External drive for backup

[i might imac]

I'm looking for an external drive to store all RAW and jpeg files along with system backup.
I want it to be very intuitive and work with my new iMac without really needing to do much of anything.

I was looking at this one offered from apple, I can get it cheaper at Best Buy and others but what say you of it's functionality and ease of use. Do you have other/better options.

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/ME177LL/A/airport-time-capsule-2tb?fnode=5f

Thanks for your insight

 

[Fishrrman]

I recommend that you DON'T buy a Time Capsule.
If I'm not mistaken, it's already "discontinued tech" by Apple.

Instead, get a USB3 external drive (a 2.5" form factor drive will do).

You can use Time Machine if you wish, but I'd recommend that you try either CarbonCopyCloner, or SuperDuper (or both). Both are FREE to download and try for 30 days.

Then, initialize the external drive to HFS+ with journaling enabled.
Use either CCC or SD to create a bootable cloned backup of your internal drive.

You can then BOOT from the backup (hold down option key after you press the Mac's power-on button until the startup manager appears).
A cloned backup will look EXACTLY like your internal -- the only way you can tell them apart is to go to "About this Mac" (Apple menu) to see which is actually the boot drive.

The clone can be maintained "incrementally" -- the next time you run CCC (or SD after you register it), only the "changed items" on the source drive (internal) will be copied. Goes quite fast.

If you decide you don't like the clone and would rather use TM, just erase it and "start over".

Nothing -- NOTHING -- beats having a bootable cloned backup in a "moment of extreme need", such as "I can't boot!!!!"

 

[i might imac]

Thank you very much for the reply, I was hoping you would chime in.

 

[wardie]

+1 for what fishrrman says above, I always use Carbon Copy Cloner and also run a local Time Machine backup. But when it comes down to the crunch (e.g. recovery, upgrade HDD/SDD) boot drive I always resort to the CCC clones I’ve made. CCC also deals with the recovery partition that OSX creates too. Maybe SuperDuper does too I don’t know.

 

[macdoofus]

This is great to read today as I am setting up a 8TB Cyber Monday deal WD Easystore. Can I partition it into multiple drives - one for bootable clone, one for documents, one for photos, etc, and then also a partition for Time Machine? I do have a another drive I could dedicate as the bootable;

Primarily, with the 8TB I need to manage/delete duplicate files from several other backup drives - I figure on moving them onto the 8TB. This is just for occasional home use. Is there a duplicate file remover recommended? (pathfinder?) My plan was to move files by extension .jpg, .wav files, etc., find the duplicates, and start a new file management routine - maybe using tags, or folders, or both.

edit: I just spotted Similar Threads below, hmm, no doubt my questions have been answered a million times.

 

[MCAsan]

Do not partition an external drive into volumes for data and another partition for backups. What happens when that single drive dies....as all drives to eventually? You need one external drive for libraries of photos, videos, documents...etc. and a completely separate drive for Time Machine.

Compared to Macs, external drives are dirt cheap.

 

[i might imac]

I recommend that you DON'T buy a Time Capsule.
If I'm not mistaken, it's already "discontinued tech" by Apple.

Instead, get a USB3 external drive (a 2.5" form factor drive will do).

You can use Time Machine if you wish, but I'd recommend that you try either CarbonCopyCloner, or SuperDuper (or both). Both are FREE to download and try for 30 days.

Then, initialize the external drive to HFS+ with journaling enabled.
Use either CCC or SD to create a bootable cloned backup of your internal drive.

You can then BOOT from the backup (hold down option key after you press the Mac's power-on button until the startup manager appears).
A cloned backup will look EXACTLY like your internal -- the only way you can tell them apart is to go to "About this Mac" (Apple menu) to see which is actually the boot drive.

The clone can be maintained "incrementally" -- the next time you run CCC (or SD after you register it), only the "changed items" on the source drive (internal) will be copied. Goes quite fast.

If you decide you don't like the clone and would rather use TM, just erase it and "start over".

Nothing -- NOTHING -- beats having a bootable cloned backup in a "moment of extreme need", such as "I can't boot!!!!"

So what do you think of this one offered on the apple web site.
The reason why I want to buy one from their web site is I would like to use my apple gift card from Black Friday and basically get back up for next to nothing.

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/...t3_mid2017-desktopdrive&fh=3783%2B45dd%2B48cd

 

[MCAsan]

Good drive if 4TB is large enough for either your library drive or your backup drive.

 

[i might imac]

Yeah 4 tb should be more than enough for the next few years as I am not a professional photographer, just an amateur that takes a whole heck of a lot of pictures.

 

[enricoclaudio]

That's a great drive. I have the same one (G-Drive 4TB USB-C) that I use for Time Machine backup. For photos, documents and music projects I have a 1TB Glyph Atom RAID USB-C which is backed up as well in the 4TB G-Drive.

 

[Fishrrman]

"So what do you think of this one offered on the apple web site.
The reason why I want to buy one from their web site is I would like to use my apple gift card from Black Friday and basically get back up for next to nothing.
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/...t3_mid2017-desktopdrive&fh=3783+45dd+48cd"

Well, I think $200 is way overpriced for a 4tb drive, but the G-tech drives do have good enclosures, and if you can get it for "next to nothing"...

If it was me, I'd pick up a "bare" drive (2tb would probably do), a USB3 enclosure, and save the gift card $$$ for something else. But that's just me. (hey... you asked!)

 

[macdoofus]

Thank you, MCAsan.

Do not partition an external drive into volumes for data and another partition for backups. What happens when that single drive dies....as all drives to eventually? You need one external drive for libraries of photos, videos, documents...etc. and a completely separate drive for Time Machine.

Compared to Macs, external drives are dirt cheap.

 

[wardie]

Ditto what fishrrman said (again!). Cheapest and optimal solution is external cases with your own choice of HDD/SSD in. For example I’m using a couple of Inatek FE2002 cases (2.5 inch SATA drives, USB3) and they are dirt cheap on amazon and fast, one with a 2TB HDD for storage and a 500GB SSD for speed. Latter won’t be as fast as using internal SSD on the bus though still pretty good more non-pro uses.

 

[Cordorb]

ONE backup is better then NONE but best to have more.

A 4 TB drive can lose 4 TB of data

Partitions can help with data corruption but not a dead drive but you still can then use 2 types of backup software.
ie time machine on part -one and (CarbonCopyCloner, or SuperDuper) in part two

Use time machine if you delete or need a older version of some data and the others for a restore.

People will even give away almost new internal 500 GB drives when they upgrade.
just put it in a dock