Best external HD or SSD drive for Mac studio backup

[Akapplefan]

Looking to get an external HD or SSD drive for the Mac studio for backup.

What is the best one that is best compatible for macs? Best to work as a time machine backup?

thanks in advance.

 

[4sallypat]

Everyone has their own favorites I am sure, even very pricey TB3/4 but I use the older TB2 technology SSD external drives for shuttling files between work and home.

These can connect to my wife's older iMac, my older MBP, work M1, home M1 iMac being traded in for my new Mac Studio....

I have so many of these 1TB SSD drives that they have become my go to including Time Machine backups.

La Cie Thunderbolt 2 w/ TB3 adapter:

 

[Clix Pix]

I use Samsung's excellent T5 and T7 external SSDs (they come in various capacities up to 2 TB) and I also use SanDisk 2 TB and 4 TB external SSDs. I also have a Samsung X5 as well. Any of these are fine with either Intel-based or M1-based machines.

 

[jz0309]

For TM the recommendation is to have a minimum of 2x the capacity of what you’re backing up as it includes version history.
Going SSD for backup can therefor become costly, plus, you should have more than 1 backup…
Me, I use CCC and my daily backup is actually onto SSDs, but my backups 2-4 are on hard drives, I picked up a 8TB WD USB for $140 a few months ago and a 4 TB USB for 75 just 2 weeks ago, that one serves as my off-site…
As for brand, as above, a lot of opinions/preferences, there are actually a few threads on that topic here

 

[velocityg4]

For backups. I'd just use an external WD or Seagate HDD. No reason to get fancy. You could get a Samsung T5 SSD. Just for a faster restore process.

You should also have a secondary backup. Which is off site. Just in case you lose both the computer and backup drive. Such as from fire, flood, lightning strike or theft. Backblaze is an excellent solution.

 

[Akapplefan]

For backups. I'd just use an external WD or Seagate HDD. No reason to get fancy. You could get a Samsung T5 SSD. Just for a faster restore process.

You should also have a secondary backup. Which is off site. Just in case you lose both the computer and backup drive. Such as from fire, flood, lightning strike or theft. Backblaze is an excellent solution.

I have Dropbox which I store all of my files to so this would be a secondary option to have them stored to a separate HD.

Was looking at the Samsung T7 but perhaps that is overkill? Maybe the LaCie rugged option would be better as I don’t necessarily need a SSD? Unless they work better for time capsule backups?

 

[velocityg4]

I have Dropbox which I store all of my files to so this would be a secondary option to have them stored to a separate HD.

Was looking at the Samsung T7 but perhaps that is overkill? Maybe the LaCie rugged option would be better as I don’t necessarily need a SSD? Unless they work better for time capsule backups?

Just faster. Depends on how much data you have. As restoring something like 2TB from a HDD will take a long time. Especially if it's a bunch of small files.

I also don't care for Time Machine. I don't really care about restoring settings, just data. I just sync using Freefilesync. Then if I do a restore. I just sync back. That way I can use the computer while restoring data and see exactly where the restore is at. Plus if something halts the restore. I don't have to start over. I can just continue where I left off.

Edit: I’d also add that I backup over my network to my server. Then that is also occasional backed up to external drives. Which get stored in a safe. Plus the files I really need are also on Onedrive.

 

[ThirteenXIII]

OWC's Drive Dock. I can swap out drives for rotating backups and other storage plus it'll match the Mac Studio pretty nice.

I've moved to all SSD even for backups. Samsungs are a little pricy but you can find their other consumer lines pretty cheap on amazon depending on your storage needs

 

[Akapplefan]

OWC's Drive Dock. I can swap out drives for rotating backups and other storage plus it'll match the Mac Studio pretty nice.

I've moved to all SSD even for backups. Samsungs are a little pricy but you can find their other consumer lines pretty cheap on amazon depending on your storage needs

Just faster. Depends on how much data you have. As restoring something like 2TB from a HDD will take a long time. Especially if it's a bunch of small files.

I also don't care for Time Machine. I don't really care about restoring settings, just data. I just sync using Freefilesync. Then if I do a restore. I just sync back. That way I can use the computer while restoring data and see exactly where the restore is at. Plus if something halts the restore. I don't have to start over. I can just continue where I left off.

Edit: I’d also add that I backup over my network to my server. Then that is also occasional backed up to external drives. Which get stored in a safe. Plus the files I really need are also on Onedrive.

Need about 1T of storage so was going to go with the Samsung T7 unless there is a better more mac compatible option?

 

[velocityg4]

Need about 1T of storage so was going to go with the Samsung T7 unless there is a better more mac compatible option?

The T7 is fine. There really isn’t compatibility issues with external drives. Samsung typically has very good sustained write speeds. Which cheaper brands typically lack. If you are using Time Machine you’ll need 2TB to backup 1TB.

