What Do You Like To Use As Your Time Machine Backup Drive?

[McQ]

Just seeing what people like to use for their Mac backups.

Mine is still pretty simple, and it's what I've done as long as I've been using Time Machine (~15 years or so). I just have a WD external hard drive (2TB My Book) that serves as my backup. I also keep copies of all important documents, photos, etc. on another WD 4TB external SSD. Nothing in the cloud so far, other than anything on my SmugMug page and Google photos.

What do you all like to do?

 

[dburanich]

How big is the drive on the Mac?
I have a 1 TB drive and was using a 4TB drive for Time Machine.
After a while I discovered that no matter how many Time Machine backups I did it was never even coming close to needing more than 1TB. I ended up partitioning it to 1 TB for Time Machine and 3TB for other uses.

 

[Clix Pix]

I don't use Time Machine. I have a system of both external SSDs and external HDDs for current backups and archival photo backups. I do everything manually rather than using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner; what the heck, I'm retired, I've got loads of time to fiddle with this stuff!

Current Backups are my data and photo files from the past year, and archival backups are just what they sound like -- the older stuff. The external SSDs handle the current backups and supplemental files and the older, larger-capacity external HDDs handle the archival material.

 

[McQ]

How big is the drive on the Mac?
I have a 1 TB drive and was using a 4TB drive for Time Machine.
After a while I discovered that no matter how many Time Machine backups I did it was never even coming close to needing more than 1TB. I ended up partitioning it to 1 TB for Time Machine and 3TB for other uses.

My Mac is a 1TB MacBook Pro. Previously, I always had iMacs with about the same amount of storage. So I don't want to use it for my backups.

 

[McQ]

I don't use Time Machine. I have a system of both external SSDs and external HDDs for current backups and archival photo backups. I do everything manually rather than using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner; what the heck, I'm retired, I've got loads of time to fiddle with this stuff!

Current Backups are my data and photo files from the past year, and archival backups are just what they sound like -- the older stuff. The external SSDs handle the current backups and supplemental files and the older, larger-capacity external HDDs handle the archival material.

Connie, you made me smile with this. Loads of time! Love it. I'm kind of surprised you don't use Time Machine, since it's so automatic and requires no effort. I kind of do what you do, though, along with Time Machine. I back up all my documents and photos manually to a separate drive, too. It's probably overkill, but I'd rather have all of that stuff on at least two separate drives since it's highly unlikely to have both fail at the same time.

 

[7006]

I use a spare WD 2TB HDD connected through USB for the time machine.
It does the job.
I also copy everything on a Rugged LaCie 4TB. Plus all my files are always replicated in the cloud.
All encrypted.

 

[McQ]

I use a spare WD 2TB HDD connected through USB for the time machine.
It does the job.
I also copy everything on a Rugged LaCie 4TB. Plus all my files are always replicated in the cloud.
All encrypted.

Similar to what I'm doing, except for me not using the cloud...yet.
What cloud storage/backups do you use?

 

[rick_reno]

i use a 2TB iosafe drive. it’s supposed to be fireproof and waterproof, I’ve never tested either. A Dr friend gave it to me, he wanted something portable and this thing is not that. seems to work fine.

 

[catalyst]

Just seeing what people like to use for their Mac backups.

Mine is still pretty simple, and it's what I've done as long as I've been using Time Machine (~15 years or so). I just have a WD external hard drive (2TB My Book) that serves as my backup. I also keep copies of all important documents, photos, etc. on another WD 4TB external SSD. Nothing in the cloud so far, other than anything on my SmugMug page and Google photos.

What do you all like to do?

I'm sorta like you, Glenn; both my (2014) MacBookPro and my (2017) iMac use Time Machine to backup to 3 or 4 TB external drives from Apple-centric OWC (Other World Computing). Every so often, I also drag my photos from the iMac also onto another external drive.

 

[Clix Pix]

Connie, you made me smile with this. Loads of time! Love it. I'm kind of surprised you don't use Time Machine, since it's so automatic and requires no effort. I kind of do what you do, though, along with Time Machine. I back up all my documents and photos manually to a separate drive, too. It's probably overkill, but I'd rather have all of that stuff on at least two separate drives since it's highly unlikely to have both fail at the same time.

I am the Queen of Redundancy; each backup drive has a backup of its own plus sometimes a second backup! LOL! Actually, one set of backups lives in my safe deposit box and I swap out these each month as I update a set of matching drives at home. A third set remains at home permanently, too, so that I have access to the material on them.

