
In Lion, archiving is typically a manual process that involves creating compressed copies of selected data. Archive formats are efficient from a storage and data transfer perspective, but they generally require user interaction.
Archiver mac mac os x#
On the other hand, the backup service introduced with Mac OS X v10.5, Time Machine, is an automated process that allows users to easily browse the backup history of their entire file system. As you can imagine, maintaining a history of your file system is not space efficient, but it is extremely useful. Understanding Archive versus Disk ImageĪt its essence, archiving is the practice of saving copies of important information to another location or format better suited for long-term storage or network transfer.

Large amounts of hard disk drive storage have become much less expensive in the last few years, but this type of storage is still not as reliable as tape or optical media in terms of longevity. This type of archival media has not kept up with the tremendous growth of hard drives, so storing archival data in a more efficient form by compressing it is still relevant.

Also, no matter how robust your Internet connection is, there never seems to be enough bandwidth, so compressing items in preparation for data transfer is almost always a time-saver.

Lion includes two archival technologies, archives and disk images, that allow you to combine multiple files and compress the data into a more efficient file suited for long-term storage or network data transfer.įirst, the Mac’s Finder will allow you to create zip archives from a selection of files or folders. This is an efficient method for archiving relatively small amounts of data quickly.
