The most important maintenance you can perform on your Mac is a backup. Either a full-on cloned backup, or a synchronization of important files.
Backing up Macs and files has never been easier. From clones to Mac-to-Mac file syncs, many backup options are simple, painless, truly set it and forget. Among time-tested backup apps is this revived oldie but goodie.
From Out Of The Past
Many years ago, previous to the cloning and Time Machine era, I used the Preference Pane app Déjà Vu to backup files on my Mac. Back in the day Déjà Vu was about as easy as it could get.
It installs as a Preference Pane in your Mac’s System Preferences.
From there, you can control specific backups from a source on your Mac to a destination or target.
As it was with previous versions, Déjà Vu lets you set as a target any internal or connected external hard disk drive, a remote backup server, other folders on your Mac, or even a Toast DVD or CD (handy for off site backups).
What’s Old Is New Again
Déjà Vu is a full-fledged 21st century backup app that also makes complete clones of your Mac’s hard disk drive. That means you can use a cloned hard disk drive to start up your Mac when your Mac’s disk drive fails (or, use it on any other modern Mac).
It’s simple to set up a backup of your Mac’s Home folder to ensure that all your Documents, Music, Pictures, Movies are duplicated on a separate disk drive or server.
Déjà Vu does an initial, complete backup, then subsequently backs up files incrementally; meaning it backs up only those files that have changed, so the backup process takes up much less time.
You can backup files over a network, even connecting to the remote server using a schedule.
Another option creates a Safety Net for changed or deleted files to be archived in a separate folder (just to make sure they’re available if you need them again later).
Déjà Vu has proven to be a dependable, usable, affordable backup system with plenty of features. Scheduled backups could have more options beyond Daily, Weekly, Monthly. And, as a system Preference Pane, extra steps are required to open it up, make adjustments, or perform a manual backup (it’s not a standalone app).
Otherwise, nicely done and truly try before you buy.
About Ron McElfresh
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