External storage

[JayKay2021]

Dear community,

currently, I am a Windows user. I will get the new 14“ MacBook Pro with 512 GB storage when it’s out. I am not storing videos/pictures, mainly office stuff.

Now I am looking for an external backup system. In my imagination, I want to use an HDD/SSD which I stick in from times to times (e.g. once a week) and which does an automatic backup. This backup should not require hours.

1) Can you please recommend reliable and cost-efficient HDD/SSDs?

2) Is CCC better than time machine? Should I directly go for CCC? Or is both needed (if yes: why?)

Thanks a lot!

Jens

 

[Boyd01]

I use Time Machine for continuous backups to a network drive on my LAN, but you can also just use an external disk. You don't really need a SSD for that, although it will be faster. I also use CCC to make a bootable clone on an external SSD. This has the advantage of being able to actually start my computer or even boot a different computer in the event of a major problem. However, I'm on an Intel Mac and still running Catalina. The M1 Macs and newer operating systems may not be bootable from a clone, not completely sure.

I also have BackBlaze, which continuously backs everything up to the cloud. Personally, I would not want to give any of these up. Have been using Macs since 1985 and got an Apple ][ back in 1978. I still have some files that go that far back, so I want all the "insurance" I can get for my valuable data. It's a quite a lot of stuff (around 12tb) since I have worked with digital video for many years and also use large amounts of geodata to make maps.

Based on what you've said, you might consider something like a 2tb hard drive for Time Machine, a 1tb SSD for Carbon Copy and supplement these with some kind of cloud backup. It's possible that iCloud might cover that, but I only use it to backup my phone and not my Mac.

 

[mikzn]

1) Can you please recommend reliable and cost-efficient HDD/SSDs?

I am using WD My Passport Ultra 1Tb Drives - have several and they work great with CCC (fast with incremental back ups) I also have several SSD's EVO 860 / EVO 850's in enclosures for bootable clones again with CCC

Most of my back up drives are 1TB since the Macs are 500g and one is 1TB internal drives

Have never had any issues with any of these drives - knock on wood

Now I am looking for an external backup system. I want to use an HDD/SSD which I stick in from times to times (e.g. once a week) and which does an automatic backup. This backup should not require hours.

2) Is CCC better than time machine? Should I directly go for CCC? Or is both needed (if yes: why?)

I prefer CCC ? and personally do not use Time Machine (too many past issues) - CCC is easy to set up and once you have set up it - can be configured to detect the connected drive - and will automatically proceed to back up either folders or a complete clone - if you have a wireless drive it can automatically complete the back up at a specific day / time ( ie Time Capsule) - here is a link to my back up configuration on CCC

I agree with @Boyd01 - not much difference between SSD's and HDD's for back up when doing incremental back up - but a big difference when doing a back up from scratch on a clean drive. I am mostly using HDD's for back ups and SSD's for bootable clones

 

[Fishrrman]

"I am looking for an external backup system. In my imagination, I want to use an HDD/SSD which I stick in from times to times (e.g. once a week) and which does an automatic backup. This backup should not require hours."

I'd suggest either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

I'm thinking the process won't be "completely automatic", in that you'll have to:
1. connect the backup drive
2. open CCC or SD
3. start the backup
4. when done, quit the backup app
5. dismount and disconnect the backup.

Is that too much to ask?

Personal experience:
I just did my CCC backups this morning.
Two drives, 6 partitions in all.
Took about 5 minutes total, if that long.

 

[mikzn]

I'd suggest either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

I'm thinking the process won't be "completely automatic", in that you'll have to:
1. connect the backup drive
2. open CCC or SD
3. start the backup
4. when done, quit the backup app
5. dismount and disconnect the backup.

Is that too much to ask?

Good points - FWIW - it "can be" completely automatic if the Task is set up properly in CCC - I have CCC set up to back up automatically and it copies fine when the drive is left connected - CCC sends me an email when the Back is completed (nice to have email for any problems - incomplete copy etc.)

Also have Time Capsule set up with CCC and it has been backing up with out any manual intervention for years and has not failed - ever - but it sends me the email just in case.

I am guessing that Super Duper does the same? (I don't have SD)

 

[Boyd01]

I also have CCC set to automatically make a nightly clone of the external drive on a 2014 Mini that I use as media server. Glad to have it, the media drive died a couple years ago and I just swapped it for the CCC clone and was back up and running in a couple minutes. For redundancy, I have two CCC backup drives that I swap from time to time on that machine.

