15" MBA M2 and Time Machine

[OldCorpse]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but how exactly do you handle backups on a laptop? I've mostly used desktops (iMac) and the backups were very simple - I just had a permanently connected large external HDD to my iMac and let the TM do its thing.

But with a laptop, how do you handle this if you're frequently not connected to an external disk and TM does backups every hour or so? I bought a large SSD for backup purposes - do I select it as my TM destination and then just occasionally (once a day?) hook it up, say at the end of the day to let TM do a backup, and just not bother with having the "hourly" backups? I guess I could buy something like SuperDuper or CCC but I don't see the advantage - it just would do what the TM does and of course also not do any "hourly" backups, just the once-a-day.

I know I can have a partition on my internal SSD for TM, but I don't like this idea much, as I want as much free space as possible, and having the backup on the same disk just seems like much less of an insurance in case of the internal drive failing or MBA getting stolen.

I'm not a huge fan of relying exclusively on cloud backups, as I'm generally opposed to subscriptions and also like to keep local control instead of relying on some unseen cloud thing (I've had many bad experiences with data loss on icloud).

How do you handle this? Thank you!

 

[hg.wells]

Time Machine will take local snapshots on your MBA. Here’s how it works:

About Time Machine local snapshots on Mac

Time Machine makes copies, each hour, of files that have changed on your Mac.

support.apple.com

You wouldn’t need to partition the drive and just connect to your external drive when available.

 

[ChrisA]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but how exactly do you handle backups on a laptop? I've mostly used desktops (iMac) and the backups were very simple - I just had a permanently connected large external HDD to my iMac and let the TM do its thing.

But with a laptop, how do you handle this if you're frequently not connected to an external disk and TM does backups every hour or so? I bought a large SSD for backup purposes - do I select it as my TM destination and then just occasionally (once a day?) hook it up, say at the end of the day to let TM do a backup, and just not bother with having the "hourly" backups? I guess I could buy something like SuperDuper or CCC but I don't see the advantage - it just would do what the TM does and of course also not do any "hourly" backups, just the once-a-day.

I know I can have a partition on my internal SSD for TM, but I don't like this idea much, as I want as much free space as possible, and having the backup on the same disk just seems like much less of an insurance in case of the internal drive failing or MBA getting stolen.

I'm not a huge fan of relying exclusively on cloud backups, as I'm generally opposed to subscriptions and also like to keep local control instead of relying on some unseen cloud thing (I've had many bad experiences with data loss on icloud).

How do you handle this? Thank you!

If you care about the data you need a redundant backup system so you will do at least two different things. Some ideas are

1) as you said, connect an external disk when you can, perhaps once a day and just accept you might loose more than one hour's work if something goes wrong.

2) Subscribe to a cloud backup service. I like "backblaze" but there are others. These service will do a continuous backup over WiFi, when ever you are connected to WiFi. Make certain the service is "versioned" so that it keeps older copies of you data. or keeps data even if moved to trash.

3) Buy a "backup server" and set it up at home. This can be as simple as a higher-end WiFi router that has a USB port to plug in a hard drive. Then you share the hard drive over WiFi and let Time Machine do its hourly backups. Or you can go a little higher-end and buy a Synology NAS and let it share some of its space for TM backups.

What do I do? I have several computers and all of them backup to the Synology NAS. Some of them, like the Mac Mini also have a permanently attached Tme Machine hard drive. This gives the Mini a redundant Time Machine backup. Then on top of this, the NAS is backed up to the cloud and a second NAS.

For non-critical data, do two of the above three things and you will be fine.

The rule is that at all times (even when a backup is in progress) both of these conditions shall apply..
1) the data exists on three different physical media
2) the data exists in two different geographical locations
The above is the minimum, you want more redundancy if the data is business-critical. The idea is that if lightening stikes the power pole outside your house all the plugged-in equipment will be killed. If the house burns down you lose data. If it is very important data (you lose your livelihood if the data is lost) then you want a multi-redundant backup even AFTER the house fire. You need two copies after any disaster.

I am very certain almost no one does this. So I predict that in 100 years there will be almost no 100 year old photos.

Finally, there is no good reason to use an SSD for backups. Any slow device is OK, MacOS will never write very fast so paying for speed is wasted. Maybe use SSD is you prefer it to be silent. But you do want the TM disk to be as large as you can afford so that a long history can be kept. Make it at leat trice the size of all your data 4X is evn better. So I'd prefer a 4TB hard drive to a 1TB SSD.

 

[OldCorpse]

If you care about the data you need a redundant backup system so you will do at least two different things. Some ideas are

1) as you said, connect an external disk when you can, perhaps once a day and just accept you might loose more than one hour's work if something goes wrong.

