Budget SSD For Time Machine

[TaylorA]

Good Friday morning all.
I need to purchase an SSD for my M1 MacBook Air with 256GB so I can back it up with Time Machine. At the moment it has 148GB free and I don't expect that to change much. Can I get away with a 500GB Samsung T7 SSD? I'm on a tight budget and don't want to spend more than necessary. Thanks!

 

[Bigwaff]

Can I get away with a 500GB Samsung T7 SSD? I'm on a tight budget and don't want to spend more than necessary.

You can. Alternatively, you can get a 500GB portable hard drive for $50 or so. For backups over USB, doesn’t really matter if storage is SSD or HDD.

 

[Ben J.]

Get a cheap plastic ssd/hhd 2.5" enclosure (~$20) and a 2.5" drive. I recommend ssd as it will be faster, ~300MB/s. Sholdn't set you back more than ~$70 in total.

My experience with these types of cheap enclosures, Plexgear in my case, has been very good.

Also, remember that backup tasks are most often not very dependent on speed/performance. The first backup on a slow drive will maybe take a few hours, but each update after that is typically completed in seconds.

Plexgear Harddiskkabinett 2,5" HDD & SSD Smart Access USB-A

Slankt kabinett for 2,5" HDD eller SSD med SATA-kontakt. Separat kontrollenhet med USB-A-kontakt. Enkel installering uten verktøy. Støtter USB 5 Gb/s (USB 3.0) for overføringer i høy hastighet (bakoverkompatibel med USB 2.0)

www.kjell.com

 

[TaylorA]

You can. Alternatively, you can get a 500GB portable hard drive for $50 or so. For backups over USB, doesn’t really matter if storage is SSD or HDD.

Thanks so much

 

[Fishrrman]

I don't know about time machine (never used it ever), but I'd suggest an alternative approach:

Get a 256gb SSD.
Then use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to keep it backed up.

Do this, and the backup drive won't "continually grow" in size when you do incremental backups.
Rather, it will remain the same as the "used space" on the internal drive.

CCC also has a "safety net" feature that preserves earlier versions of changed files (similar to tm).

 

[TaylorA]

I don't know about time machine (never used it ever), but I'd suggest an alternative approach:

Get a 256gb SSD.
Then use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to keep it backed up.

Do this, and the backup drive won't "continually grow" in size when you do incremental backups.
Rather, it will remain the same as the "used space" on the internal drive.

CCC also has a "safety net" feature that preserves earlier versions of changed files (similar to tm).

Very interesting idea-thanks!

 

[TaylorA]

So this safety net feature would be more reliable than just using a flash drive to back up my documents which is what I am doing now?

 

[Fishrrman]

Both CCC and SD are free to download and use for 30 days.
I suggest you download BOTH of them and give them a try.

SD is one of the easiest Mac apps to understand and use -- no manual needed.

 

[Ben J.]

So this safety net feature would be more reliable than just using a flash drive to back up my documents which is what I am doing now?

I use CCC and have been for many years. Excellent utility, great company, and well worth the money. It's Safetynet feature is there to acheive much the same thing as TM's snapshots: to let you have the option to restore files that have been deleted. Safetynet was a part of CCC before apple introduced the APFS filesystem. Snapshots are actually a part of APFS and an application (such as TM, CCC, or Superduper) is needed to activate it. You can also create snapshots manually in Terminal app. I don't use Safetynet at all, only snapshots.

Safetynet, snapshots, any utility that 'secures' files in the background for later recovery, works in much the same way; say I create a snapshot - then I delete a file, and empty the trash - the file will still be there, even if I can't see it in Finder or any other app. The snapshot is like a list of the files on that drive at that time - and even if I delete a file later, if the file is present in any snapshot, it will stay there - and take up space.

Many people have experienced their startup drives data growing and growing, and it doesn't help how much they try to free up space. This is simply because they have enabled TM, and TM automatically creates snapshots on their boot drive. Or on any TM enabled drive. The solution is very simple; in Disk Utilities, enable snapshots in the view menu, and you can easily and quickly delete them and immediately free up space. Start with the oldest ones.

