Recommended external drive/s for backing up using 'Time machine' ?

[ChrisUK]

Hello,

I very recently bought a Macbook Pro and it's my first Mac for 20 years. ( I didn't particularly like Windows 8 and I tried Windows 10 for about four hours, hated it and decided to 'divorce' myself from Microsoft/Windows permanently )

Does anyone have any recommendation/s for a non too expensive external drive (not USB stick) of at least 512 Gb capacity for backing up everything via 'Time Machine' ? (The macbook Pro is 512Gb capacity)

There seem to be numerous models out there but some have good reviews and others bad reviews. I'm just wondering if someone has bought one that works very well with a Macbook Pro, hasn't stopped working after a few months (which sometimes seems to happen) and that doesn't cost an arm and a leg ?

Thanks

 

[Rod]

Firstly for a Time Machine backup you should have double the size of your internal Macintosh HD. Less than that or the same size and TM will be deleting old backups before you know it. I did this for a while myself, running a 250Gb USB drive to backup a 250Gb Mac and it works ok but after about a month it started deleting old backups. Obviously this is only a problem if you want to restore data that was deleted 6 months ago. In my case I just wanted it for (a) accidental damage or loss that I would have been more or less immediately aware of or (b) to restore a damaged or corrupted HD to say a new HD.
As for external HD's sad to say despite conflicting opinions based on personal experience any reasonable name brand is as likely to last or breakdown as any other. Some swear by Seagate, some Western Digital, some Samsung etc, etc. There are some top end brands like La Cie, G-Tech, Buffalo and Apricorn but even those are not immune to sudden failure.
Personally I have three Western Digital, one Seagate and two Transcend. Only one has ever failed me and that was the WD and one Transcend is now over 8 years old.
The other aspects to consider are HDD or SSD (spinning or solid state). SSD's are a little limited in size at the moment, all of mine are the spinning type. And lastly the connection type, USB, Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt 2 and the newly introduced by Apple USB-C. In order of decreasing throughput speeds, dual-channel Thunderbolt 2 runs at 20Gbps, dual-channel (original) Thunderbolt runs at 10Gbps, USB 3.1 runs at an identical 10Gbps, USB 3.0 runs at 5Gbps, and USB 2.0 runs at 480Mbps. Again my personal opinion is that for a Time Machine Backup Thunderbolt (original) is quite fast enough. The new USB-C connection is probably the way the industry is going with thinner and thinner chassis but is not relevant in your case as you would need an adaptor for your MBP.

 

[ChrisUK]

Thanks for your answers Rod. Seems I would be best served by two 1Tb external drives - just in case one fails

 

[MacInWin]

One other thing to consider is that TM backups are NOT bootable. TM does backup the entire system, but the TM drive is not bootable. So if you need to restore the entire system, you'll need to find a way to boot. What I, and several others here, do is to have a bootable backup clone of the internal drive. I use Carbon Copy Cloner, others use Super Duper!. Either will do nicely. I schedule CCC to run once a day, at night to my backup drive dedicated to that purpose. Although CCC is able to archive the files that have changed, much like TM does, I don't use that function. The purpose of the CCC backup is to let me immediately be able to boot if my internal drive dies. I also have a TM backup that is there so I can reach back in history to an earlier file if I need it, of if I need to restore so some prior date. So if you get two externals, as you say, I'd make one TM and the other CCC.

 

[pigoo3]

Does anyone have any recommendation/s for a non too expensive external drive (not USB stick) of at least 512 Gb capacity for backing up everything via 'Time Machine' ? (The macbook Pro is 512Gb capacity)

There seem to be numerous models out there but some have good reviews and others bad reviews.

Folks will debate that one brand is better than another. But to keep things simple & easy…I just say shop for the best price for the HD capacity you need/want. Remember…there are only about 3 or so HD brands/manufacturers (Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba).

Even though you may see all sorts of names on external hard drive cases…the "external name" is just a brand name someone "slapped" on there. Don't let the "external names" on the cases confuse things. Internally things boil down to one of the names above.

- Nick

p.s. BTW. If you come across the brand "HGST"…it's owned by Western Digital.

 

[ChrisUK]

Hello Jake,

Is Carbon Copy Clone available from the App Store ?? Presumably it's saved to the external drive ?

 

[pigoo3]

Is Carbon Copy Clone available from the App Store ?? Presumably it's saved to the external drive ?

Developer's website:

https://bombich.com

- Nick

 

[ChrisUK]

Thanks Nick.

If I use one drive for TM and the other for a bootable (Carbon Copy Clone) external drive, if the TM drive fails I'll just get a new external drive to replace it and backup straight away. The other CCC external drive shouldn't fail as it's only going to be used once if the system dies - hopefully never! I think two ext. drives for CCC might be a little bit paranoid.
I suppose if all else failed I could take the MBP to Apple or an authorised dealer / repairer and get the OS re-installed, so really my personal data would be the most important thing on the TM drive.

 

[pigoo3]

Thanks Nick.

If I use one drive for TM and the other for a bootable (Carbon Copy Clone) external drive, if the TM drive fails I'll just get a new external drive to replace it and backup straight away. The other CCC external drive shouldn't fail as it's only going to be used once if the system dies - hopefully never! I think two ext. drives for CCC might be a little bit paranoid.
I suppose if all else failed I could take the MBP to Apple or an authorised dealer / repairer and get the OS re-installed, so really my personal data would be the most important thing on the TM drive.

