iMac with SSD and External - Backup Options

why not use time machine?

 

Go with the 1TB fusion or even up it to the 3TB and split the fusion.
OS, Apps, Home folder on the 128 and docs and other files on the 1B or 3TB. Thats what I did. simple and effective.

Fyi I'm a photographer and motion graphics artist. With all my apps and my Lightroom catalog on the 128 SSD I still have 50 GB left.

 

If my iMac ever arrives, it has 512gb internal ssd and I have a 500gb external La Cie thunderbolt rugged - between these two drives I'll have work files and any media I need and I'll use a 1tb USB 3 external 7200rpm for TimeMachine.

And once projects are finished, archive them onto another disk.

 

OP wrote above:
[[ Right now, I have all my data on internal 1TB drive (Late 2009 iMac), so backup is really simple. I use SuperDuper and clone my drive to an external drive once a month.
Looking for advice from others who have a relatively small SSD, and external drives relative to their backup strategy. ]]

Before going further, I would recommend that you "run your cloned backup" more than "once a month". Once a week is better; two or three times per week is best.

Having said that, I don't see where backing up two drives is a problem. I have 4 partitions that I clone regularly, each to its own dedicated cloned backup.

For the "two drive setup" you mentioned above, I'd suggest getting a single drive large enough to handle both of them with ease. 2tb would be a good start.

Then.... partition the backup drive.
Make the "first partition" ("highest up" in Disk Utility's partition tab) 256gb in size. That will become a "bootable clone backup" of your internal drive, which can be used to boot the iMac when necessary.
Make the second partition 1tb in size (or whatever remains). This will become a clone of your "regular/external" storage drive.
You might even create a third partition to serve as "scratch storage" -- for items that aren't critical to backup, but stuff you'd just like to "keep around" in any case.

 

Personally, I've experienced issues in the past with Time Machine, so in addition to running Time Machine, I have THREE clones of my system drive, all updated hourly... and I detach one of them and take it with me when I go out, just in case.

 

it's not enough. and you know that.

 

Yeah, you see the problem with cloning data as you are doing it immediately: one month is a LONG time between backups. You could schedule more frequently, but the fact that you haven't leads me to wonder if TM might not be better.

Cloning the system is a different matter; many only clone a known good system at longer intervals, often after they've got a very stable setup and BEFORE they make any significant changes. Why? because if you cloned a problem now you may have TWO wonky boot drives. If the purpose of a cloned boot drive is to get up and running after the failure of your primary boot drive, then you wanna be careful not to clone problems.

I use an attached external storage device AND a caddy. I TM to drives in the caddy and swap them out every few days, and store offsite. Aside from drive failure one of the risks I run is theft, so an internal backup is totally useless, and even the external might go bye-bye. You have to tailor what you do for the anticipated risks. Drives are pretty cheap compared to work you lose.

 

OP asked above:
[[ Curious, why you take the dual clone strategy, rather than the Time Machine approach mentioned by others ? ]]

What follows is my opinion only, and some in this forum will disagree vehemently. So be it.

I have never used Time Machine, ever. I never will use it, ever. It has no logical appeal to me.

I believe that a "backup" should be created in "plain old finder format", fully visible, and fully-bootable as if it were the internal drive itself. No sparse bundles, no recovery partitions.

Perhaps this comes from back in the days of System 3.2, System 4.0, System 6, etc. Back then, you created "a backup" simply by copying the contents of one drive to another, and then "blessing it". No invisible files to deal with.

I want to be able to connect my backup, then boot from it -- not a "half boot" like you get from the recovery partition (that only lets you do limited things), but a FULL boot to the finder, after which I can go in any direction I wish.

Sooner or later, one gets into an "I can't boot!" moment. Time and time again, I see posts in this forum -- computer won't boot, what do I do?

You'll see these folks flop around and around, because the OS they have installed isn't working, and they have no easy way (I said "easy!") to get the computer restored back to normal function again.

If you truly have a hardware problem inside the computer, well, that's one situation where a cloned backup probably won't help. But in most cases, the "I can't boot!" is coming from either a software problem on the internal drive, or a failed drive.

Having a fully bootable cloned backup makes the next move after "I can't boot!" EASY -- just connect your cloned drive and boot back up.

Again, my opinion only, and I realize others' will be different.
Different strokes...

 

Here is my setup which works for me:

• 256GB internal SSD for OS X and Apps
• Main storage is WD MY Book 4TB Thunderbolt RAID
• Backup is 4TB Seagate Thunderbolt single drive
• Photoshop scratch disk is external 256GB Samsung 840 SSD connected via a Seagate thunderbolt adapter that I pulled from an old Windows machine. (may find better use for this)

 

I would not put multiple back ups on a single drive and avoid the super duper clones and just stick with time machine and a separate drive for scratch disks.

256+2TB go to the TM Drive
500gb or whatever size for scratch
Down the road go ahead and get a separate drive for bootable backups

 

Lacie rugged drives or any ol drive with a external enclosure like a toaster from startech.

 

I'd recommend not using a drive you have active backups on, you can just grab some bare drives and this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005JFU16E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1