So for me: no Time Machine at all, in CCC - no Safetynet, but snapshots enabled on my backup drives. CCC also makes it easy to view and manage snapshots.

About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support

Time Machine lets you restore files from local snapshots of the files on your Mac, even when your Time Machine backup disk isn't available.

support.apple.com

 

[MacMorrison]

Get a hard drive (500GB - 1TB) for under $100 if it's only for Time Machine.

Time Machine compresses the data, I think, and it only takes a long time the first backup. Every following backup is incremental, backing up only changed and new files.

 

[Basic75]

Time Machine compresses the data, I think

Since when?

 

[chrfr]

Time Machine compresses the data

It doesn't. It's just copying over the files as-is.

 

[jaysabol]

I'm on a tight budget too. Apple wants us to have 1 TB for Time Machine, but 500 GB is plenty.

 

[boswald]

I'm also looking for a decent HD (not SSD) for Time Machine. 2TB should be enough according to Apple, so that's what I'm looking for. Found a couple decent ones on Amazon but not sure how reputable the companies are.

 

[TaylorA]

Both CCC and SD are free to download and use for 30 days.
I suggest you download BOTH of them and give them a try.

SD is one of the easiest Mac apps to understand and use -- no manual needed.

I took your advice and bought a Samsung 256GB backup drive and used CCC for my first backup. It was ridiculously easy and the backup only took 12 minutes. I downloaded SD too and I'll use it for my next backup to see which one I like best. This looks much less complicated for my needs than Time Machine in my opinion.

 

[Ben J.]

Long time CCC user here. In the CCC app (accessible from the CCC menu item) there are two main views; Tasks and Volumes. Tasks lets you set up tasks, filter out items, set up schedules etc. Volumes view lets you see info on drives, enable snapshots and more. You'll also see any snapshots created, and you can double-click on a snapshot and it will open in a Finder window, and you can browse files from that date and restore them if you want. Simply drag the file(s) to the desktop. Much like TM.

I assume you have disabled TM, so your main drive won't fill up with snapshots. With snapshots enabled (with ccc) on your backup volume, it easy to manually delete the oldest ones if it's filling up.

CCC has always been super great with support. I've had issues and questions (particularly with the transition to APFS), and Mike Bombich, the boss, has always been really helpful with direct email contact. The website support and FAQ pages are also a teriffic source of information.

 

[XboxEvolved]

I would recommend that you use a HDD disk as one, the price will be incredibly cheap compared to most external SSDs especially since the cost of several of them is going up quite a bit because of the current memory crunch we are going through. Good reasonably priced HDD would be something like a Western Digital My Passport 1-2TB HDD and at least before it was possible to get this around $70 or less I believe for the 1TB but I did a quick search, it seems the memory crunch is trickling down as consumers are desperate for something and are buying HDDs around.

I would recommend be patient and do that. Also a tip, at least in my case it seems like Time Machine at times can slow things down, especially if you haver it scheduled to go at a certain time. I just set mine at manual backup, and if I have really done a whole lot of things on my computer in a certain period of time then I backup. 500GB btw may be harder to find nowadays unfortunately because many manufacturers (at least the reliable ones) have since moved on to bigger capacities. I hope this helps out at least a little.

 

[TaylorA]

I would recommend that you use a HDD disk as one, the price will be incredibly cheap compared to most external SSDs especially since the cost of several of them is going up quite a bit because of the current memory crunch we are going through. Good reasonably priced HDD would be something like a Western Digital My Passport 1-2TB HDD and at least before it was possible to get this around $70 or less I believe for the 1TB but I did a quick search, it seems the memory crunch is trickling down as consumers are desperate for something and are buying HDDs around.

I would recommend be patient and do that. Also a tip, at least in my case it seems like Time Machine at times can slow things down, especially if you haver it scheduled to go at a certain time. I just set mine at manual backup, and if I have really done a whole lot of things on my computer in a certain period of time then I backup. 500GB btw may be harder to find nowadays unfortunately because many manufacturers (at least the reliable ones) have since moved on to bigger capacities. I hope this helps out at least a little.

