How do MacBook owners manage time machine backups on external USB disks?

[MrMister111]

How do MacBook owners manage time machine backups on external USB disks?

What I mean is the need to backup to an external USB disk, not a Time Capsule.

Obviously I know you plug it in, but it’s not always convenient to, and you may be moving around. With iMac I had a USB plugged in permanently. TM also backups to very often, every hour think?

So do you just backup whenever you remember, and TM does it’s backup whenever it can, which maybe not be it’s optimum every hour or whatever it is?

Also what about multiple MacBook’s in same house? If using the same USB external disk do you have to plug it into each MacBook separately? Or could the other MacBook “see” when it’s plugged in say if both at home and backup to it?

 

[Howard2k]

I just plug them in when I remember. I backup to a NAS primarily (every hour), and then I have a few external USBs that I just update on a regular basis. Time Machine will remind you when it's been 10 days or whatever. Use meaningful names for your volumes if it helps. I have one that I keep it an overnight bag and the name of the volume reflects that, so it's clear when it pops up to remind me. It's not something I worry about, the system works great for me.

 

[MrMister111]

I have a NAS that can use with TM but apparently they are unreliable and mine doesn’t have a quota so will just use all the space unfortunately.

I’ll just have to remember to plug in at least every now and then.

Thanks

 

[jerryk]

I have a NAS that can use with TM but apparently they are unreliable and mine doesn’t have a quota so will just use all the space unfortunately.

I’ll just have to remember to plug in at least every now and then.

Thanks

Are you sure your NAS does not have some sort of quota management that lets you limit size of the TM share?

Also, what makes your NAS unreliable? NASes are usually much reliable than a disk you plug in.

 

[MrMister111]

Are you sure your NAS does not have some sort of quota management that lets you limit size of the TM share?

Also, what makes your NAS unreliable? NASes are usually much reliable than a disk you plug in.

Been back and forwards with them asking about it and looking on web can’t see.

It’s a Seagate personal cloud.

 

[Ifti]

I used to backup via TM manually every now and then.

At the moment I don't use TM, I create a clone using SuperDuper every few weeks, and backup my documents more regularly to my NAS.

 

[pshufd]

I have a Time Machine disk at home and in the office. The one at home plugs into a USB 3.0 hub and has my keyboard and mouse. So I just plug in whichever machine I'm using and it does backup. At the office, I manually plug it in. I have a new office and need to set up a better backup environment. But I'd say overall that Time Machine is easy to do.

 

[MrMister111]

Thanks so it sounds like it’s just a manual plug in when you remember every few days or whatever. TM backs up very often anyway so presume whenever it sees the disk it works initiate anyway.

I have iCloud 2Tb subscription, along with an online separate provider as well

 

[MrGunnyPT]

I just plug it in every week.

Since I put all my documents on the cloud it makes easier in case of a disaster. I mainly plug in the Time Machine because of my Parallels VMS.

 

[Honza1]

I have docking stations - one at home and another at work. TMs are attached to these docking stations permanently (as well as external monitors). At least one TM is always up to date.

 

[MacGizmo]

I plug my Samsung USB SSD into a port on my LG monitor. That way, when I connect my MBP to the display, the backups start immediately.

 

[pshufd]

I plug my Samsung USB SSD into a port on my LG monitor. That way, when I connect my MBP to the display, the backups start immediately.

A lot of newer monitors have port hubs and they make life easier as you don't have to buy a separate one and use up another power adapter slot.

 

[MrMister111]

I plug my Samsung USB SSD into a port on my LG monitor. That way, when I connect my MBP to the display, the backups start immediately.

Like this idea. Which monitor do you have please? The ultra fine one that Apple recommend? It’s something I’m thinking of, having a monitor, so would be good idea to have that and the TM disk plugged in permanently there, and I know I can plug in and leave to do its job.

 

[Glockworkorange]

How do MacBook owners manage time machine backups on external USB disks?

