[ebag4]

My son starts college this fall, I am moving him to the dorm next week.  He has a Macbook Pro that we purchased last Christmas.  I am not an Apple guy and not certain if there is any difference from a Windows machine in this regard, what is the preferred method of backing up the data on this machine? Automatic backups assuming the laptop is connected is preferred.  Any recommendations are appreciated.

Best,
Ed

[skunark]

I would go with an online solution since he is in the dorms with the higher risk of theft and requires little user interactions once configured.   Crashplan or Backblaze are a good online options for about $50/year plan.    If you have an old airport extreme or time capsule, you could utilize that as well, but still would have that high risk of theft. 

He probably already has a dropbox and iCloud accounts, but those also make great backups for homework.

[ebag4]

Thanks for the reply Skunark.  I should have thought of using Dropbox myself, I never considered it as a backup, great idea.  I have taken a 3 prong approach, I purchased a backup harddrive, a 32G flash and will have him use Dropbox as well.

Thanks again,
Ed

[dB Cooper]

Ordinarily I'm not a big fan of online backup but a combination of (for instance) Carbonite and (for instance) Dropbox or Google Drive make sense in this situation as others have said. Good thing you're thinking this way 'cuz kids generally don't, and sh** happens- regularly.

Many schools also have some sort of arrangement equivalent to a volume license for software; may be cheaper than an "off-the-shelf" plan.

[jqp]

I recommend an inexpensive and ubiquitous WD or Toshiba or Seagate USB drive at least (the small type you can get anywhere), for larger backups. For smaller amounts of data a flash drive will do fine. A backup on this device can be stored just about anywhere safe, or carried in the laptop bag as the situation warrants. If you can't get to your backup quickly and conveniently it is worthless in many cases.

Then you can also backup online. This can be more problematic if your connection goes down or there is trouble with the company. This can be more of a long term redundancy plan.

If it is important data, back up on a few media types at least, that you have direct control of - if it is not that important, anywhere is probably OK. Term paper - critical, multiple backups. MP3s not critical.

Here are examples of the reality 
 http://techcrunch.com/2009/03/23/online-backup-company-carbonite-loses-customers-data-blames-and-sues-suppliers/
 http://www.technewsdaily.com/6814-cracks-in-cloud-security-issues-loom-over-online-backup-services.html