How to manage tiny internal iMac drive?

[golfgirlgolf]

I update iMacs every few years but have experienced an awful trend of going from 3TB internal, to 2TB internal down to a paltry 1TB external (currently testing a boot SSD approach). Besides being a scary mess trying to replace internal drives on 27" iMacs - I've always had AppleCare and do not want to void warranties.

So - wondering how others manage with little boot drives in/for their Macs? While it is possible to move a Home folder to an external drive - I'd also heard that's NOT a good idea.

With 3TB I was able to keep a lot on the internal with long term archival stuff on redundant externals. In addition to those I keep an individual Time Machine drive - and well as a separate (also external) Chronosync bootable clone of the internal. (yes TWO backups!). With 8TB externals being affordable I'm able to have lots of redundant storage at hand. (yes at least 2 copies of everything on different drives)

As I get squeezed down to smaller and smaller boot drives though I'm just about convinced to keep absolutely NOTHING on the boot drive any more. It gets a bit complicated though. Also it requires yet more backup drives. First to backup the boot drive (twice on redundant externals) - Next to backup all the user/work files which would now reside on a dedicated external - (also twice on redundant externals). So that's 6 drives total just to have double backups for my user account + system. I could possibly use partitions for the little system drive backups. Still - it's a mess - and that doesn't even get into all of the default files save locations which always want to go to the home folder and not externals. (My loose plan is to use alias' to work from if I keep the Home folder on the boot drive)

Looking to uncomplicate things - but wanting (affordable) SSD as the main drive. (Won't do a custom 8TB $S$SD internal!) How do others manage their account, files and backups etc? I have to think this is an even bigger problem for MacBook users....

 

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I update iMacs every few years but have experienced an awful trend of going from 3TB internal, to 2TB internal down to a paltry 1TB external (currently testing a boot SSD approach). Besides being a scary mess trying to replace internal drives on 27" iMacs - I've always had AppleCare and do not want to void warranties.

So - wondering how others manage with little boot drives in/for their Macs? While it is possible to move a Home folder to an external drive - I'd also heard that's NOT a good idea.

With 3TB I was able to keep a lot on the internal with long term archival stuff on redundant externals. In addition to those I keep an individual Time Machine drive - and well as a separate (also external) Chronosync bootable clone of the internal. (yes TWO backups!). With 8TB externals being affordable I'm able to have lots of redundant storage at hand. (yes at least 2 copies of everything on different drives)

As I get squeezed down to smaller and smaller boot drives though I'm just about convinced to keep absolutely NOTHING on the boot drive any more. It gets a bit complicated though. Also it requires yet more backup drives. First to backup the boot drive (twice on redundant externals) - Next to backup all the user/work files which would now reside on a dedicated external - (also twice on redundant externals). So that's 6 drives total just to have double backups for my user account + system. I could possibly use partitions for the little system drive backups. Still - it's a mess - and that doesn't even get into all of the default files save locations which always want to go to the home folder and not externals. (My loose plan is to use alias' to work from if I keep the Home folder on the boot drive)

Looking to uncomplicate things - but wanting (affordable) SSD as the main drive. (Won't do a custom 8TB $S$SD internal!) How do others manage their account, files and backups etc? I have to think this is an even bigger problem for MacBook users....

What is the problem using external drives connected to an iMac? It's designed to be stationary.

 

[padams35]

The home folder and Application's folder should be kept on the startup drive (presumably the internal). Otherwise gatekeeper and other security features get confused and cause problems.

When I downsized from 1TB HDD to 256GB SSD I chose to put my Photos library, Steam Game library*, and archival items on the external drive.
(*1 in 5 games ended up having to be installed on the internal drive because of security behavior/permissions silliness.)

Tip: if you format the external as APFS you can configure Time Machine to backup both internal and external to the same backup drive.

 

[gilby101]

As I get squeezed down to smaller and smaller boot drives though I'm just about convinced to keep absolutely NOTHING on the boot drive any more. It gets a bit complicated though. Also it requires yet more backup drives. First to backup the boot drive (twice on redundant externals) - Next to backup all the user/work files which would now reside on a dedicated external - (also twice on redundant externals). So that's 6 drives total just to have double backups for my user account + system. I could possibly use partitions for the little system drive backups. Still - it's a mess - and that doesn't even get into all of the default files save locations which always want to go to the home folder and not externals. (My loose plan is to use alias' to work from if I keep the Home folder on the boot drive)

The boot drive and external SSD can backup to the same TM destination. So with 2 backup destinations that only totals 4 drives.

