Backup for Apple Users, Paul Chernoff & Sam Knutson

January 24, 2026 Pi General Meeting
10:00 am - 12:30 pm
Via Zoom & YouTube
Pi members, we're delighted to bring you a long planned General Meeting about Backups, and even happier that two of our experienced members, Paul Chernoff and Sam Knutson, are teaming up to do it! Paul is a long time Pi member who most generously gave us his slot for an ad in the Washingtonian Magazine which we still happily run! Sam is a long Apple User who helped lead the Pi back in the 80s, and when he retired was delighted to find we were still going! So as a newer Pi member (with an older membership number), he has been a terrific addition to our meetings! So many thanks again to both of them for contributing their knowledge in what will be a most useful presentation!
Before the program, logistics
1. This meeting will be via Zoom, and we'll try to live stream to our Pi YouTube page. So share the YouTube link, https://www.youtube.com/@WashingtonApplePi but not the Zoom link pasted below (and in the Calendar event for the meeting).
2. Because Paul has to leave at 10:30, we will start with him soon after the 10 am start of the meeting. So please arrive early!
3. As best you can, please use your full name as the Zoom identifier, and not "Betsy's iPad" - this helps with security and so other members will know who you are.

So, on to the program:
Backup for Apple Users: Practical Strategies for the Mac

Backup on the Mac can be simple—but only if you build the right plan. In this session, Sam Knutson and Paul Chernoff walk through practical, real-world backup strategies for Apple users, with an emphasis on Mac computers and the workflows most people actually use.

We’ll explain the major categories of backup—local, external drive, network, cloud, and offsite—and how to combine them for strong protection against drive failure, accidental deletion, malware/ransomware, theft, and natural disasters. We’ll also review popular backup tools and products used by Mac owners, including Time Machine and a range of third-party solutions, highlighting strengths, limitations, costs, and setup best practices.

This talk is designed for everyday Mac users as well as advanced enthusiasts who want higher reliability and more control. Along the way, we’ll share what we personally use, what we’ve learned the hard way, and how to build a repeatable backup process that restores quickly when it matters most.
Bios
Paul Chernoff Director of Information Technology, Washingtonian Media

Paul Chernoff is a veteran IT professional with over three decades of experience managing mission-critical Apple environments. As the Director of IT for Washingtonian Media in Washington, D.C., Paul has spent years overseeing the complex, deadline-driven production workflows of a major publication. His expertise lies in ensuring uptime and data integrity for creative teams, where even minor data loss can derail a print schedule. Paul has worked previously in supporting multimedia projects and an international non-profit.
A long-time member of the Washington Apple Pi community and a frequent contributor to Mac technical discussions (including the WAP TCS and MacAdmins forums), Paul specializes in the unique challenges of Mac administration—from hardware lifecycle management to taming the intricacies of Adobe Creative Cloud. In his talk on Mac backups, Paul draws from his battle-tested experience to discuss robust disaster recovery strategies, the realities of cloud vs. local storage, and how to design backup systems that survive real-world failures.
Sam Knutson Retired Mainframe Expert & Photographer

Sam Knutson brings a unique "enterprise-grade" perspective to personal computing, blending a decades-long career in mission-critical IT with a lifelong passion for the Apple ecosystem. A veteran of the mainframe industry, Sam spent his career ensuring uptime and data integrity for Fortune 1000 systems, holding leadership roles at companies like BMC Software, Compuware, and GEICO. He is also a past Director for SHARE, the world’s oldest enterprise IT user group.
His roots in the Apple community run deep. The first computer he got to use was an Apple ][+ and he joyfully owned a //e and IIgs. Sam served on the Board of Directors for Washington Apple Pi and was the user group's Apple II Vice President in 1989. Now retired, Sam has transitioned from managing mainframes to managing memories. A full-time Mac user (relying on a MacBook Pro and Mac Mini), he is an avid aviation enthusiast and photographer, capturing images with his Sony Alpha and iPhone. In his talk on Mac backups, Sam applies the rigorous disaster recovery philosophies of the mainframe world to the home office, ensuring that precious digital archives—from vintage Apple II code to high-resolution photography—are safe, secure, and recoverable.
Join us!

Check your Pi email for the Zoom invite just sent out. If you're not a Pi member yet and would like to attend the Zoom meeting, DM us here. Otherwise, participate using the YouTube live stream of the meeting. https://www.youtube.com/@WashingtonApplePi