External HDD back up options?

[Eldiablojoe]

I currently have so many frickin photos that I use an external portable hard drive for them. It's a Western Digital with a USB 2.0 connection.

It is my only source of my entire photo album at the moment. What is the best way to back it up? Plug in another external HDD so both are using the USB-A ports on my MacBook and try to clone it? Or should I plug them both in and then do a massive Copy/Paste from one drive to the other?

I'd like to keep the back up updated on a fairly regular basis.

Thanks!

 

[JamesPDX]

If you'd like something that's going to last, order something here: http://www.avastor.com/products.html

 

[TechpumpkinWD]

Hi there,

You can use a second external HDD, just plug both HDD to your MacBook and copy the information from the old drive to the new one.

Another option is to get a small NAS like this one WD My Cloud. This is network attached storage so you don't have to connect it to your MacBook. It has to be connected to your home router an you will be able to access it from all the devices on your home network. You can even access it if you're not at home if you want. There is also a USB port on the back that you can use for your existing external HDD and you can use it for a Time Machine backup as well. Hope that helps.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

You need hardware and software.

Hardware:
Either get another hard drive (a pre-assembled one), or get a "bare" drive and an enclosure and "build your own".
I prefer the "do it yourself" way. When you build your own drive, YOU get to pick the drive and match it with a "chosen" enclosure.
Also, because YOU "put it together", if you ever have a problem, YOU know how to "take it apart" and diagnose.

You didn't give us a "capacity needed" number.

I'd suggest a 2.5" drive. You might consider a Hitachi (HGST ?).
For an enclosure, I'd suggest this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003VKTJGW...UTF8&colid=R75PP4I2A0BE&coliid=I3DOKZ31SP7539
I have one myself, seems pretty sturdy.

Software:
You need a cloning app, such as CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

Just connect your "photo backup" drive and initialize it.
Then run CCC or SD and let it do its thing.
When done, the backup drive will be a "clone" of the original -- appear exactly the same when mounted on the desktop. Except for the drive name, they will be impossible to distinguish from one another.

Note:
CCC will work free for 30 days, but afterwards requires registration.
SD will let you do a FULL backup (not incremental) forever, without registering.

Final thought:
If your photo library is really, REALLY important to you, you might also consider a THIRD backup. You want to keep this backup in a different building -- this prevents against disasters like fire, theft, etc.

 

[Eldiablojoe]

Hi, thanks for your replies

I have 256GB SSD in my MacBook now (Shows as a 240GB), but like I mentioned, I use a 512GB external WD USB2.0 HDD for my iPhoto (now Photo) and iTunes libraries, and I've used 215GB of it.

The SSD shows I have used 140GB and have 100GB available.

I also use a 2TB Airport Time Capsule for my router/Time Machine backups.

I also use a 1TB WD external HDD for my Time Machine backups. It shows I have about 146GB left :-(

I used CCC to clone my MB's SSD to another external HDD, a 512GB that has used about 270GB (??)

I used CCC to clone the external Photos/iTunes HDD. The drive I use to clone the Photos iTunes is the 256GB HDD that was originally in my MacBook before I replaced it with the SSD and put it in a new enclosure. HOWEVER, when I look at it via "Get Info," the Clone drive shows I've only used 3GB. That can't be a full clone of my Photos/iTunes HDD (???)

Where can I shore up my backups and clones?

I'm paranoid, so I'm actually considering that WD MyCloud. You know, for just in case...

OP:

You need hardware and software.

Hardware:
Either get another hard drive (a pre-assembled one), or get a "bare" drive and an enclosure and "build your own".
I prefer the "do it yourself" way. When you build your own drive, YOU get to pick the drive and match it with a "chosen" enclosure.
Also, because YOU "put it together", if you ever have a problem, YOU know how to "take it apart" and diagnose.

You didn't give us a "capacity needed" number.

I'd suggest a 2.5" drive. You might consider a Hitachi (HGST ?).
For an enclosure, I'd suggest this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003VKTJGW...UTF8&colid=R75PP4I2A0BE&coliid=I3DOKZ31SP7539
I have one myself, seems pretty sturdy.

Software:
You need a cloning app, such as CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

Just connect your "photo backup" drive and initialize it.
Then run CCC or SD and let it do its thing.
When done, the backup drive will be a "clone" of the original -- appear exactly the same when mounted on the desktop. Except for the drive name, they will be impossible to distinguish from one another.

Note:
CCC will work free for 30 days, but afterwards requires registration.
SD will let you do a FULL backup (not incremental) forever, without registering.

Final thought:
If your photo library is really, REALLY important to you, you might also consider a THIRD backup. You want to keep this backup in a different building -- this prevents against disasters like fire, theft, etc.

 

[TechpumpkinWD]

That's not really paranoid is more like common sense. The truth is all disk drives fail at some point. The only way to make sure your data is safe is to have multiple copies. At least three copies, two different mediums and one copy offsite. A NAS could be convenient for holding backups at it offers lots of capacity in a single device and can be accessed over the network.

 

[JamesPDX]

The complexities of storage begin when you go past 500GB and reach into the 1TB range. It can make offsite cloud-based backups expensive and very slow, depending on your area. Just be sure to "keep up" with your backups. There's also this, but the cost-per-GB is higher than just buying bare replacement drives.

I'm using this for only super-critical backus: http://www.mdisc.com/