What I mean is the need to backup to an external USB disk, not a Time Capsule.

Obviously I know you plug it in, but it’s not always convenient to, and you may be moving around. With iMac I had a USB plugged in permanently. TM also backups to very often, every hour think?

So do you just backup whenever you remember, and TM does it’s backup whenever it can, which maybe not be it’s optimum every hour or whatever it is?

Also what about multiple MacBook’s in same house? If using the same USB external disk do you have to plug it into each MacBook separately? Or could the other MacBook “see” when it’s plugged in say if both at home and backup to it?

When at home? Plugged in and running at night.

I bring mine to work and work from my laptop (while it's hooked to external displays).

When at work, I leave it connected all day.

TM runs every hour.

I believe there are apps that can change the frequency.

 

[Weaselboy]

Like this idea. Which monitor do you have please? The ultra fine one that Apple recommend? It’s something I’m thinking of, having a monitor, so would be good idea to have that and the TM disk plugged in permanently there, and I know I can plug in and leave to do its job.

I'm doing the same as @MacGizmo mentioned with the LG 5K and my MBP. I jut leave a USB-C drive connected to the monitor all the time. I have it velcroed to the back so I don't see it.

 

[MacGizmo]

I'm doing the same as @MacGizmo...I have it velcroed to the back so I don't see it.

I can't believe I didn't think of that. Genius! I hate having the thing dangling off the back of the monitor.
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Like this idea. Which monitor do you have please? The ultra fine one that Apple recommend?...

Yes, but it doesn't matter what monitor you use, as long as it has pass a port you can plug an external drive into.

 

[Weaselboy]

I can't believe I didn't think of that. Genius! I hate having the thing dangling off the back of the monitor.

Yeah... velcroed to the top of the post. Works real well.

 

[newellj]

Thanks so it sounds like it’s just a manual plug in when you remember every few days or whatever. TM backs up very often anyway so presume whenever it sees the disk it works initiate anyway.

I have iCloud 2Tb subscription, along with an online separate provider as well

This is what I do. In real life, it happens roughly every week. But...
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...I really like this idea (below). My displays are older Dell U2410s so they have USB-A ports, but it's worth a look.

I'm doing the same as @MacGizmo mentioned with the LG 5K and my MBP. I jut leave a USB-C drive connected to the monitor all the time. I have it velcroed to the back so I don't see it.

 

[MacGizmo]

Yeah... velcroed to the top of the post. Works real well.

View attachment 871138

Nice! I like how it basically hides the whole thing, cord and all.

 

[ignatius345]

Nice! I like how it basically hides the whole thing, cord and all.

I do the same thing on my iMac 27", with an external SSD I use for all my media. As long as I don't go poking around behind it, it just sits back there silently and invisibly doing its job. My Time Machine drive is noisy and large, unfortunatly. Someday that too will be SSD, but for now, I get to listen to it grind and clatter.

Thanks so it sounds like it’s just a manual plug in when you remember every few days or whatever. TM backs up very often anyway so presume whenever it sees the disk it works initiate anyway.

I have iCloud 2Tb subscription, along with an online separate provider as well

I have that same 2TB subscription, and I try to back up my MacBook every week or two -- but everything truly important is in iCloud* so it's not as pressing of a need. The laptop could die or get lost and while it would be irritating to restore onto a fixed/new machine, I wouldn't lose any files, just some time restoring and reconfiguring.

* I also have my entire iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos library set to download everything onto my iMac, which in turn is backed up to Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner -- so I've got "hard" copies of everything as a true backup solution.

 

[MrMister111]

I have that same 2TB subscription, and I try to back up my MacBook every week or two -- but everything truly important is in iCloud* so it's not as pressing of a need. The laptop could die or get lost and while it would be irritating to restore onto a fixed/new machine, I wouldn't lose any files, just some time restoring and reconfiguring.

