External Hard Drive and Backup plan... please give you opinion

[itsky]

Hello,

First post here on this forum, thanks to everybody as it is a wonderful resource. Hopefully, somehow I can find a way to contribute to the wealth of knowledge here.

For the past year I've been working with my photos and videos stored on an external hard drive (1tb). I have two additional 1tb drives that I use for Time Machine Backups of (1) my macbook and (2) my 1tb external drive. About every month I rotate my two Time Machine drives, storing one at my office. This situation has seemed to work well for me but I have a problem as I've filled my 1tb storage allowance.

So what to do?

My #1 concern is losing the photos on the external drive, I cannot let this happen.

I was thinking I could copy my external 1tb to another 1tb using Carbon Copy cloner and keep 1 at home and 1 at my office and that should take care of the 1tb I already have.

Going forward I have many choices, I'm thinking of buying two (2tb) external hard drives to act as my rotating Time Machines 1 at home and 1 at the office and then starting a new archive with the third 1tb drive that I already have. The problem with that is that (1) my drive is only usb 2.0 and (2) it wont match the apperance of the new 2tb drive on my desk which is lame.

So experts, what would you do?

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[Revelation78]

Just let it do its thing. It will overwrite the oldest data with the newest saves.

 

[miles01110]

Doesn't look like you need to do much.

 

[Macman45]

Hello,

First post here on this forum, thanks to everybody as it is a wonderful resource. Hopefully, somehow I can find a way to contribute to the wealth of knowledge here.

For the past year I've been working with my photos and videos stored on an external hard drive (1tb). I have two additional 1tb drives that I use for Time Machine Backups of (1) my macbook and (2) my 1tb external drive. About every month I rotate my two Time Machine drives, storing one at my office. This situation has seemed to work well for me but I have a problem as I've filled my 1tb storage allowance.

So what to do?

My #1 concern is losing the photos on the external drive, I cannot let this happen.

I was thinking I could copy my external 1tb to another 1tb using Carbon Copy cloner and keep 1 at home and 1 at my office and that should take care of the 1tb I already have.

Going forward I have many choices, I'm thinking of buying two (2tb) external hard drives to act as my rotating Time Machines 1 at home and 1 at the office and then starting a new archive with the third 1tb drive that I already have. The problem with that is that (1) my drive is only usb 2.0 and (2) it wont match the apperance of the new 2tb drive on my desk which is lame.

So experts, what would you do?

Any help is much appreciated.

As posted, TM will just overwrite the old backups with new ones...You don't really have to replace that drive at all.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Going forward I have many choices, I'm thinking of buying two (2tb) external hard drives to act as my rotating Time Machines 1 at home and 1 at the office and then starting a new archive with the third 1tb drive that I already have. The problem with that is that (1) my drive is only usb 2.0 and (2) it wont match the apperance of the new 2tb drive on my desk which is lame.
So experts, what would you do? "

First suggestion: Stop worrying about "appearances" and concern yourself more with functionality, where "backup" is the goal.

Next suggestion: Get one of these gadgets:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
(many items shown, they all work the same, some are as cheap as $20, just pick one you like, I'd look for one that has USB3)

...and then get one or more "bare" hard drives from the vendor of your choice.

Use CarbonCopyCloner to do your backups (particularly your offsite backup). Remember that Time Machine backups ARE NOT BOOTABLE. In a moment of extreme need, you will be thankful that you DO have a bootable backup with files in POFF (plain old finder format).

 

[seandavid010]

"Going forward I have many choices, I'm thinking of buying two (2tb) external hard drives to act as my rotating Time Machines 1 at home and 1 at the office and then starting a new archive with the third 1tb drive that I already have. The problem with that is that (1) my drive is only usb 2.0 and (2) it wont match the apperance of the new 2tb drive on my desk which is lame.
So experts, what would you do? "

First suggestion: Stop worrying about "appearances" and concern yourself more with functionality, where "backup" is the goal.

Next suggestion: Get one of these gadgets:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
(many items shown, they all work the same, some are as cheap as $20, just pick one you like, I'd look for one that has USB3)

...and then get one or more "bare" hard drives from the vendor of your choice.

Use CarbonCopyCloner to do your backups (particularly your offsite backup). Remember that Time Machine backups ARE NOT BOOTABLE. In a moment of extreme need, you will be thankful that you DO have a bootable backup with files in POFF (plain old finder format).

This is the exact advice I would've given. The only addition I might make would be to store your backup drive in a safe deposit box at your bank rather than in your office. It's what I do, and that extra level of security makes me feel better. Plus a box is only like $15 a year.

 

[itsky]

Thanks for the advice guys, it is much appreciated.

I will look into getting one of those hard drive docks, looks like a perfect solution.