2) Subscribe to a cloud backup service. I like "backblaze" but there are others. These service will do a continuous backup over WiFi, when ever you are connected to WiFi. Make certain the service is "versioned" so that it keeps older copies of you data. or keeps data even if moved to trash.

3) Buy a "backup server" and set it up at home. This can be as simple as a higher-end WiFi router that has a USB port to plug in a hard drive. Then you share the hard drive over WiFi and let Time Machine do its hourly backups. Or you can go a little higher-end and buy a Synology NAS and let it share some of its space for TM backups.

What do I do? I have several computers and all of them backup to the Synology NAS. Some of them, like the Mac Mini also have a permanently attached Tme Machine hard drive. This gives the Mini a redundant Time Machine backup. Then on top of this, the NAS is backed up to the cloud and a second NAS.

For non-critical data, do two of the above three things and you will be fine.

The rule is that at all times (even when a backup is in progress) both of these conditions shall apply..
1) the data exists on three different physical media
2) the data exists in two different geographical locations
The above is the minimum, you want more redundancy if the data is business-critical. The idea is that if lightening stikes the power pole outside your house all the plugged-in equipment will be killed. If the house burns down you lose data. If it is very important data (you lose your livelihood if the data is lost) then you want a multi-redundant backup even AFTER the house fire. You need two copies after any disaster.

I am very certain almost no one does this. So I predict that in 100 years there will be almost no 100 year old photos.

Finally, there is no good reason to use an SSD for backups. Any slow device is OK, MacOS will never write very fast so paying for speed is wasted. Maybe use SSD is you prefer it to be silent. But you do want the TM disk to be as large as you can afford so that a long history can be kept. Make it at leat trice the size of all your data 4X is evn better. So I'd prefer a 4TB hard drive to a 1TB SSD.

Wow, thank you ChrisA - that was super helpful. I think what I like most here is the "backup server" idea. I've never set up a server before, so I guess I'll need to do some readin' and educatin'. Synology NAS - hope it's not too complicated, but I like the idea that I can move around the house and the TM backups will happen automatically through WiFi so I don't have to do anything else other than set it up. Fantastic!

 

[Apple_Robert]

Wow, thank you ChrisA - that was super helpful. I think what I like most here is the "backup server" idea. I've never set up a server before, so I guess I'll need to do some readin' and educatin'. Synology NAS - hope it's not too complicated, but I like the idea that I can move around the house and the TM backups will happen automatically through WiFi so I don't have to do anything else other than set it up. Fantastic!

Setting up a Synology NAS isn't hard. We can help with that.

 

[ChrisA]

Wow, thank you ChrisA - that was super helpful. I think what I like most here is the "backup server" idea. I've never set up a server before, so I guess I'll need to do some readin' and educatin'. Synology NAS - hope it's not too complicated, but I like the idea that I can move around the house and the TM backups will happen automatically through WiFi so I don't have to do anything else other than set it up. Fantastic!

Synology is designed to be easy to setup but it is also the most expensive way to go. There are cheaper options. a couple of them are

1) The ability to share a disk is a feature of many WiFi routers.

2) Buy an (about) 2014 vintage Mac Mini, connect a hard drive to it, and "share" it over the network. Old Minis make decent small servers. and sell used for under $200. Disconnect the monitor and keyboard and use screen sharing to access it.

Buying Synology is like buying Apple, you don't do it to save money. Both are luxury bands. The expensive Synology NAS is kind of wasted if all you use it for is backups.

But this still only gives one layer of backup so a power spike or a fire or a theft of the equipment will take all of your data. You need an off-site backup as well.

 

[OldCorpse]

Well, I can think of another function that would be super cool if Synology could do it. When I had my iMac, I used an external HDD to store music - 2GB worth, so a lot, and it was organized by iTunes. I had some self-powered speakers connected to my iMac with longer cables (through headphone port) I could then control what I wanted to listen to from my iMac iTunes and the actual ALAC files were stored on the external HDD.

Now I'd like to recreate this setup, though slightly modified. I'd like to have an external SSD/HDD store my ALAC music files, which I could control from my laptop through WiFi. So, I would need to have some kind of DAC gizmo connected to the HDD and the DAC to my self-powered speakers. Now I'd like to open - I guess it's now the Music app, not iTunes anymore - on my laptop and through WiFi control what I'm listening to. Is the Synology NAS something that could have this functionality or am I barking up the wrong tree? If yes, then there we go, I have one other function than just backup to utilize the Synology NAS

 

[OldCorpse]

OK I did some super preliminary reading about the Synology NAS and to my totally newby eyes I’m worried about some issues. I don’t think I need more than two bays, so I looked at for example the DS223. Here’s what I find concerning: (1) they insist on their own enterprise storage - I would prefer to buy my choices, maybe Samsung or Crucial (2) the only mac specific file system they list is HFS+ - I’d rather have at least the option to use the same as in my MBA, APFS Encrypted, seems there might be fewer hassles than if I used HFS+ or exFAT. Of course, I might be concerned over nothing, I really have zero experience with this.