As for Time Machine, a long time ago for some reason which I forget right now there were some things about it which I didn't like and so decided to forgo using it. Since then from time to time I have read comments about it being unreliable at times and other issues, so I've been just as happy not using it. Great idea, though, and a good way to get people who otherwise wouldn't even think to back up their files to do so in a painless way.

 

[jbailey930]

I use a 5C Drobo for one TM backup and long term photo storage. I also have Gtech 1gb drive for another TM backup as the MacBook Pro has 512 SSD. I also use iDrive for cloud backups of the Drobo. Got to stuff in at least 3 places!

 

[McQ]

i use a 2TB iosafe drive. it’s supposed to be fireproof and waterproof, I’ve never tested either. A Dr friend gave it to me, he wanted something portable and this thing is not that. seems to work fine.

I haven’t heard of those. Glad you never had to test it!

 

[McQ]

I'm sorta like you, Glenn; both my (2014) MacBookPro and my (2017) iMac use Time Machine to backup to 3 or 4 TB external drives from Apple-centric OWC (Other World Computing). Every so often, I also drag my photos from the iMac also onto another external drive.

I think our method is pretty simple. And I do like stuff from OWC. They’ve been great to me over the years.

 

[Deleted member 4116]

Time Machine backs up over wifi to my NAS and when I remember I do manual backups onto 1tb externals that go into a fireproof safe. But once I get my NAS setup to do cloud backups, i'll stop messing with externals all together as I hate having things plugged into a laptop.

For those on the fence or opposed to using Time Machine, don't necessarily think of it as a backup of your files but a restoration point for your entire computer. It's essentially an image of your computer that if for whatever reason something goes wrong you can restore to a certain point in history and get it back as if nothing happened. Ideally you should be doing 2 things: Time Machine for periodic imaging and some sort of file backup redundancy so you can still have the physical files even without a mac. I used to do both to my NAS but quickly filled up the dual 4tb drives so i'll have to wait and buy a 4-5 bay in the future and expand so I don't have that issue.

 

[McQ]

I use a 5C Drobo for one TM backup and long term photo storage. I also have Gtech 1gb drive for another TM backup as the MacBook Pro has 512 SSD. I also use iDrive for cloud backups of the Drobo. Got to stuff in at least 3 places!

John, I think your data is safe. Lol! Nice setup. I had never looked into Drobo before, although I know it's well regarded. They have some great storage solutions.

 

[McQ]

Time Machine backs up over wifi to my NAS and when I remember I do manual backups onto 1tb externals that go into a fireproof safe. But once I get my NAS setup to do cloud backups, i'll stop messing with externals all together as I hate having things plugged into a laptop.

For those on the fence or opposed to using Time Machine, don't necessarily think of it as a backup of your files but a restoration point for your entire computer. It's essentially an image of your computer that if for whatever reason something goes wrong you can restore to a certain point in history and get it back as if nothing happened. Ideally you should be doing 2 things: Time Machine for periodic imaging and some sort of file backup redundancy so you can still have the physical files even without a mac. I used to do both to my NAS but quickly filled up the dual 4tb drives so i'll have to wait and buy a 4-5 bay in the future and expand so I don't have that issue.

Yes, this is why I really like Time Machine. It's a no-brainer for me. I'd like to (sooner than later) try to get some type of off-site storage as well. I know there are good cloud options but need to research them before diving in.
It's interesting that both you and Connie use some type of separate, safe-based storage for your external drives. I had not thought to do that before. Nice peace of mind for a little extra effort.

 

[dgwhitham]

Oh boy.
I use a 1TB external drive for Time Machine. Once I'm finished editing a batch of images, they get moved to one of my NAS - Everything from 2006 through 2019 is on my Drobo with 5 4TB drives, and everything more recent is on a Glyph Technologies 12TB Blackbox Pro. These images are backed up on WD MyBook Drives.

 

[7006]

Similar to what I'm doing, except for me not using the cloud...yet.
What cloud storage/backups do you use?

Mine is OneDrive, I also have iCloud.
The company’s is code42.

 

[MikEm13]

Mine is simple also, Time Machine and cloud storage Backblaze.

 

[McQ]

Oh boy.
I use a 1TB external drive for Time Machine. Once I'm finished editing a batch of images, they get moved to one of my NAS - Everything from 2006 through 2019 is on my Drobo with 5 4TB drives, and everything more recent is on a Glyph Technologies 12TB Blackbox Pro. These images are backed up on WD MyBook Drives.

Dave, this is some serious backup and storage! Nice.