Aliasing some folders in your home directory can be tricky as macOS treats some (e.g. ~/Documents) in a special way. I only use aliases for directories which are NOT any of the default directories. The alternative is to move the complete home directory to the external - that works well so long as you use System Preferences - Users & Groups to do the moving.

 

[HDFan]

Also it requires yet more backup drives. First to backup the boot drive (twice on redundant externals) - Next to backup all the user/work files which would now reside on a dedicated external - (also twice on redundant externals). So that's 6 drives total just to have double backups for my user account + system.

My boot drive only has applications, documents, and some libraries. Actual content is on attached disks. Ignoring caches and IOS backups (which are almost 900 GB), 1.5 TB is being used.

One thing you can do is get a multi-disk enclosure that supports JBOD. As noted above you can use TM to backup your boot and data disks to a couple of drives, and CCC to make some bootable clones. I use two such enclosures just to be safe - 2 CCC clones, 4 TM split evenly between 2 enclosures. In order to have a 3-2-1 backup policy I also backup both my boot drive and external data drive to CrashPlan and BackBlaze.

One annoying thing about OWC enclosures is that they require disks to be mounted on rails, rather than allowing you to just insert/eject the bare disks.

 

[mikehalloran]

So - wondering how others manage with little boot drives in/for their Macs?

Without knowing what Mac you have, no one will be able to give you an accurate answer.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"While it is possible to move a Home folder to an external drive - I'd also heard that's NOT a good idea."

It's not a good idea to relocate the home folder, but...
You don't need to "move" the entire home folder.
You CAN move certain "large things" in it, such as your photo library, your movie library, etc.

Such things are easily re-located to external storage and run just as well therefrom.

Since I moved to OS X back around 2004, my "home folder" contains next-to-nothing in the way of personal files (other than email, but I keep that trimmed-down).

Nearly all of my personal data resides on other partitions or drives.
My internal 512gb SSD (2018 Mini) is set up like this:
- Boot -- contains the OS and apps (and slim home folder)
- Main -- contains most of my personal data (other than below)
- Music -- contains music, of course
- Media -- contains photos, downloads (kept under control), other media.

Each of these partitions is cloned regularly to backup drives using CarbonCopyCloner. I've never once used time machine, ever.

Works for me.

 

[mikehalloran]

For starters, the MacOS does not use a "Home Folder". That's Windows and the two are not set up the same.

using CarbonCopyCloner. I've never once used time machine, ever.

Uhhh... that's not true. CCC is an API over Disk Utility and Time Machine. For your constant beating of the CCC drum, you have never once demonstrated any reason why someone should spend the money. CCC does let one schedule backups but, since Time Machine backs backs up everything hourly to as many drives as you want, what's the advantage?

You always insist it's the only way to set up a new drive? It takes twice as long as using the OS installer and Migration Assistant and for certain setups does not work. Cloning is part of the MacOS (again, CCC is just an API) so why doesn't Apple ever recommend using it to set up a new system except over networks (which you've never done)?

In other threads, you have boasted that you don't understand Time Machine. Yea, no kidding. Why do you keep giving advice on things you don't understand? That's a rhetorical question.

My internal 512gb SSD (2018 Mini) is set up like this:
- Boot -- contains the OS and apps (and slim home folder)
- Main -- contains most of my personal data (other than below)
- Music -- contains music, of course
- Media -- contains photos, downloads (kept under control), other media.

Each of these partitions

No! The only reason for partitions on a solid state drive is if each is bootable with multiple OS. Otherwise you are wasting drive space. Period. One would think after all these years you would take the time to learn how SSDs work—it's not the same as mechanical hard drives. Anyway, since APFS, one should use Volumes, not partitions, if needed (again, only if each contains a bootable OS).
Partitions

Your advice would be better if you did a bit of research and tried to stay current. APFS is over 4 years old now.

Back to your list. You are correct that the system drive should contain all apps. Unlike the old days, many apps cannot work if not in the Applications folder.

It is recommended that all active work files (documents etc.) be kept in the Users/(your name) directory. For many apps including music and AV, these files work a lot better in their default location—again, only the active files need be there; anything you're not using can be offloaded to save space.

Absolutely, Music and Media should be offloaded if your System drive doesn't have the space—but not a Volume; put them on an external drive. With Mojave and later, this is really easy and you won't see that these files are on another drive. Earlier MacOS uses symlinks (symbolic links) that perform the same function more or less but those aren't quite as easy to set up—but aren't hard either. Google is your friend.

