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Sossity

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 12, 2010
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I have read about SSD drives not being good for long term storage or backups because they lose data if they are not powered on for long periods of time.

So this brings me back to using HDD drives, at least as backups to SSD drives.

I see many types of HDD drives, 3.5 inch and 2.5 inch. For offsite backups or general backups, I prefer the smaller form factor of the 2.5 inch ones, they are smaller, easier to carry, and store, take up less space.

There are the ones that come in an enclosure, by many brands. I am a little weary of these types, since I have had one like this fail on me.

Then there are some bare ones, although I have not seem as many of those.



Am I better to get bare hard drives and use my own enclosures, or swap them, or get one in an enclosure already?
 
I have read about SSD drives not being good for long term storage or backups because they lose data if they are not powered on for long periods of time.
If left unused for extended periods of time, hard disks and optical media such as DVDs can also be vulnerable to data loss.

I have experienced a failed drive in a third-party enclosure. For increased reliability, my preference would be to select an external HDD from a reputable brand that has its own power supply.

There are social media posts of HDD damage caused by third-party enclosures, even those that are best-selling. It is speculated that the majority of these incidents were caused by insufficient and/or unstable power supply.
 
If left unused for extended periods of time, hard disks and optical media such as DVDs can also be vulnerable to data loss.

I have experienced a failed drive in a third-party enclosure. For increased reliability, my preference would be to select an external HDD from a reputable brand that has its own power supply.

There are social media posts of HDD damage caused by third-party enclosures, even those that are best-selling. It is speculated that the majority of these incidents were caused by insufficient and/or unstable power supply.
Yes, that is what I suspected, are there any 2.5 inch form factor ones with theri own power supply?

Or would I be better off getting bare 2.5 inch hard drives, and placeing them in my own enclosures with a power supply?
 
Yes, that is what I suspected, are there any 2.5 inch form factor ones with theri own power supply?

From a reputable brand, there aren't any, as far ask I know. Those makers think USB3 is enough to drive a 2.5 inch HDD.

Or would I be better off getting bare 2.5 inch hard drives, and placeing them in my own enclosures with a power supply?

You could. I also recommend the 3-2-1 backup strategy (creating three copies of your data, stored in two different types of media, with one copy stored offsite). So you don't have to worry about hard drive reliabilities.
 
Should my backup drives be the same size and capacity as all my original drives? or can I combine content from my multiple original drives onto one or two high capacity drives?

and what file format and partition scheme should I use for my original drives, and my backup drives?
 
Why don't you elaborate so the community can suggestions.

  • How are your original drives configured? Are they the internal drives in your Macs?
  • "can I combine content from my multiple original drives onto one or two high capacity drives?"
    • Do you mean moving data to one or two larger hard drives to free up space on the smaller ones?
    • Do you have multiple internal drives in your Mac?
what file format and partition scheme should I use for my original drives
Maintain the status quo.

and my backup drives?
Apple has a great documentation.
 
Why don't you elaborate so the community can suggestions.

  • How are your original drives configured? Are they the internal drives in your Macs?
  • "can I combine content from my multiple original drives onto one or two high capacity drives?"
    • Do you mean moving data to one or two larger hard drives to free up space on the smaller ones?
    • Do you have multiple internal drives in your Mac?

Maintain the status quo.


Apple has a great documentation.
Ok, sorry, I will clarify.

These are all external hard drives, not internal ones on my mac. And I will probably be making them swappable, meaning, bare hard drives, in removable enclosures of my own, instead of pre built external hard drives.

When I mean combine, I mean combine the content from my multiple smaller external hard drives onto a larger second backup drive, or should the backup set be the same capacity sizes as all my first original drives?

These drives are ones that I have my general content on; like photos, videos, and documents. I keep my time machine backups on their own external hard drives.
 
Ok, sorry, I will clarify.

These are all external hard drives, not internal ones on my mac. And I will probably be making them swappable, meaning, bare hard drives, in removable enclosures of my own, instead of pre built external hard drives.

When I mean combine, I mean combine the content from my multiple smaller external hard drives onto a larger second backup drive, or should the backup set be the same capacity sizes as all my first original drives?

These drives are ones that I have my general content on; like photos, videos, and documents. I keep my time machine backups on their own external hard drives.

Your best option in have DAS external for Time Machine because I'm firm believer Time Machine was original made years ago for DAS externals only! The networked versions are taking the chances in my book!

So one external for Time Machine and smart NAS with a good chip in it and uses no soft raid that has be updated too! when a new version of Mac OS comes out!
 
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For long term storage, during which you're not going to be accessing the drives very often, I'd suggest:

Get 2.5" drives.
I'd go for Toshiba or Hitachi (HGST).

Don't put them into "enclosures".
Instead, to use them, use a USB3/SATA docking station.
For storage, put them into small plastic "containers", with a desiccant inside to absorb moisture.
 
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For long term storage, during which you're not going to be accessing the drives very often, I'd suggest:

Get 2.5" drives.
I'd go for Toshiba or Hitachi (HGST).

Don't put them into "enclosures".
Instead, to use them, use a USB3/SATA docking station.
For storage, put them into small plastic "containers", with a desiccant inside to absorb moisture.
This was what I am leaning towards; 2.5 HDD for my backup archive drives, and then have external SSD local drives in docks too.

For the backups 2.5 inch ones, does it really matter if they are 5400 rpm?

And for all of them; local SSDs and the HHD backups, what file format should I use? I have been using HFS mac Os journaled extended, but nowadays, it seems APFS is the new one.
 
For long-term data storage, I think 5,400rpm is "good enough".

For platter-based drives that will be used for data only (not boot drives and not time machine backups), stick with HFS+ (Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format).

APFS isn't the best for platter-based drives...
 
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For long-term data storage, I think 5,400rpm is "good enough".

For platter-based drives that will be used for data only (not boot drives and not time machine backups), stick with HFS+ (Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format).

APFS isn't the best for platter-based drives...
Thank you, I notice the 2.5 inch platter drives come in various thicknesses, like 9.5mm and 15mm some are thicker and not for laptops. Does it matter which thickness ones I go for?

should I use an APFS SSD drive for time machine backups? and which type of APFS? there are 4 types.

Should the time machine backup be connected all the time to my computer? I have usually, just plugged them to backup periodically, when I want to reinstall an OS, or before a major update etc.

I have been reading about how SSD dives need to have an electrical charge on them, being powered on, or the data disappears from them if they are not used frequently.
 
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"Does it matter which thickness ones I go for?"

If you're going to use a USB3/SATA docking station to access them, this makes no difference.

"should I use an APFS SSD drive for time machine backups?"

Time machine REQUIRES APFS, even on platter-based drives (see exception I noted in my earlier reply).

"Should the time machine backup be connected all the time to my computer?"

I have no idea, I've never used tm.
 
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