It does. You all have been tremendously helpful and I really appreciate it.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

I'm also looking for a decent HD (not SSD) for Time Machine. 2TB should be enough according to Apple, so that's what I'm looking for. Found a couple decent ones on Amazon but not sure how reputable the companies are.

I just decided to get a cheap external HDD for my MBP, for slow stuff and wanted it as small as is reasonable.

So I ordered an OWC external 2.5" SATA USB-C case:

OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini USB-C (10Gb/s)... at MacSales.com

MEPMTCKIT OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini USB-C (10Gb/s) Bus-Powered Portable External Storage Enclosure. Universally USB compatible bus powered drive for saving, accessing, and backing up your work and personal life anywhere with Plug and Play ease.

eshop.macsales.com

and a refurb Seagate 2.5" 2TB HDD:

Seagate ST2000NX0253 2TB 2.5 SATA 6GBPS HDD (Renewed)

This pre-owned or refurbished product has been professionally inspected and tested to work and look like new. How a product becomes part of Amazon Renewed, your destination for pre-owned, refurbished products: A customer buys a new product and returns it or trades it in for a newer or different m...

www.amazon.com

 

[boswald]

I just decided to get a cheap external HDD for my MBP, for slow stuff and wanted it small.

So I ordered an OWC external USB-C case:

OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini USB-C (10Gb/s)... at MacSales.com

MEPMTCKIT OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini USB-C (10Gb/s) Bus-Powered Portable External Storage Enclosure. Universally USB compatible bus powered drive for saving, accessing, and backing up your work and personal life anywhere with Plug and Play ease.

eshop.macsales.com

and a refurb Seagate 2.5" 2TB HDD:

Seagate ST2000NX0253 2TB 2.5 SATA 6GBPS HDD (Renewed)

This pre-owned or refurbished product has been professionally inspected and tested to work and look like new. How a product becomes part of Amazon Renewed, your destination for pre-owned, refurbished products: A customer buys a new product and returns it or trades it in for a newer or different m...

www.amazon.com

Thank you. I'll take a look!

 

[JoeG4]

Here's a couple cheaper 2tb SSDs:

https://www.costco.com/p/-/sandisk-extreme-go-portable-ssd-2tb/4000279578?langId=-1

Lexar Professional SL600 USB 3.2 Portable SSD (2 TB) LSL600X002T-RNBNG - Walmart.com

Buy Lexar Professional SL600 USB 3.2 Portable SSD (2 TB) LSL600X002T-RNBNG at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

Samsung T7 2TB External USB 3.2 Gen 2 Portable SSD with Hardware Encryption Indigo Blue MU-PC2T0H/AM - Best Buy

Shop Samsung T7 2TB External USB 3.2 Gen 2 Portable SSD with Hardware Encryption Indigo Blue products at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Price Match Guarantee.

www.bestbuy.com

If you want a faster one:

CORSAIR EX400U USB4 2TB External Portable SSD Gray CSSD-EX400U2TB - Best Buy

Shop CORSAIR EX400U USB4 2TB External Portable SSD Gray products at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Price Match Guarantee.

www.bestbuy.com

Or go find yourself a decent deal on a 2tb nvme and toss it in an owc 1m2 enclosure (the $79 usb4 one is MORE than fast enough for almost all use cases).

 

[TaylorA]

Long time CCC user here. In the CCC app (accessible from the CCC menu item) there are two main views; Tasks and Volumes. Tasks lets you set up tasks, filter out items, set up schedules etc. Volumes view lets you see info on drives, enable snapshots and more. You'll also see any snapshots created, and you can double-click on a snapshot and it will open in a Finder window, and you can browse files from that date and restore them if you want. Simply drag the file(s) to the desktop. Much like TM.

I assume you have disabled TM, so your main drive won't fill up with snapshots. With snapshots enabled (with ccc) on your backup volume, it easy to manually delete the oldest ones if it's filling up.