What do you class as everything important? To go to iCloud? Probably to me that is Photos library and document folder, but how can I get my iTunes library into iCloud?

* I also have my entire iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos library set to download everything onto my iMac, which in turn is backed up to Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner -- so I've got "hard" copies of everything as a true backup solution.

Good idea, expect I can’t do that now as my Photos library is too big now so goes on an external USB, which is backed up on TM separate USB external.

 

[ignatius345]

What do you class as everything important? To go to iCloud? Probably to me that is Photos library and document folder, but how can I get my iTunes library into iCloud?

On the laptop, just documents I'm working on, which are all in iCloud Drive. The Photos app on the laptop is set to "optimize storage" so most of the images are just placeholders anyway.

iTunes is tough. I personally keep my iTunes library (~200GB) on my iMac instead of my laptop, so I don't know how to crack that one. Does Apple Music still do that thing where they let you upload all your local music files and keep them in the cloud? Can one put one's iTunes library inside iCloud Drive? In a perfect world there'd be something on par with iCloud Photos for one's music files...

 

[Howard2k]

I'm possibly slight on the paranoid side, but hey, you can't go back and take those photos again.

I use a NAS for storage primarily, which is a pair of mirrored drives. That also functions as a Time Machine destination for my MBPro. I don't tend to keep too much data on my MBPro; I keep data I'm currently using on here but then move it off to the NAS when I don't need quick access to it or as storage runs down. My Lightroom library is split across local storage and NAS too, so I import and modify my photos locally on the SSD, then move them off to the NAS when I'm done with them. The way Lightroom handles this is amazing. Maybe my expectations were low, but it works really well. Similarly with music stuff (GarageBand) I keep stuff local when working on it, but then migrate to NAS when done. iTunes, movies, etc., all off the NAS directly.

As well as the NAS, I also backup the MBPro to two other external drives. One sits on my desk and the other in my backpack for when I'm on the go.

I also then backup the NAS to two other external drives. One sits at home and one sits remote. I switch them every few months.

I have thought about Amazon Glacier or similar too. I might do that. I did some math on it last year and it was still cheaper to just swap drives to keep something remote that is relatively contemporaneous. I only use HDDs for backup, not SSDs. Speed just isn't that important since I have hourly backups of my MBPro and backups of the NAS I can do at leisure on the weekend.

 

[MrMister111]

I have Photos as full storage, which is now on an external USB3 as too large to keep on internal. This os then backed up to a different USB3 drive. Then I also have my current iMac (and maybe MBP..), and the external Photo library USB3 drive backed up to an online service.

Think this covers me, as you say music these days I’m not as bothered about with streaming services, but photos....

So 2 separate external USB3 drives, and an online service keeping my most important Photos library safe.

 

[jerryk]

I'm possibly slight on the paranoid side, but hey, you can't go back and take those photos again.

I use a NAS for storage primarily, which is a pair of mirrored drives. That also functions as a Time Machine destination for my MBPro. I don't tend to keep too much data on my MBPro; I keep data I'm currently using on here but then move it off to the NAS when I don't need quick access to it or as storage runs down. My Lightroom library is split across local storage and NAS too, so I import and modify my photos locally on the SSD, then move them off to the NAS when I'm done with them. The way Lightroom handles this is amazing. Maybe my expectations were low, but it works really well. Similarly with music stuff (GarageBand) I keep stuff local when working on it, but then migrate to NAS when done. iTunes, movies, etc., all off the NAS directly.

I do something similar. I have a Synology 4 bay NAS. I also backup the data to cloud providers, lately AWS.
I have some photos, but in my case most of my data, is data. CSV files, trained models, and other data.

The NAS handle TM well and I limit the TM share to 2 TB. This provides enough storage for day to day changes. TM backups seem to hang around for a few months. The data stores share are unlimited.

Over time I have expanded storage several times. Expansion was easy, just slide a new (or larger replacement) drive into the NAS and let it worry about managing the space and expanding the available space.