 

[Clix Pix]

I neglected to mention in my earlier post that I don't use Time Machine at all; I do my backups manually and I have definitely practiced redundancy, with data being saved on external drives kept here at home and also stashed in my bank safe deposit box..... I maintain backups of everything, plus I have separate backups of my photo files as well. From time to time I swap things around so I appreciate the speed with which external SSDs work as opposed to the older HDDs. I have pretty much now made the transition from HDD backups storage to SSD backups storage for everything from the past year or so while the older material still resides on my older HDDs.

Don't just buy one T7; buy two of them. One will be the initial backup and the other will be the backup of the backup.....

 

[Akapplefan]

The T7 is fine. There really isn’t compatibility issues with external drives. Samsung typically has very good sustained write speeds. Which cheaper brands typically lack. If you are using Time Machine you’ll need 2TB to backup 1TB.

If I don’t care about portability (it will be kept on my desk) is there a better option?

 

[ThirteenXIII]

If I don’t care about portability (it will be kept on my desk) is there a better option?

LaCie or if you want something matching G-Tech has external drives or the OWC Dual Drive Dock I mentioned matches the Studio and you can add your own 3.5 or 2.5" ssd to it

 

[DrCC]

I use an external USB-C HDD/SSD Enclosure and I put a Crucial MX500 4TB SSD in it. It is also TRIM compatible and I could activate TRIM on the external drive with the Sensei App.
It came out way cheaper than a Samsung T7 drive and it is plenty fast for external backups (Time Machine in my case). Plus, I can always upgrade the SSD in the future.

 

[Akapplefan]

Think I like this one the best.

LaCie Portable SSD 2TB External Solid State Drive - USB-C, USB 3.2 Gen 2, speeds up to 1050MB/s, Moon Silver, for Mac PC and iPad, with Rescue Services (STKS2000400)

Accelerate productivity and score some downtime with LaCie Mobile SSD Secure featuring password activated hardware encryption. Quick file transfers with up to 1050MB/s read and 1000MB/s write speeds. iPad USB-C connectivity provides easy backups—freeing up device space, plus up to 2TB capacity an...

www.amazon.ca

anyone have any experience with it?

 

[cifilter]

In proper Apple fashion, my primary concerns are aesthetics that don't clash hideously with the Mac Studio's beautiful design. ?

 

[DrCC]

For the Mac Mini, there is a nice external HDD case that also has ports and attaches nicely under the Mac mini for an all in one design. Wait a bit, I am pretty sure something like this will become available for the Mac Studio

Satechi USB C Hub - Type-C Aluminum Stand & Hub - USB-C Data Port, Micro/SD Card Readers, USB 3.0 & Headphone Jack Port - for M2/ M1 Mac Mini, Mac Studio, 2020 & 2018 Mac Mini (Space Grey)

Satechi ST-ABHFM station d'accueil USB 3.2 Gen 1 (3.1 Gen 1) Type-C Noir

www.amazon.ca

13 in 1 Mac Mini Dock with Hard Drive Enclosure +HDMI+VGA,USB-C Docking Station & Stand for Mac Mini M1 with SSD/HDD Slot,HDMI,VGA,2*USB 3.0,2*USB 2.0,TF/SD,Video/Audio Jack for Mac Mini 2018/2020

www.amazon.ca

 

[palmor]

For TM I use a QNAP 4 bay direct attach storage with 18TBs of storage in raid 5. For offsite I use backblaze.

I’m happy with the functionality of the QNAP but it’s loud when the drives are chugging.

 

[cifilter]

For the Mac Mini, there is a nice external HDD case that also has ports and attaches nicely under the Mac mini for an all in one design. Wait a bit, I am pretty sure something like this will become available for the Mac Studio

13 in 1 Mac Mini Dock with Hard Drive Enclosure +HDMI+VGA,USB-C Docking Station & Stand for Mac Mini M1 with SSD/HDD Slot,HDMI,VGA,2*USB 3.0,2*USB 2.0,TF/SD,Video/Audio Jack for Mac Mini 2018/2020

www.amazon.ca

Satechi USB C Hub - Type-C Aluminum Stand & Hub - USB-C Data Port, Micro/SD Card Readers, USB 3.0 & Headphone Jack Port - for M2/ M1 Mac Mini, Mac Studio, 2020 & 2018 Mac Mini (Space Grey)

Satechi ST-ABHFM station d'accueil USB 3.2 Gen 1 (3.1 Gen 1) Type-C Noir

www.amazon.ca

Now that's nifty. The finish looks off, but I guess I can't hope for perfection. Also, I guess it would have to sit on top because of the circular bottom portion on the Studio.

 

[dizmonk]

Okay here's my dilemma. Right now I've got 2 external 5gb HDD as time machine backups. I've also got Backblaze for the online backup. My Mac Studio is due to come tomorrow. I ordered a 2TB which is down from the 4tb I have now on my Imac. I've got about 1TB of files that I don't regularly access but I need to keep and ideally have backed up.
I've considered the whole NAS/RAID thing but A) it's too technical for me and B) I'm looking for a cheaper solution. Those drives are expensive.

Does anyone have a good suggestion? The main issue is that I don't want to keep that 1TB on the Studio's SSD as it's a waste of space.