Backblaze gets me that Dropbox's 'Computer Backup' wouldn't, in a scenario where some disaster wipes out both my computer and my external hard drive? It's always been comforting to know my files are in the cloud out there with Backblaze, but I know it's not keeping a bootable backup or anything and the one time I tried to restore something from there I found the service really not particularly intuitive, so I'm wondering if I can cancel before my next billing period comes up at the end of the month. But truth be told like most people I've long ago shifted from buying my music by the file and listen to streaming services almost exclusively instead I could pretty easily make copies of the few irreplacable music or video files I have and put them in a folder that Dropbox would sync. So basically, I'm wondering if there's any reason to keep using Backblaze if I'm already paying for Dropbox and start using their 'Computer Backup.' The biggest difference I can see is that Backblaze is syncing my media libraries and Dropbox 'Computer Backup' wouldn't, because those live in different folders within my user directory. (These folders stay where they are on the backed up computer but appear within a special enclosing folder in other synced locations.) However, now Dropbox has a new feature they're calling 'Computer Backup,' where basically rather than needing to create a subset of your filesystem within a top-level Dropbox folder, you can just sync everything in your Documents, Downloads, and Desktop folders.

I hadn't really bothered to reorganize my Dropbox filing system to take advantage of all that extra storage in a systematic way.

#Carbon copy cloner vs time machine free#

For years I just used the free version of Dropbox, but eventually I ended up bumping up against the limits one too many times and recently ended up signing up for their paid version, which provides me with 2 TB of storage - more than my iMac hard drive can hold.

I've also used Dropbox to keep my most frequently used folders synced between my laptop and my iMac. I also use Backblaze's cloud backup for my entire user folder. Currently, I have an external hard drive connected to the iMac with Time Machine on one partition and a daily Carbon Copy Cloner bootable backup of the complete iMac hard drive on the other. Trying to get some opinions on my backup strategy! I have two Macs (an iMac and a laptop).