Need a new Time Machine...TC? USB 3.0? TB? FW800?

[davidg4781]

Long story short I broke my current TM setup, a 1TB WD My Passport.

I have the MBP in my signature but plan on upgrading in the next year or so.

Any suggestions on what to get? I like the portability factor but I think I have a 320GB drive that came out of this originally I can use for that. FW800 would be faster than USB 2.0, but new models have neither. TC would future proof me.

I'm actually on my way to an Apple Store so I can maybe pick one up there if needed. I saw Lacie has FW800 and USB 3.0. Any thoughts on their drives?

 

[maflynn]

You're not really going to see a benefit in USB 3 given your older MBP, but still if you ever upgrade it will be there.

I'd go with a USB based external drive, over FW and TC. I'm not against Time Capsule, but the backups (and restores) will be wicked slow thanks to the ethernet/wifi. USB is decent enough for backups, even non USB 3

 

[am2am]

With the new TC and wifi ac its not that bad. I was positively surprised when added new external disk to time machine backup plan -> ~210GB were done in less than 2 hours

 

[Brian33]

The main advantage of a Time Capsule is that backups of portable Macs can be done wirelessly -- no plugging/unplugging of an external drive. If you use your MBP away from the desk very much, it's easy to get lazy about plugging in the backup drive, and then you risk not having a recent backup when you need it! With a TC the backup will happen whenever you use the MBP within WiFi range, without human intervention.

If your machine pretty much always stays in one spot, then an external drive (left plugged in) is a good (cheaper) choice.

 

[Bear]

With the new TC and wifi ac its not that bad. I was positively surprised when added new external disk to time machine backup plan -> ~210GB were done in less than 2 hours

That presumes your Mac is new enough to have 802.11AC which the OP's Mac doesn't.

 

[davidg4781]

Ok, here are my options....

2TB Time Capsule - new version - $275
2TB Time Capsule - refurbed new - $255
2TB Time Capsule - refurbed last model - $199
1TB WD My Passport for Mac - $80, 2TB $140.

Glad I put them down. I'm leaning more towards the My Passport now. I had been thinking of getting a AEBS and now that I'm needing a new backup drive I thought I'd get the TC.

But I just ran a Verify Disk and it says my internal drive needs some repairing. I don't want to do anything without making sure I have a good backup. And I don't think spending 3x as much would be worth the added convenience of just letting it work.

 

[xraydoc]

The main advantage of a Time Capsule is that backups of portable Macs can be done wirelessly -- no plugging/unplugging of an external drive. If you use your MBP away from the desk very much, it's easy to get lazy about plugging in the backup drive, and then you risk not having a recent backup when you need it! With a TC the backup will happen whenever you use the MBP within WiFi range, without human intervention.

If your machine pretty much always stays in one spot, then an external drive (left plugged in) is a good (cheaper) choice.

This.

I have a 2TB TC so the wife's and kids' laptops stay backed up. There's no way they'd remember to plug a portable drive in on a regular basis. And for what they do, 2TB between the 4 of them is enough. I set their machines to skip the system files and just back up the apps and documents. That'll save several GB for each machine.

The contents of the TC drive can then be periodically duplicated on to a USB drive connected to the TC itself for a redundant backup.

If you're worried about speed, just do the initial backup over wired gigabit Ethernet instead of wifi. The subsequent backups over wifi should be fast enough in most cases.

My iMac, which of course doesn't move, has it's own Thunderbolt-based backup volume since there's terabytes, not mere gigabytes, of data.

 

[maflynn]

Ok, here are my options....

2TB Time Capsule - new version - $275

I'd go with this model based on what you stateds, and as the other member posted it allows backups wirelessly. FWIW, only seeing a 20 dollar difference between new and refurb - get the new. Since you'll be getting a new computer sooner then later as you mention why get the non AC versions of TC. Get the fastest so you'll be all set when you do upgrade

 

[davidg4781]

I think for now I'm going to stick with the My Passport.

My MBP has a 750GB drive and I'm using about 325GB. Would the 1TB version be alright or should I spring for the 2TB? Any benefit to sticking to the 1TB besides saving money?

I'll probably get a TC later on but being that I'd like to have a large portable I might as well get it now.

 

[melburstein]

The contents of the TC drive can then be periodically duplicated on to a USB drive connected to the TC itself .

Great, I have a TC and a portable USB drive connected to it. I'm new to Apple, so please tell me the steps to create a duplicate backup. thank you.

 

[xraydoc]

Great, I have a TC and a portable USB drive connected to it. I'm new to Apple, so please tell me the steps to create a duplicate backup. thank you.

I'm not in front of my Mac! but there's a button for it somewhere in the Airport app on the Mac.

 

[Brian33]

Great, I have a TC and a portable USB drive connected to it. I'm new to Apple, so please tell me the steps to create a duplicate backup. thank you.

It depends partly upon the version of Airport Utility you're using. In the latest version (6.3.1, I believe), click on the Time Capsule device in the main display, then the Edit button. In the resulting window click the Disks tab. In the "Partitions" box, select the TC's internal drive, then click Archive Disk and select your external USB drive as a destination.

In Airport Utility 5.6.1, it's TC-->Manual Setup-->Disks-->Archive...

Hope that helps.

----------

By the way, the Airport Utility.app is in the /Applications/Utilities folder.

 

[melburstein]

It depends partly upon the version of Airport Utility you're using. In the latest version (6.3.1, I believe), click on the Time Capsule device in the main display, then the Edit button. In the resulting window click the Disks tab. In the "Partitions" box, select the TC's internal drive, then click Archive Disk and select your external USB drive as a destination.

In Airport Utility 5.6.1, it's TC-->Manual Setup-->Disks-->Archive...

Hope that helps.

----------

By the way, the Airport Utility.app is in the /Applications/Utilities folder.

Great response. That's what I'm talking about. I was able to follow the steps all the way to the end. But on the final Archive screen, I can only click the Cancel button. Everything else is grayed out.

 

[Brian33]

Great response. That's what I'm talking about. I was able to follow the steps all the way to the end. But on the final Archive screen, I can only click the Cancel button. Everything else is grayed out.

My Archive button is grayed out there too, but I think it's because my USB disk doesn't currently have enough room to accept the archive. In the Destination drop-down, my USB disk is also grayed-out, and if I click on it I can see a message that says "XX GB available - insufficient space". Perhaps it's the same situation in your case...