Advice for Timemachine and CCC backup devices please

[rjalex]

Dear friends,
I'm the happy owner of a M1 2020 Mini with a smallish 256SSD.

So far have activated Timemachine on a networked share from my QNAP 219P which apparently has been working for months but as I tried to retrieve a file I deleted by mistake I discovered that while TM runs regularly and on the right apparently I could go back in time for months, I am not able to retrieve a single file

I am therefore thinking about the best way to setup a CCC cloning perhaps to a 512GB SSD say weekly and perhaps either attempt to delete and recreate the TM share on my old QNAP or maybe find a new device with a slowish/robust mechanical HDD to do TM stuff.

What would be your advice in both strategy and devices?

Thanks a lot. Happy 2022 !!!

PS My old 219P QNAP is primarily my RAID backup of photographs running for several years and hopefully keeping them safe (plus I sometimes dump the whole partition to a separate external HDD which I keep away from home, never frequently enough I'm afraid).

 

[Fishrrman]

If you are using either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper...
and
if you choose to create "straight clones" (no "safety net" in CCC),
then
the backup drive can be the same size as the source drive. It will never "grow larger".

If you want CCC to save "older versions" of files in the way tm does (you have several copies of the same file, changed over time), you can enable the "safety net" feature. When this is "on", CCC will not replace the old version of a file with the newer, changed version. I believe the older files get aggregated into a special folder on the backup (I've never used this feature).

So, if you want the safety net ON, then yes, a 512gb backup will do fine.

Since you have USB3, I'd suggest you "build your own" backup drive.
Get an "nvme" blade SSD (many available, buy for price, NOT "for speed").
Get a USB3.1 gen2 enclosure (also many available).
Assemble it yourself (a couple of screws, some just snap together).
Format it to APFS, GUID partition format.

Then... get busy with CCC.

 

[mikzn]

I am therefore thinking about the best way to setup a CCC cloning perhaps to a 512GB SSD say weekly and perhaps either attempt to delete and recreate the TM share on my old QNAP or maybe find a new device with a slowish/robust mechanical HDD to do TM stuff.

I'll second @Fishrrman - great advice / and alternatives to Time Machine (IMHO better alternatives)

In addition to his points . . .

You can easily configure CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to do multiple back ups and clones for redundancy or for Cloning / Back up of multiple drives - for example your photos libraries and other media ( Music Files, Movies, etc) - an alternative to your RAID configuration ?

I have 3 Photos libraries that total about 300g and use CCC to back them up on 2 separate 550g drives on separate days of the week (redundancy) - Same process for music files also 300g approximately (separate drives)

Here is a screen shot of multiple clone and back up tasks on CCC - see this post

The CCC back ups are incremental and very fast and it is great to set up the email reminders to let you know they have been completed or incomplete ( ie Drive Not Connected?)

 

[rjalex]

Thank you very much.
Let me see if I understand a few details well enough please.
NVME blade SSD for price -> would something like this fit your advice?
USB 3.1 Gen2 enclosure for the above. Would this be ok?

I need to better understand your very interesting idea of backing up to two different devices as something similar to RAID redundancy ... appealing but not convinced they are truly equivalent.

Actually your input makes me think I have three different backup use cases:

a) Photos ... these get updated not too frequently but I want them to survive ME and leave them to my kids

b) System: have something that in case of a system failure I can restore from and get back working in the shortest time possible

c) Something that will, just like TM in theory, let me go back in case I delete a file mistakenly or sometimes find an older version of that file. This is mostly for my Documents directory files only where I work daily (documents and code).

I am not inclined to ditch ye olde 219P. It works well and has almost 1 TB of photos for the last 10 years

You have a great 2022 !!!

 

[Fishrrman]

The drive and enclosure in reply 4 above look fine.

With CCC, EVERYTHING ON THE DRIVE is backed up.
The cloned backup is mountable on the desktop, you can just use the finder to copy whatever you need to get from it.

Or... you can even boot and run the Mac from it (some special considerations come into play with the m1 series Macs, but bootable clones can still be created).

CCC is not only one of the best apps out there, it's also easy to use.
Download it and see for yourself.

 

[rjalex]

Bought license, using it
So if I understand your suggestion I could have it run hourly and it would just incrementally save the files I'm actively changing, right? But perhaps all of the system files which get changed by background processes?

This new version does not explicitly mention a "clone" vs "just backup" strategy, so I'm not 100% that what it has created is actually bootable.
I am working on my M1 2020 Mini. Will need to google to understand what you mean by the M1 related special considerations).
Happy 2022 and thanks a lot !!!

 

[Fishrrman]

" I could have it run hourly and it would just incrementally save the files I'm actively changing, right?"

Gee, I wouldn't do this. There's nothing that much worth "saving" here.

I run CCC on Sunday mornings (I back up 4 partitions).
Then... perhaps once in the middle of the week, for my "main" partition.

Works fine for me.

 

[mikzn]

Bought license, using it

Congrats / cool / FYI / did you purchase CCC 5 ?- or CCC 6 ? - if you purchased CCC 5 you get a free upgrade to CCC 6 and in effect get both versions

CCC 5 licenses purchased on or after February 18, 2021 are . . .
eligible for a free CCC 6 upgrade license.

This new version does not explicitly mention a "clone" vs "just backup" strategy, so I'm not 100% that what it has created is actually bootable.

If you mean CCC 6 - for Catalina / Big Sur / Monterey - creating a bootable clone should be initially done with a 1) clean single partition drive, 2) formatted to APFS, and of course, 3) the enclosure and drive need to be "Bootable" for a clone to work as an external "Bootable Drive", 4) the M1 Mac's need to be configured to allow booting from an external drive.

I need to better understand your very interesting idea of backing up to two different devices as something similar to RAID redundancy ... appealing but not convinced they are truly equivalent.

Yes they are not "equivalent" - you should learn and understand the differences - I prefer the control of CCC versions and occasional massive changes with CCC because it can allow recovery from mistakes and duplicate files names etc that can copy mistakes quickly on a Mirrored set up - I normally update Photos, Music and other media several times a week as apposed to hourly (and as suggested by @Fishrrman )

I think you are looking for a "drive to drive" copy feature? - files and folders - not bootable ( I may be wrong) - to copy large folders and libraries such as Photos, Music and Movies? from a master drive to a 2nd drive and perhaps a 3rd drive? - these do not need to be bootable and can work well with HDD drives and save cost on the additional drives by using CCC incremental back ups and scheduling

For a "Bootable Clone" it is a different task and requires specific parameters to be bootable, such as the SSD, Enclosure and M1 configuration

b) System: have something that in case of a system failure I can restore from and get back working in the shortest time possible

A bootable clone is the best option - IMHO

c) Something that will, just like TM in theory, let me go back in case I delete a file mistakenly or sometimes find an older version of that file. This is mostly for my Documents directory files only where I work daily (documents and code).

CCC will definitely allow you to do this an I rely on this almost weekly - just connect the external drive - no need to boot the drive - browse to the earlier verison of the file on the back up drive and copy to your desktop - this has saved me many times times with excel files, adobe files , word documents etc., that suddenly quit or get corrupted

Hope that helps,

Let me see if I understand a few details well enough please.
NVME blade SSD for price -> would something like this fit your advice?
USB 3.1 Gen2 enclosure for the above. Would this be ok?

Yes I have 2 similar NVME blade SSD's - using samsung 970 pro's in similar 2 enclosures - fast and effective - ?

 

[rjalex]

Yay! Thanks to good people like you sharing knowledge generously we all progress !!! Take care and happy 2022.

PS Bought the 6 license. Very well worth the money!!!