How best should I back up my Mac?

[sultanoflondon]

Hi all,

I do not have an external HDD to use as a Time Machine backup drive. I have 1 TB free storage on Microsoft OneDrive.

Is it possible for me to use the OneDrive desktop client to backup my entire desktop by copying all of the files on my desktop (all filed in the relevant folder structure) to the OneDrive folder, which will then sync with the OneDrive?

Can anyone show me how to do this? I have scoured Google, but to no avail.

Thank you!

 

[simonsi]

Select the files, copy them, paste into your OneDrive folder. You will then have two copies, the Desktop files and the versions in OneDrive. The OneDrive versions will be synced to the OneDrive cloud.

It isn't really a backup, better to invest in an external drive and have TM backup the whole drive.

 

[sultanoflondon]

Select the files, copy them, paste into your OneDrive folder. You will then have two copies, the Desktop files and the versions in OneDrive. The OneDrive versions will be synced to the OneDrive cloud.

It isn't really a backup, better to invest in an external drive and have TM backup the whole drive.

Thank you Simon!

Is there any way that I could automate this? Possibly by programming my Mac to automatically doing this every 6 hours or something?

In the long term, I will buy a wireless external HDD or find some NAS solution.

Thanks again!

 

[simonsi]

Best would be to work with the files in OneDrive, then you can forget about copying. Make the OneDrive folder the one Finder defaults to open with also helps...

 

[campyguy]

Is there any way that I could automate this?

Purchase a backup application that can backup to a cloud space - I use Arq Backup, which works with OneDrive.

 

[Honza1]

Differentiate backup of files (possibly with versioning) and backup of the system. Files backup is ideal to have on line with some useful software which makes copies every few hours, if needed. But restoring 1Tb content from on line storage (due to system disk failure) is very, very slow even if you have fiber at home.
For system disaster backup, invest in USB3 disk (enclosure+cheap large disk will cost ~$120 for 3Tb) and have it locally, attached at least sometimes to computer directly, via cable. I even gave up on NAS for backups at home - impossible to restore in reasonable time more than few files.
Use TM or may be preferably Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) or similar software. Here is why:
I was on business trip, as usually my home computer family is using failed when I was far away. Main disk failed. Dead. However, the system has external drive attached which is backup every Sunday through CCC - and this disk is bootable. Even without me family managed to boot on that backup disk and run for week without problems - on that backup disk. I came home, bought new main disk, run CCC to clone from the backup to this main disk, reboot, and I was running without issues back on internal drive. No one complained or yelled at me. No other scheme I can imagine would be as easy as this was for such major failure. Disks die. Randomly, unpredictably, and at wrong times.

 

[sultanoflondon]

Best would be to work with the files in OneDrive, then you can forget about copying. Make the OneDrive folder the one Finder defaults to open with also helps...

If I do this, will it be possible for me to access my files on the desktop client on my Mac without an internet connection?

 

[mcvaughan]

I recommend purchasing Carbon Copy Cloner. It's a life saver!

 

[Fishrrman]

I agree with mcvaughan in the post above.

What happens if you have a crash or problem, try to "get to the cloud", and... you CAN'T..??

There is nothing ... NOTHING... that beats having an "in-hand", BOOTABLE cloned backup if you get into an "I can't boot!" situation.

Just connect the backup and... (at least in most cases)... boot right back up.

OP:

Get an external USB3 drive of sufficient capacity. 1 or 2tb should do fine.

Download CarbonCopyCloner:
http://www.bombich.com/download.html
CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days.

Try a cloned backup of your internal drive.
If you don't like it, you can just erase it and move on to something else...

 

[cfurlin]

Best would be to work with the files in OneDrive, then you can forget about copying. Make the OneDrive folder the one Finder defaults to open with also helps...

This is good advice. I keep all my files between OneDrive, Dropbox, and iCloud. There is nothing exclusively local on my machine. Been doing this for years now.

Also, if you're like me and forget sometimes, set Finder to open one of your cloud folders by default. I treat Dropbox as the Documents folder.

 

[Dr_Charles_Forbin]

Just make sure CCC works. I've been using the old mechanism of restoring my MacHD to a partition on an external drive as a clone - it stopped working as of High Sierra/APFS supplemental patch (I dont see the need to pay for CCC when the functionality is there). All these damn clone packages do is copy and sync the files. When you try and copy the MacHD partition, it converts the external drive partition to APFS. I've had the Mac engineers looking at it but I just decided to use time machine. Hopefully they'll have a fix out for it soon.

 

[sultanoflondon]

This is good advice. I keep all my files between OneDrive, Dropbox, and iCloud. There is nothing exclusively local on my machine. Been doing this for years now.

Also, if you're like me and forget sometimes, set Finder to open one of your cloud folders by default. I treat Dropbox as the Documents folder.

If I do this, will it be possible for me to access my files on the desktop client on my Mac without an internet connection?

 

[ItWasNotMe]

If I do this, will it be possible for me to access my files on the desktop client on my Mac without an internet connection?

For OneDrive, you create a folder for it somewhere on your system and tell it thats where the files reside. It then copies the contents of that folder (and sub-folders and so on) up to the Microsoft Cloud. This local folder acts like any other in OSX.