CCC has always been super great with support. I've had issues and questions (particularly with the transition to APFS), and Mike Bombich, the boss, has always been really helpful with direct email contact. The website support and FAQ pages are also a teriffic source of information.

After using the trial I was so impressed I bought it. As an experienced user I hope you won't mind answering a question if you can: I will be wiping the hard drive on my MacBook Air 2020 M1 and using a bootable installer to install Sequoia. I have a fresh backup on CCC. When it's time to restore, I don't want it to restore Tahoe. Do you know what the best method would be to restore everything else?

 

[Ben J.]

After using the trial I was so impressed I bought it. As an experienced user I hope you won't mind answering a question if you can: I will be wiping the hard drive on my MacBook Air 2020 M1 and using a bootable installer to install Sequoia. I have a fresh backup on CCC. When it's time to restore, I don't want it to restore Tahoe. Do you know what the best method would be to restore everything else?

That's nice to hear.

Since macOS 11, the structure of the boot volume on a mac has dramatically changed. It now consists of two APFS volumes in a 'volume group'. One is the locked system volume, typically called 'MacHD'. The other; the 'Data' volume, in this case called 'MacHD - Data', which is a normal volume, not locked and contains all user accounts and data, inatalled applications etc. Since they are in a 'volume group', they show up as one disk; "MacHD" in Finder.

macos signed system volume Apple Support

The system volume can only be created by a macOS installer, online or a bootable installer on a volume. It can not be copied and restored - it will not work. All this is for security.

Therefore, backup/cloning software like CCC will not clone/backup the system volume, there's simply no reason for it. What we do these days to create a bootable system, or change to a different version of macOS, is very simple:

1. Run macOS installer from the web via system settings (which will always install the latest compatible version), or from a bootable installer.
2. Install the macOS.
3. In the setup on first run, Setup Assistant will ask if you want to restore your user account(s), and you'll be able to select your external backup drive and Migration Assistant will do the transfer.

Basically, that's it. You don't even have to erase the drive first, the installer will do it for you, and warn you in advance. In fact, I have experienced that this process actually installed the OS without erasing the ' - Data' volume, and just installed the system and kept 'Data' intact. (There might be good reasons for deleting both boot volumes. For example when going to an older or newer version of macOS - it might be that the Migration Assistant will do some modifications to the data if needed, IDK.)

A part of this security scheme, the system volume being completely locked, means that some things, like kernel extensions, will need to be re-enabled, and you will get notifications of this on first run. (CCC does this). You might think something is wrong, but it's not, this is how it works.

BTW, this new structure of the boot volume has brought us the 'Erase user data and system settings' function, that you would typically do if you wanted to sell your mac. It simply erases the ' - Data' volume, leaving the system volume in place, so that a new user would see the 'Welcome' screen, like it was new, and they would be asked if they wanted to restore a user account from a backup or another mac.

 

[TaylorA]

So what you're saying is that there is no copy of Tahoe currently in my CCC backup? I can simply migrate the backup without it putting Tahoe back?

I have been studying multiple sets of instructions for downgrading my m1 MacBook to Sequoia and they vary widely. Not one has mentioned that a bootable USB Installer (I have made one using Apple's steps) will replace the old OS (Tahoe) without erasing the HD. Where did you learn that?

 

[Ben J.]

So what you're saying is that there is no copy of Tahoe currently in my CCC backup?

Yes.

I can simply migrate the backup without it putting Tahoe back?

No. The mac has a Tahoe installation, as I said, the system volume is completely independent of the '- Data' volume and on first run it will import data/apps/settings if you point it to your backup.

Btw, I just learned that if you want to roll back to an earlier version of macOS, you should be restoring from a backup made with that version.

I have been studying multiple sets of instructions for downgrading my m1 MacBook to Sequoia and they vary widely. Not one has mentioned that a bootable USB Installer (I have made one using Apple's steps) will replace the old OS (Tahoe) without erasing the HD. Where did you learn that?

Apple support.
But, go ahead, erase it. Doesn't make any difference.
Of course, you have to do it in recovery mode.
And then reinstall macOS.
And then import user data from your backup.