 

[Fishrrman]

Mike wrote:
"Uhhh... that's not true. CCC is an API over Disk Utility and Time Machine. For your constant beating of the CCC drum, you have never once demonstrated any reason why someone should spend the money. CCC does let one schedule backups but, since Time Machine backs backs up everything hourly to as many drives as you want, what's the advantage?"

You're being pedantic.
I realize that CCC uses routines that are baked into the OS, but Mr. Bombich has given them "an interface" that makes using them easy.

That really doesn't matter.
What DOES matter is that when I want to use a backup app, I use CCC, and DO NOT use time machine.
I want a cloned drive that mounts "in the finder" as does any other drive, that one can simply "mount and grab files from" (independently of having to open an app to access them, as one does with tm, right?).

I also need a 100% independently bootable backup on an external drive now and then. TM can't do that for me. When it can, I'll look at it.

I've "segregated" files (such as music, media, and personal files [such as WP and spreadsheeets] onto separate partitions for many years.
Too old to change now, not going to change.
The system works for me, and I'll be "going out" that way soon enough.

Got to sell off all them banjos, first...!
(how's the lefty doin'?)

 

[400]

I just keep a bevy of external hard drives through a hub to do backups via time machine and carbon copy cloner. I keep my main photos library off the internal as it is now too big to justify Apples charges for storage. 1tb internal and probably a shade over a 1/4 full.
Backups are time machine and CCC (across at least two drives) and non apple cloud with versioning I control and off site.

 

[monokakata]

I use both CCC and TM, with CCC making daily image backups of my iMac Pro's internal drive.

TM does its thing, and I'm data-protection conservative so I've been using it since it appeared long ago . . . but it's also true that I've never had a TM backup that didn't eventually fail catastrophically. Thus the CCC daily, because I figure that sooner or later I'll lose my entire TM backup.

I also use Backblaze, which backs up all my attached drives (except for the TM drive).

Dropbox, of course.

 

[golfgirlgolf]

Thanks everyone so much for the many replies and thoughts - lots of good info to review - very much appreciated. My current iMac is a 2019 3.7 GHz/580X 64GB/2TB Fusion w/Applecare and I'm booting from a 1TB TB3 SSD external that I clean installed Catalina on (as a step up from the internal/Mojave). The idea was to start from scratch and only add in programs I actually use and keep the system and all files on that SSD to a bare minimum for maximum efficiency.

All inactive user/personal data on redundant externals makes sense. Active work files tend to want to always write to the user/home folders anyway. This just adds an extra step in ultimately/eventually moving these files to external and then making the backups between externals. But for something that's a well known slow hog (Lightroom - Photoshop) having the work files on external would only make them slower! Agreed.

Absolutely, Music and Media should be offloaded if your System drive doesn't have the space—but not a Volume; put them on an external drive. With Mojave and later, this is really easy and you won't see that these files are on another drive.

Not sure what this means. So let's say I have 10 Text Edit documents in an internal/user/documents/TextEdit folder - if I Move them off of the internal to an external "Drive A" - (erased entirely from the original internal location) - how do I open a document in that folder without drilling down into the new external "Drive A" location? My old school brain is telling me to create a DriveA/Documents alias in my Home folder - or Favorites menu... (and yes Apple calls it a Home folder ). "For starters, the MacOS does not use a "Home Folder". That's Windows"

Anyway I'll review the posts a bit more but it seems like I'm mostly OK - the bits about APFS Volumes and keeping the MacOS Volume (vs partition) on the same drive as the TM - or even/also on the other backup drives - is something to look at. I have always kept bootable on at least some of the externals. With Chronosync I can just sync files specifically inside the Documents folder only - or Pictures etc. Or keeping a simple boot partition and then all the files on another partition has been another tact.

I'm surprised no one else seems to be using Chronosync... it's pretty powerful and scheduled syncs even on the folder>folder level are easy to set up (and does bootable backups). I do also use Time Machine as well.

 

[gilby101]

I'm surprised no one else seems to be using Chronosync... it's pretty powerful and scheduled syncs even on the folder>folder level are easy to set up (and does bootable backups). I do also use Time Machine as well.

Chronosync is the best for pure synchronisation of files and folders - I use it a lot. But it is not very good as a backup solution which should also maintain easy access to the state of files at multiple times in the past. TM is better as a true backup. Bootable synchronised backups are becoming more difficult to maintain with each release of macOS.