What's the best way to back up my 8 TB SSD?

[alexe]

My maxed out 16-inch MacBook Pro with its 8 TB SSD will arrive soon, and since I've never had this much storage space before, I'm wondering: What's the best way to back up my system? I'm talking about a full system backup from which you can restore the entire system.

Apple somewhere recommends that the backup storage should be at least twice the size of the storage to be backed up, so basically I should aim for at least 16 TB of backup storage.

However, if I want 16 TB of backup storage, then I basically have two options, as far as I can tell:

1. Either I buy an external 16 TB HDD, because there aren't any external 16 TB SSDs (there aren't even external 8 TB SSDs yet as far as I can see). I really don't want to have a loud-ass HDD sitting on my desk, spinning day and night. Not a great solution.
2. Or I can back up to some cloud storage provider, but that's of course both painfully slow and there aren't even many cloud storage providers that offer plans with that much storage.

Is anybody else in the same situation? What are others doing?

 

[ItWasNotMe]

They mean twice the amount of data you will be backing up, not twice the size of the disk its on.

Buy a large HDD, and set the system to sleep disks when not in use.

Assuming you're using Time Machine or similar to do incremental backups then once the initial backup is done it will spin only for a few minutes each time the incremental is done.

Think seriously about a second backup, preferably off-site, that need only store the items you can't recreate in a reasonable time.

 

[Boyd01]

Backblaze gives you unlimited storage for each computer, including any external drives (as long as they are always connected). But they only backup your user files, not the system or any of your apps.

If you have an old Mac, you could attach a big hard disk, turn on file sharing, enable it as a time machine destination and put it in another room where it won't bother you. I use my 2012 quad mini server for this with a total of 20tb of external disks.

But for full backups that can be restored, I use Carbon Copy Cloner. You don't need a drive any larger than your Mac's internal SSD unless you want to keep old files. I have it set to make my external drive an exact clone of the internal drive. Of course, I only have a 2tb internal SSD in my 2018 Mini. Would certainly have gotten 4tb or 8tb if it had been available back then! As it is, I have 3 external 2tb SSD's.

 

[zarathu]

You need a large RAID system. Here’s an inexpensive HDD(7200 rpm) for $400:

OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual 8TB Performance RAID Solution

The perfect RAID solution for creative workflows, project archives, and system backups. Easily configured in RAID 0, 1, span, or independent mode.

eshop.macsales.com

Expect to pay between $400(for an HDD) to $2000 for a solid state SSD for an 8 TB.

 

[zarathu]

Here’s another on from La Cie for about $429: https://www.amazon.com/LaCie-2big-E...08JKHY4Y1&srpt=COMPUTER_DRIVE_OR_STORAGE&th=1

 

[MarkC426]

Even though you are getting an 8tb drive on your mac, how much space will you be actually using in the first 6-12 months?
If your not going to get up to 1tb (for example) any time soon, you don't neccasserily need a 16tb time machine or backup drive.
A 4 or 8 may do you for a couple of years.

 

[ignatius345]

But for full backups that can be restored, I use Carbon Copy Cloner. You don't need a drive any larger than your Mac's internal SSD unless you want to keep old files. I have it set to make my external drive an exact clone of the internal drive. Of course, I only have a 2tb internal SSD in my 2018 Mini. Would certainly have gotten 4tb or 8tb if it had been available back then! As it is, I have 3 external 2tb SSD's.

I like to use CCC to make a monthly clone that I keep offsite in case of disaster -- and then use Time Machine for my day to day backup needs. Time Machine is more for the "accidentally deleted/modified an important file" while CCC is for a full-on disaster. I know sync services aren't backups, but I also have extra copies of a lot of key stuff in my 2 TB iCloud storage.

I got burned really bad in a burglary years ago where my machine and backups were stolen, and now I'm kind of paranoid.

 

[Fishrrman]

My recommendation:

Get one (or two) 8tb platter-based HDD's.

Then, use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create cloned backups.

Keep one backup on-site, the second "off-site" (not in the same location).

Update each once a week (or as often as you like), "swap them around" once in a while.

A cloned backup created with either CCC or SD will not "grow larger" than the source volume (unless you leave CCC's "safety net" on all the time).

A question (just have to ask):
What do you intend to PUT onto an 8tb drive??

 

[ItWasNotMe]

My recommendation:

Get one (or two) 8tb platter-based HDD's.

Then, use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create cloned backups.

Keep one backup on-site, the second "off-site" (not in the same location).

Update each once a week (or as often as you like), "swap them around" once in a while.

A cloned backup created with either CCC or SD will not "grow larger" than the source volume (unless you leave CCC's "safety net" on all the time).

