hello in looking for a back up method to back up my MacBook Pro, can anyone recommend a good and reliable SSD backup hard drive?
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Backup Hard Drive Ideas?
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If you're thinking of using a SSD for backup, you've got more money than sense.
Just get any regular 5400rpm drive and an enclosure that supports UASP. Then Time Machine it.
Occasionally I back-up to an external enclosure, so at least I have something stored away from the laptop, but for routine Time Machine stuff I use a micro SD card. I don't use the slot for anything else so it really is is 'fit and forget'. No cables, no fuss and no loss of portability.
I have a Samsung 1TB SSD in an Inateck USB3 enclosure that does UASP. I don't use it for backup. I use it on multi week photo trips for storing any raw files that don't fit on the internal SSD. Backup is made with a portable 2TB portable hard disk when on the road. When home all the data files are moved to the external LaCie library RAID and with backup to a LaCie 6TB D2 drive.
With 512 GB internal memory, look for a SSD with 600GB plus capacity, Just about any name brand SSD is good, the higher prices ones provide better read/write performance which you don't need for backup. Check review at Newegg, B&H, amazon for anyones with issues.
Put the drive in a USB enclosure and set it as the destination. Picking a reliable 2.5 inch enclosure is the hard part as USB is a wild west. You want one that supports sleep. The 2.5 enclosures seem to have fewer issues, however. USB2 may be more reliable and certainly OK for backup. I have a couple $7 ornico that work fine after a firmware update. My startechs have been solid but they are maybe $20.
If you want no hassle and money is not much of an obstacle, pick any one of the SSD thunderbolt external drives.
OP:
As others have mentioned, you don't need an SSD for an external backup drive. A spinning HDD will do fine.
Some other thoughts:
You -do- need a 2.5" form factor drive, that is easy to carry along with you if you're traveling.
You -do- need to use a cloning app (such as CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper) to maintain a fully-bootable backup that is "ready for immediate use" if you're traveling and experience an "I can't boot!" moment with the internal drive.
If you were using only a Time Machine backup, and had booting problems with the MacBook, you can get going again, but doing so will be more problematical and take a considerable amount of time.
With a cloned bootable backup, just connect it, and you're back in business...
As others have mentioned, you don't need an SSD for an external backup drive. A spinning HDD will do fine.
Some other thoughts:
You -do- need a 2.5" form factor drive, that is easy to carry along with you if you're traveling.
You -do- need to use a cloning app (such as CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper) to maintain a fully-bootable backup that is "ready for immediate use" if you're traveling and experience an "I can't boot!" moment with the internal drive.
If you were using only a Time Machine backup, and had booting problems with the MacBook, you can get going again, but doing so will be more problematical and take a considerable amount of time.
With a cloned bootable backup, just connect it, and you're back in business...