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Looking for Portable Drive Recommendations for TimeMachine
- Thread starter dave72
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I've used 5TB spinners from Samsung, now Seagate for years. Now have 5 of them for media and backups. They are bus driven but I use them in Oyen powered dualies. Pick up a cheap enclosure, I use OWC Express, must have a half dozen by now. Both have been 100% reliable and I’m hard on drives. Together, $240 on Amazon.
The best bang for the buck is an USB-C external enclosure and a good SATA 2.5" SSD Drive like a Crucial MX500.
You can always swap out for a larger drive although 4TB SATA SSDs are now affordable.
Even with a SSD, I've seen times when Time Machine takes a long time and a lot of GB to backup even on an SSD; a mechanical HDD would be way too slow.
You can always swap out for a larger drive although 4TB SATA SSDs are now affordable.
Even with a SSD, I've seen times when Time Machine takes a long time and a lot of GB to backup even on an SSD; a mechanical HDD would be way too slow.
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I really love this one, it's extremely lightweight, ridiculously fast for Time Machine, and reliable. I went through the amazon reviews of other similar drives, but this one was the highest rated. I liked that this used a standard USB-C connector, compared with other Sandisk drives that used some weird proprietary connector at the drive end. I didn't need a rugged drive either, but the fact that this is marketed as one is a plus (and doesn't seem to add weight compared to other drives I've seen).
SAMSUNG T7 Shield 2TB, Portable SSD, up-to 1050MB/s, USB 3.2 Gen2, Rugged, IP65 Water & Dust Resistant, for Photographers, Content Creators and Gaming, Extenal Solid State Drive (MU-PE2T0S/AM), Black
Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD delivers high performance on-the-go, not matter the terrain. It has an IP65 rating for water** and dust* resistance, with Dynamic Thermal Guard to manage heat control. Transfer huge files instantly. USB 3.2 Gen 2 and PCIe® NVMe™ achieve soaring sequential read/write...
www.amazon.com
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I have a Samsung T7 (not for backups), but find the regular HDs fine for TM backups, because it is a background process, and speed is often limited by other things. Like this:
My main suggestion for TM backups is to alternately backup to two drives, because TM occasionally fails. (TM will do alternate backups automatically.) This will double your cost. (Or have some other alternate backup like cloud. Suggest do not rely on a single TM backup.)
Seagate Portable 2TB External Hard Drive HDD — USB 3.0 for PC, Mac, PlayStation, & Xbox -1-Year Rescue Service (STGX2000400)
Easily store and access 2TB of content on the go with the Seagate Portable Drive, a great laptop hard drive. Designed to work with Windows or Mac computers, this compact external hard drive makes backup a snap. Just drag and drop To get set up, connect the portable hard drive to a computer for au...
www.amazon.com
My main suggestion for TM backups is to alternately backup to two drives, because TM occasionally fails. (TM will do alternate backups automatically.) This will double your cost. (Or have some other alternate backup like cloud. Suggest do not rely on a single TM backup.)
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As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Nice to see someone with experience expressing their views. I chose to ignore the comments on using ssd's so when your machine craters you can recover a bit sooner.
I still futz with clones for my primary backups, with ssd's. TM is for version history. Both have their place. TM for files. Clones for recovery.