A question (just have to ask):
What do you intend to PUT onto an 8tb drive??

If all you have is a point in time clone from a week ago and another from two weeks ago then anything you 'accidentally' deleted three weeks ago has gone for good unless you were lucky enough to notice in the two weeks immediately following the delete.

 

[Boyd01]

That is why I have continuous coverage from Time Machine and BackBlaze in addition to my Carbon Copy Clones (which I run every day or two).

 

[ItWasNotMe]

That is why I have continuous coverage from Time Machine and BackBlaze in addition to my Carbon Copy Clones (which I run every day or two).

I also archive items once I'm reasonably sure that I'm not going to make significant changes.

E.g., I organise my photos by year, sometime in the first quarter of a year I'll burn the previous years images to a write-once Bluray disk, with verify on write and copy the contents back to a temporary test folder. Only way these can be lost is if the disk is destroyed.

That way, I'm under control. If I left it to Time Machine, or anything else that thins backups then it's deciding what goes, not me.

 

[satcomer]

Consider moving you music to a smart NAS that has 4-6 disk in it! then move you music and video to archive them for the future!

 

[spnc]

Consider moving you music to a smart NAS that has 4-6 disk in it! then move you music and video to archive them for the future!

NAS and in general multiplying different drives is not a practical option imo, I prefer to keep everything under a single local internal SSD for the sake of simplicity (and speed: Apple native SSDs reach 6/7000mbps and no latency at all unlike having NAS or SSDs dongles, even the best ones such as SanDisk Pro v2 only reach 2000mbps which for me is a a deal breaker as I deal with heavy 8k files and also music production with Ableton/Kontakt/Omnisphere/Falcon etc.)

By keeping my entire data on the local drive, it simplifies everything from indexing to searching and organising my folders. And I keep everything backed up in real time with (1) Time Machine and (2) Dropbox.

But that means:

1. Apple needs to expand from 8TB to 16TB
2. SanDisk need to release their first 8TB external dongle drive (https://www.theverge.com/circuitbre...-ssd-biggest-1tb-flash-drive-storage-ces-2020) and possibly 16TB too in the future for me to be able to back up my local data on a single dongle
3. Dropbox needs to expand their current 3TB Pro Plan (+1TB extra optional that's only 4TB) because I don't want to use their Business/Enterprise Plan which is only geared for 3+ users and creates new folder architecture I don't want

So yeah 8TB SSD is also starting to be too small for me like the OP said, we need 16TB internal SSD asap to be at ease.

Hopefully Apple will finally deliver this 16TB option in a near future, hopefully in 2024 with the M3 Pro Extreme...

World’s first 200TB SSD is nearly here, but you can’t use it

The era of 200TB solid-state drives (SSD) appears to be on the horizon, with a successor to the world’s largest SSD confirmed to be in development.

www.digitaltrends.com

A huge 16TB SSD is coming soon, but there’s a catch

A huge 16TB SSD has overcome manufacturing issues and is now due for a launch in the coming months, but there's a catch.

www.digitaltrends.com

Apple's muted 2023 hardware launches to include Mac Pro with fixed memory - Current Mac Hardware Discussions on AppleInsider Forums

Apple's 2023 lineup of updates will be muted and headlined by a New Mac Pro, one that will look just like the 2019 model but with a lack of user-upgradable memory.

forums.appleinsider.com

Until then I will not buy a new Mac, it's too small and not worth the upgrade.

 

[spnc]

My maxed out 16-inch MacBook Pro with its 8 TB SSD will arrive soon, and since I've never had this much storage space before, I'm wondering: What's the best way to back up my system? I'm talking about a full system backup from which you can restore the entire system.

Apple somewhere recommends that the backup storage should be at least twice the size of the storage to be backed up, so basically I should aim for at least 16 TB of backup storage.

However, if I want 16 TB of backup storage, then I basically have two options, as far as I can tell:

1. Either I buy an external 16 TB HDD, because there aren't any external 16 TB SSDs (there aren't even external 8 TB SSDs yet as far as I can see). I really don't want to have a loud-ass HDD sitting on my desk, spinning day and night. Not a great solution.
2. Or I can back up to some cloud storage provider, but that's of course both painfully slow and there aren't even many cloud storage providers that offer plans with that much storage.

Is anybody else in the same situation? What are others doing?

Same here I've been stuck since a couple years ago with this. For now I keep a large 12TB non-SSD disk (it's the best on the market but still not as fast as SSD... 200mb/s... and noisy at times when re-indexing and moving large files...) since there's no such large 8/16TB external SSD yet. It totally sucks indeed as technology is coming up way too slowly on the front of storage.