The files still reside on your system and you can still work on them.

If you work on those files you don't have to worry about keeping two local versions in sync.

 

[randomgeeza]

I agree with mcvaughan in the post above.

What happens if you have a crash or problem, try to "get to the cloud", and... you CAN'T..??

There is nothing ... NOTHING... that beats having an "in-hand", BOOTABLE cloned backup if you get into an "I can't boot!" situation.

Just connect the backup and... (at least in most cases)... boot right back up.

OP:

Get an external USB3 drive of sufficient capacity. 1 or 2tb should do fine.

Download CarbonCopyCloner:
http://www.bombich.com/download.html
CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days.

Try a cloned backup of your internal drive.
If you don't like it, you can just erase it and move on to something else...

I'll second this. The number of times CCC has saved my bacon. It is a God send... And worth every penny if you decide to purchase...

 

[cfurlin]

If I do this, will it be possible for me to access my files on the desktop client on my Mac without an internet connection?

Yep, as long as you set up sync.

If you work offline, it will all get uploaded once a connection is present again.

 

[sultanoflondon]

Yep, as long as you set up sync.

If you work offline, it will all get uploaded once a connection is present again.

For OneDrive, you create a folder for it somewhere on your system and tell it thats where the files reside. It then copies the contents of that folder (and sub-folders and so on) up to the Microsoft Cloud. This local folder acts like any other in OSX.

The files still reside on your system and you can still work on them.

If you work on those files you don't have to worry about keeping two local versions in sync.

Thank you both for your replies!

I am sorry if I am being a bit slow about this, but I am absolutely not versed in this subject!

After installing the OneDrive desktop client on my Mac, a folder entitled "OneDrive" was created and placed in my sidebar. I have created an alias folder on my Desktop, entitled "OneDrive". I have moved all my files and folder into this alias folder.

I assume that this set up will copy my files and folders from the alias folder to the main folder and then the main folder will copy my files and folders to Microsoft OneDrive's server? Is this correct?

Also, I have a Time Machine hard drive that I connect to my Mac when I am in my room. This means that the Time Machine backups my Mac whenever it has the opportunity to do so. I connect it to my Mac at least once per day. Will the Time Machine correctly back up the above infrastructure? As in will it back up the main OneDrive folder and then the contents of that folder as well?

Thank you!

 

[ItWasNotMe]

For the OneDrive folder on your Mac, in general
1. Anything you place in here will be copied (not moved) up to MS servers when its app is running, so you still have the file locally to work on
2. If you change a file, then the changed version will be copied up next time you run the App
3. If you delete a file locally, then just as the Mac will move it to trash, on the servers it will be moved to the recycle bin

However, if you don't want all these folders on the server, you can open the app, use Preferences> Account> Choose folders and then deselect any folders you don't want on the cloud server. This stops those folders being synchronised.

Time Machine should back up that folder as well, assuming that its not in the list of exclusions. (System Preferences> Time Machine> Options will show you what Time Machine is not backing up).

Now, if you delete a file the two operate in different ways:

• OneDrive moves it to the recycled items folder and by default it disappears after 30 days
• Time Machine will keep it until you run out of space on the drive, at which point it will delete the oldest backups. When this happen, your deleted file may or may not remain in Time machine depending on how much space it frees.

Having a backup is in many ways pointless unless you know how to get the data back, so this is what I'd recommend

• Create two small ad-hoc files in your OneDrive space
• Make sure that both OneDrive and Time Machine have run, so they are on both backed up
• Delete the two files
• Make sure that OneDrive and Time Machine have run again

Now try getting the files back, hints

• Look in the recycle bin in OneDrive
• Enter Time Machine and use the up-arow to get back to the point where you see the file

 

[sultanoflondon]

For the OneDrive folder on your Mac, in general
1. Anything you place in here will be copied (not moved) up to MS servers when its app is running, so you still have the file locally to work on
2. If you change a file, then the changed version will be copied up next time you run the App
3. If you delete a file locally, then just as the Mac will move it to trash, on the servers it will be moved to the recycle bin

However, if you don't want all these folders on the server, you can open the app, use Preferences> Account> Choose folders and then deselect any folders you don't want on the cloud server. This stops those folders being synchronised.

Time Machine should back up that folder as well, assuming that its not in the list of exclusions. (System Preferences> Time Machine> Options will show you what Time Machine is not backing up).

Now, if you delete a file the two operate in different ways:

• OneDrive moves it to the recycled items folder and by default it disappears after 30 days
• Time Machine will keep it until you run out of space on the drive, at which point it will delete the oldest backups. When this happen, your deleted file may or may not remain in Time machine depending on how much space it frees.

Having a backup is in many ways pointless unless you know how to get the data back, so this is what I'd recommend

• Create two small ad-hoc files in your OneDrive space
• Make sure that both OneDrive and Time Machine have run, so they are on both backed up
• Delete the two files
• Make sure that OneDrive and Time Machine have run again

Now try getting the files back, hints

• Look in the recycle bin in OneDrive
• Enter Time Machine and use the up-arow to get back to the point where you see the file

Thank you for such an incredibly detailed reply, helped me no end. Have completed all that you said and it seems as though I have managed to set up both systems perfectly!

Thank you again!