Anyhow, I therefore gravitated to the mac mini suggestion by ChrisA. I see a 2014 mini mentioned for $200, but again I’m just slightly paranoid about the chipset and OS, so it seems a safer bet would be a base M2 8/256 model that’s really not that super much more expensive, at like $500… why not go with that and avoid any chance of complications as at that point both my MBA and mini would be using the same generation chipset and file system APFS Encrypted so TM should have no compatibility problems going forward. Hook up a couple of SSD/HDD properly formatted and get rolling, no?

Or am I sadly confused (likely!)?

However I’d still need to be walked through setting it up, as I’ve never set up a home server before and I’d be afraid of making such a horrific mess, it would force the whole neighborhood into emergency evacuation… I’d rather not spend the rest of my life in prison - only the kind folks here can guide me so it doesn’t all end up in handcuffs and tears.

Dare I go the mac mini route?? Opinions welcome!

 

[gwhizkids]

Although I can appreciate the expertise behind some of the other answers, I think your solution is probably the simplest. Just connect to an external SSD when you can.

I’ve had a MacBook Pro for four years and that is exactly what I do. Sometimes I don’t connect it for a day or two. But as long as nothing happens, I lose nothing when I connect the next time and create a full back up.

I also do subscribe to Backblaze, which is fairly reasonable. I believe it’s nine dollars a month.

 

[gwhizkids]

OK I did some super preliminary reading about the Synology NAS and to my totally newby eyes I’m worried about some issues. I don’t think I need more than two bays, so I looked at for example the DS223. Here’s what I find concerning: (1) they insist on their own enterprise storage - I would prefer to buy my choices, maybe Samsung or Crucial (2) the only mac specific file system they list is HFS+ - I’d rather have at least the option to use the same as in my MBA, APFS Encrypted, seems there might be fewer hassles than if I used HFS+ or exFAT. Of course, I might be concerned over nothing, I really have zero experience with this.

Anyhow, I therefore gravitated to the mac mini suggestion by ChrisA. I see a 2014 mini mentioned for $200, but again I’m just slightly paranoid about the chipset and OS, so it seems a safer bet would be a base M2 8/256 model that’s really not that super much more expensive, at like $500… why not go with that and avoid any chance of complications as at that point both my MBA and mini would be using the same generation chipset and file system APFS Encrypted so TM should have no compatibility problems going forward. Hook up a couple of SSD/HDD properly formatted and get rolling, no?

Or am I sadly confused (likely!)?

However I’d still need to be walked through setting it up, as I’ve never set up a home server before and I’d be afraid of making such a horrific mess, it would force the whole neighborhood into emergency evacuation… I’d rather not spend the rest of my life in prison - only the kind folks here can guide me so it doesn’t all end up in handcuffs and tears.

Dare I go the mac mini route?? Opinions welcome!

By the way, what may I ask are you backing up? if it’s just emails, music, documents and some photographs, the setup you’re talking about is way overkill, unless you just like tinkering with things(and there’s nothing wrong with that).

 

[OldCorpse]

I do extensive writing so a continuous backup solution is useful in keeping drafts available - although this clearly isn’t very data heavy. I also do a lot of research and so am always creating many files which are frequently media rich, and that’s a bit more data heavy. Some photo/video documentation, but not a lot.

Basically I’d like something I can set up and forget (which is why I like the concept of TM). The constant plugging in and backing up manually is therefore not ideal.

 

[gwhizkids]

I do extensive writing so a continuous backup solution is useful in keeping drafts available - although this clearly isn’t very data heavy. I also do a lot of research and so am always creating many files which are frequently media rich, and that’s a bit more data heavy. Some photo/video documentation, but not a lot.

Basically I’d like something I can set up and forget (which is why I like the concept of TM). The constant plugging in and backing up manually is therefore not ideal.

I think then it would be enough for you to just get an SSD that’s 2-4x larger than your laptop’s hard drive. Optimally gets a second one and rotate them every few weeks, keeping one offsite. Then (or alternatively to a second SSD) use an offsite solution like Backblaze.

Anything more than that is not necessary for your needs. Would be different if you were heavy video or audio but it sounds like you are not.

Again, to repeat myself from earlier, if you like tinkering, then feel free to use some of the more elaborate solutions.