 

[Realityck]

The M1 Macs and newer operating systems may not be bootable from a clone, not completely sure.

I was running into issues with Monterey making bootable clones directly as was possible with Big Sur. I haven't tried installing a system on a external drive then use CCC 6.03b2 to just add everything else as a workaround. The method I used previous is documented in this CCC thread post

Apple added some admin authentication as beta testers observed with Monterey beta 4 and 5, so I suspect the admin approval to boot a clone is still not working. (clone boots almost then crashes after admin approval doesn't work right on a M1 Mac with a external USB storage. Have not used a external Thunderbolt 3 SSD yet.

 

[rugmankc]

I use CCC on a scheduled backup to an external SSD that stays connected.

Also, use Time Machine (TM).

Periodically I will back up to a WD drive I just plug in when I want to backup. Do it thru TM and just switch Time Machine drives within TM.

Also, have another SSD external I drag and drop files/folders too.

The WD could be kept of site by a trusted family member or in a Fire Box.

Starting with Big Sur CCC doesn't back up System due to Apple restrictions. Silicons won't either.

Check out on CCC--Website and their Knowledge Base on this.

 

[mick2]

Now I am looking for an external backup system. In my imagination, I want to use an HDD/SSD which I stick in from times to times (e.g. once a week) and which does an automatic backup. This backup should not require hours.

1) Can you please recommend reliable and cost-efficient HDD/SSDs?

2) Is CCC better than time machine? Should I directly go for CCC? Or is both needed (if yes: why?)

I do pretty much exactly this. I backup to an external sata SSD using CCC. I plug in the SSD about once per week, run the backup, then unplug the drive. This obviously means backups may be up to a week old, but that's good enough for my uses. Keeping the backup drive offline also happens to protect the backup against ransomwear should that ever be an issue.

1. I use a Samsung T5 which is a sata SSD. The current equivalent from Samsung is the T7. It's not quite as fast as an external NVME drive, but its significantly cheaper, runs cooler, and is fast enough for a backup. My initial CCC backup takes around 15mins; each weekly backup after that takes around 1-2 mins. Because the drive isn't permanently attached and backing up to the mac constantly, I find the extra speed / robustness of an SSD vs a HDD worthwhile.

2. CCC used to have the advantage over TM of creating bootable clones; it is gradually losing this ability post Catalina / Intel. By the time you get to M1 machines with Monteray, I think the bootable clones aspect has completely gone. However, it is still ime much quicker than Time Machine, both making the initial backup and with each subsequent backup.

The only thing lacking at this point is a 2nd copy of your backup, preferably at a different location. You could investigate cloud solutions as others have suggested; I just have a 2nd T5 that I leave at a friends house that I periodically rotate.

 

[InuNacho]

Starting with Big Sur CCC doesn't back up System due to Apple restrictions. Silicons won't either.

Yikes! Thats been my go to for years although I've never had a SSD die so I guess its a moot point.

I actually just had a 30 hour CCC session cloning my 4TB rotational media drive to a 5TB rotational drive.
Looking forward to the big backup of my 6TB photo + 5TB media to that fat slow 12TB I picked up on sale.

 

[mikzn]

Yikes! Thats been my go to for years although I've never had a SSD die so I guess its a moot point.

I actually just had a 30 hour CCC session cloning my 4TB rotational media drive to a 5TB rotational drive.
Looking forward to the big backup of my 6TB photo + 5TB media to that fat slow 12TB I picked up on sale.

FWIW I have had no issues doing a weekly bootable clone since Catalina, Big Sur and now Monterey - See this post

With CCC 6 - For Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey - I think there are 3 ways to do a clone

1) Wipe the drive and start with APFS clean - 1 partition empty drive - this will give you a bootable drive Based on the current macOS version - it will create 2 partions (System and Data)

2) Install the current version of Catalina, Big Sur or Monterey on top of a prior clone - not my recommendation - but has reportedly been done by others on these forums

3) CCC 6.0.3-b3 - use Legacy Bootabe Backup Assistant - not needed if you do step 1 - otherwise click the "Legacy Bootabe Backup Assistant" button and follow the CCC instructons for creating a bootable drive and doing 'incremental backups" going forward

fat slow 12TB I picked up on sale ?
Is that a FAT32 ? maybe copy the files to another drive and reformat to ExFat (64) and copy back to the ExFAT drive or APFS is windows compatibility is not needed?