1. SanDisk is developing the first 8TB drive (prototype shown at the CES 2020) which I suspect might come out this year or next. That's not 16TB yet (which is also my dream like you) but at least you could almost backup everything if your 8TB disk is not full.

2. Dropbox sucks unfortunately since they only allow 3TB (+1TB extra max that's only 4TB total) on their Pro Plan. Unfortunately they only offer unlimited data on the Business/Enterprise plans which mess up your computer since it's for a minimum of 3 users and it's a different Dropbox interface/folder architecture/repository system. I tried it and it really sucks like, I had to transfer 10TB of data from the new Dropbox folder to the real one I had in the first place! Absolute mess, I stopped immediately and reverted back to Pro plan. Yes it sucks as it's 4TB plan max so, well I put the remainder of the data on an external 12TB non-SSD disk, praying every day that it won't break...

I contacted Dropbox many times but I don't think they have plans to change this for the time being, as most of their customer base is located in poor countries that can't afford to have like 10/20TB plans... which really sucks since Google Drive for instance does offer 10/20/30TB plans but... Google Drive sucks is nowhere as good as Dropbox sadly which is why I can't leave Dropbox and pray that they upgrade their Pro plan soon.

No ideal solution for now for Professionals working in the music/hi-res video editing/video games industries and such. I think 2024 will tell us more as to what the likes of Apple, Dropbox, SanDisk will be forced to adapt to their customers and upgrade their products and storage plans accordingly.

 

[JamesMay82]

you're living my dream with having the 8TB option it is more than I'm prepared to pay, even though its very tempting. Can you not link loads of SSD in a raid o to get where you need?

I work with 1080p masters of films which are usually over 120 gigs and I just move these around onto a lacie which I have at raid 0 which is fast enough but then my work isn't time sensitive.

 

[spnc]

you're living my dream with having the 8TB option it is more than I'm prepared to pay, even though its very tempting. Can you not link loads of SSD in a raid o to get where you need?

I work with 1080p masters of films which are usually over 120 gigs and I just move these around onto a lacie which I have at raid 0 which is fast enough but then my work isn't time sensitive.

Yes I know it's a lot of money but when you think about it not so much when your life/business depends on it.

As to Raid, this benchmark written in december 2022 comparing differents SSD Raid speeds (APFS) they cannot exceed 1'800-2'200mbps in write/read (at the very best...)

https://larryjordan.com/articles/compare-speed-differences-between-2-3-and-4-drive-ssd-raids/

And also consider that Thunderbolt (as of today v3/v4) has its own limitations too so until Thunderbolt v5 sees the light of day I still maintain external drives as not being an option for professionals in need of high-speed transfers equivalent to those provided by internal SSDs on the likes of Apple M1/M3 (forget the M2 its crap, they had to slow down the internal SSD speed by 15-25%).

https://larryjordan.com/articles/thunderbolt-may-not-be-as-fast-as-you-think/

Not saying that you have to invest so much, I mean with only 1080p stuff and 120 gigs I'd say you can easily live off what you have right now indeed. But for me I've experienced it and it's not good enough, so I'm saving up until 2024 to invest into a maxed out M3 MBP/Pro Ultra, probably something around 10/12k EUR will get me what I need... hoping that the SSD will slightly decrease in cost until then lol and that a war between the US and China + inflation will not make things too expensive indeed ^^

Thunderbolt 5 might also be in the M3s next year so in this case consider only getting an external SSD T5 which will have improved the speed so yes in this case you can save up a lot of money by not spending too much on internal.

 

[JamesMay82]

And also consider that Thunderbolt (as of today v3/v4) has its own limitations too so until Thunderbolt v5 sees the light of day I still maintain external drives as not being an option for professionals in need of high-speed transfers equivalent to those provided by internal SSDs on the likes of Apple M1/M3 (forget the M2 its crap, they had to slow down the internal SSD speed by 15-25%).

didn't realise the M2 had capped the ssd speed. that's a shame.

 

[spnc]

didn't realise the M2 had capped the ssd speed. that's a shame.

That's totally unacceptable indeed but as a M1 owner I would never have upgraded regardless, it's like the iPhones, I only upgrade every 2 models (at a minimum) since the M1 is pretty much the same (except a few improvements that the M2 alone is not worth upgrading to). I'm pretty sure they will have fixed the SSD speed issue for the next gen of MBPs next year (well I hope so, and if they don't they'll probably lose a fair share of customers) so let's wait and see.

Along with the Thunderbolt 5 I'm also hopefull they'll finally have FaceID ready on the MBP M3s... they're working on it and soon rolling it out on iMacs so let's wait and see if they can adapt it to the skinner screen of MBPs already then too.