First. If a drive was to fail shortly after purchase…the HD manufacturer's warranty should replace it for free (of course the data would be lost).

As far as the two external HD's (one for TM, and one for CCC). Yes…if the TM HD were to fail…yes…you would get another HD and do a TM backup ASAP.

As far as the CCC external HD…and it's reliability. Remember…the CCC backup you do today…may not be very useful (or representative) of what you may be doing (or have done) 1-2 years from now (or even 6 months). So to keep that CCC backup current…you need to do periodic CCC backups as well (somewhat similar to TM). I believe CCC does have a feature that allows for easy periodic backups. Thus what I'm saying is…with CCC backups…you don't necessarily just make one backup…then turn this HD off & store it in the closet for years (until something happens).

By the way. Hard drives are typically very reliable. I have an Apple Time Capsule that's probably been running 24/7/365 for probably the past 3-4 years (with very few shut-downs/power-downs during that time).

- Nick

 

[RadDave]

Even though you may see all sorts of names on external hard drive cases…the "external name" is just a brand name someone "slapped" on there. Don't let the "external names" on the cases confuse things. Internally things boil down to one of the names above.

- Nick

p.s. BTW. If you come across the brand "HGST"…it's owned by Western Digital.

Nick - 2 of my 6 external HDs are from OWC - one is labeled as HGST, which used to be Hitachi, but now a subsidiary of Western Digital, as you state - the newer one has a WD label - some history below, for those who may be interested (Wiki Source)

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies was founded in 2003 as a merger of the hard disk drive businesses of IBM and Hitachi.[2] Hitachi paid IBM US$2.05 billion for its HDD business.[3]

On March 8, 2012, Western Digital (WD) acquired Hitachi Global Storage Technologies for $3.9 billion in cash and 25 million shares of WD common stock valued at approximately $0.9 billion. The deal resulted in Hitachi, Ltd. owning approximately 10 percent of WD shares outstanding, and reserving the right to designate two individuals to the board of directors of WD. It was agreed that WD would operate with WD Technologies and HGST as wholly owned subsidiaries and they would compete in the marketplace with separate brands and product lines.[4][5][6]

 

[RadDave]

If I use one drive for TM and the other for a bootable (Carbon Copy Clone) external drive, if the TM drive fails I'll just get a new external drive to replace it and backup straight away. The other CCC external drive shouldn't fail as it's only going to be used once if the system dies - hopefully never! I think two ext. drives for CCC might be a little bit paranoid.
I suppose if all else failed I could take the MBP to Apple or an authorised dealer / repairer and get the OS re-installed, so really my personal data would be the most important thing on the TM drive.

Hi Chris.. - you've already received great advice w/ plenty of options - these external HDs are so cheap these days that I do redundant backups for my iMac & MBPro - I have 4 HDs doing TM backups, two per computer - the ones on the iMac are 1TB each and remain attached to the computer via Thunderbolt self-powered ports (some here would suggest using HDs w/ their own power adapters, another consideration). On the MBPro, I do weekly TM backups x 2 (retired and no need for greater frequency). So, if a TM HD fails, I still have a backup and can replace the damaged drive.

I also have 2 1TB HDs (partitioned in two) doing CCC backups x 2 on each computer - I do these once a week, so again some redundancy. In addition, I backup my MBPro's personal data (pics, music, docs, etc.) to an external SSD once a week; and do the same on the iMac using an online service (Carbonite) - wife mainly uses that computer, so have it much more automated.

Now, if I was still working and my computer's (s) data was crucial to my job, then I'd do more frequent (and likely attached) backups and would probably also use 'off site' backup storage in case of theft or a catastrophe to where the computer(s) were located. Dave

 

[MacInWin]

I have had both the internal drive and a backup drive go sour at the same time. That is rare, but it does (and did) happen. So now I use TM and TimeMachineEditor to run TM twice a day, at noon and at midnight, and CCC to do a clone at midnight to a separate drive from TM. I don't have any need for hourly backups that is the default of TM, and I don't want to have to remember to do backups, so I use the internal scheduler of CCC to do the cloning automatically. Because of some other issues recently, I had to boot from the CCC clone and once I determined the issue, I did a total reinstall of OS X to my internal drive and restored from the TM backup with Migration Assistant. So in just the last three weeks I've had use of both. It really is your tolerance of risk. If you can stand losing data, then you don't need ANY backup. If you have super critical work, then TM and the hourly backups may be best. And if you are really paranoid, you can do TM backups to TWO drives, alternating backups between them. And if you are SUPER paranoid, you can do CCC backups hourly, TM Backups hourly and be doubly backed up. As I said, it's your tolerance of risk.

 

[Rod]

Hello Jake,

Is Carbon Copy Clone available from the App Store ?? Presumably it's saved to the external drive ?

No it's only available from the developers as per pigoo3'S reply and yes it is saved to the EHD like everything else. I too run two EHD's, one with TM and one with CCC. For me TM is just insurance and I have had much more use out of CCC.

 

[ChrisUK]

Ok thanks for the responses - very informative!