 

[InuNacho]

FWIW I have had no issues doing a weekly bootable clone since Catalina, Big Sur and now Monterey - See this post

With CCC 6 - For Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey - I think there are 3 ways to do a clone

1) Wipe the drive and start with APFS clean - 1 partition empty drive - this will give you a bootable drive Based on the current macOS version - it will create 2 partions (System and Data)

2) Install the current version of Catalina, Big Sur or Monterey on top of a prior clone - not my recommendation - but has reportedly been done by others on these forums

3) CCC 6.0.3-b3 - use Legacy Bootabe Backup Assistant - not needed if you do step 1 - otherwise click the "Legacy Bootabe Backup Assistant" button and follow the CCC instructons for creating a bootable drive and doing 'incremental backups" going forward

fat slow 12TB I picked up on sale ?
Is that a FAT32 ? maybe copy the files to another drive and reformat to ExFat (64) and copy back to the ExFAT drive or APFS is windows compatibility is not needed?

I'm still running Mojave for "legacy" software reasons and don't see any need to upgrade and break software and hardware for no reason. I'm just surprised that there are hoops to jump through to get back to square 1 after a catastrophic failure.

Nope my 12TB WD Easystore is wiped to APFS as with all my other drives. They're limited by the fact they're rotational and on USB 3.
I cannot wait for the day when 4TB 2.5 inch SSDs come down in price.

 

[JayKay2021]

Thank you all! What about a NAS solution for automatic backup? I consider synology nas

 

[jz0309]

Thank you all! What about a NAS solution for automatic backup? I consider synology nas

take a look at this thread
What’s a good NAS and NAS software for home use with almost all Apple devices?

There will be plenty opinions, a NAS "just" for backup imho is overkill though it could be part of your backup strategy, eg more than 1, ideally 3 backups ...
I backup to external SSD, 2 different HDDs using CCC and I also copy files to OneDrive, but that's just me

 

[mikzn]

I'm still running Mojave for "legacy" software reasons and don't see any need to upgrade and break software and hardware for no reason. I'm just surprised that there are hoops to jump through to get back to square 1 after a catastrophic failure.

I agree - I also have most of my important Daily driver software on Mojave because it works great and I have many 32 bit Applications that work fine on Mojave ( IMHO Mojave is one of the best macOS's ) CCC 5 still works well for me on Mojave (no hoops to jump thru)

My rMBP 2015 is on Monterey and is getting closer and closer to my Mojave systems - a good way for me to decide when to move "Daily Driver to Monterey"

Nope my 12TB WD Easystore is wiped to APFS as with all my other drives. They're limited by the fact they're rotational and on USB 3.
I cannot wait for the day when 4TB 2.5 inch SSDs come down in price.

Yeah - that was a bad guess on my part - no offense intended

 

[InuNacho]

Yeah - that was a bad guess on my part - no offense intended

None taken.

Thank you all! What about a NAS solution for automatic backup? I consider synology nas

It depends on how you value your data. My friend is a professional photographer and had a massive NAS hooked up and does nightly backups to a couple large drives.
On the other side of the spectrum, I have my digital artwork stored on a 2x 8TB RAID 1 and back it up to larger drives. One is kept in my place and the other at a relative a city over.

 

[JayKay2021]

Thanks for your input. I will get a 2Tb HDD from G-Technology, because my bandwidth is too low for NAS and I understand the overkill argument.

 

[InuNacho]

Thanks for your input. I will get a 2Tb HDD from G-Technology, because my bandwidth is too low for NAS and I understand the overkill argument.

Good choice.

 

[MacDividend]

I make YouTube videos so I back up all of my videos once a month on an external hard drive. I have the WD easystore 18 TB External 3.0 Hard Drive. There are also cloud and more serious backup options available if you do a bit of research beyond the basic external hard drives. It ultimately comes down to how fast you want the external drive to be, the features you want, and how much you are willing to spend on an external drive. However, it is an industry best practice to actually back up on two external drives so that you don't have a single point of failure.

 

[Boyd01]

They are great, but just understand, it only backs up your user data. Backblaze does not backup the operating system or any of your software. So, you would need to install MacOS and also re-install any other software separately when restoring from BackBlaze.