MP 7,1 Pegasus J2i for Time Machine Backup?

[choreo]

Would this be a good choice for a TM backup drive? I have read that adding a spinning disc slows the Finder down? Is that true?

 

[ondioline]

yes. TM doesn't affect finder performance so it doesn't matter what disk it's on? i have two 6TB drives in raid 1 in the J2i enclosure for that purpose, PCIE NVME for everything else

 

[SayCheese]

I'm using the 8tb that comes with the J2i as a time machine drive. The other slot in the J2i is a 2tb drive that I had in my old 5,1.
I then use a PCIe nvme for everything else.

 

[skippermonkey]

Exactly the reason I added one to my Mac Pro. 8TB is great for backing up everything – apps, assets, OS. Fit was reasonably easy and it's now just sat doing its job.

 

[choreo]

Do the drives added need to be formatted APFS? Can it accept HFS inside the Mac Pro running Catalina? Does it matter?

What kind of Read/Write speeds should I expect from the provided drive?

 

[SayCheese]

I originally formatted to APFS but when I set it up as a time machine drive it reformat to Mac Os Journaled

 

[Romanesco]

Are the mechanical drives adding to the noise? Mind is whisper quiet without them.

 

[ondioline]

I only really hear the disks spinning up when the system starts. I suppose it depends on your disks though. The enclosure is pretty high quality and has sound dampening rubber around most of the parts that could vibrate however. I can’t say it’s completely silent (my Mac Pro sits under my desk so it’s not by my ears) but I don’t hear anything.

 

[darthaddie]

Something to note. The Spinning drives, internal or external, will take a while to wake from sleep, if you have set your Mac to sleep or "Put Hard Disks to sleep whoever possible" is selected.

This would freeze the finder for me until the drives came up at times. I disabled both options (never use sleep anyway) and no delays.

 

[mattspace]

Would this be a good choice for a TM backup drive? I have read that adding a spinning disc slows the Finder down? Is that true?

Your Time Machine safety-line will be sitting constantly in the exhaust heat from your CPU. Is that safe?

 

[SayCheese]

I don't hear the drives spin up or any noise from them at all. I'm sat about 18 inches from the machine which is under my desk.
I still can't get over how whisper quiet the machine is.