Backup Thoughts - Suggestions Please!

[BigMcGuire]

I finally went through a host of old hard drives and collected all my data onto one device. My 16' MBP is the first MBP that I've owned that can store everything I have on one device (about 500GB).

70 GB of Applications.
116 GB of Parallel VMs.
65 GB of iCloud Drive storage.
150 GB of iCloud Photos.
52 GB of a local folder. (Thinking about uploading this to iCloud?).

Current Backup Solution: TimeMachine every 2-3 days to a 4TB hard drive. iCloud for photos/personal data. I'm not too worried about the applications (they can be reinstalled easily). Paying for 2TB iCloud - family using almost 700GB - and rapidly growing.

Problem: What bugs me is the 52 GB of local storage and my 116 GB VM - if there was a fire at home and my Time Machine drive and my MBP got wiped out, I'd lose decades of data.

Thoughts: Should I spring $70/year for BackBlaze? I dislike subscriptions but I do like the constant backing up. I have FIOS 500/500. I also started thinking about iCloud and ... say my Apple ID gets "accidentally" deleted (worst case scenario), what then - could I still log into my laptop?

Other suggestions very welcome. Thank you!

 

[Clix Pix]

My solution is to do things manually, not involving Time Machine at all, and I have a set of backups on external SSD drives that is updated at home and another set of backups which go to my safe deposit box at the bank each month; at that time I swap out the drives and bring the set which has been stashed in the bank back home to be updated while the current backup spends a month in the safe deposit box. I also have a third set of backups which simply stays at home all the time. This system works out well for me.

 

[Basic75]

If you're backing up to just a single external hard drive you should get at least one more.

 

[DarkPremiumCho]

Try 3-2-1 backup strategy: at least 3 copies of your data, 2 of them should be local copies on different media, and 1 off-site (on the cloud or on the residence of one trusted person for example).

In this strategy, the reliability of one your backup copies does not need to be very high. Redundancy will lower the risk to an acceptable level.

 

[BigMcGuire]

My solution is to do things manually, not involving Time Machine at all, and I have a set of backups on external SSD drives that is updated at home and another set of backups which go to my safe deposit box at the bank each month; at that time I swap out the drives and bring the set which has been stashed in the bank back home to be updated while the current backup spends a month in the safe deposit box. I also have a third set of backups which simply stays at home all the time. This system works out well for me.

Yeah, with quantum computing around the bend, all our online information is going to be cracked anyway (if articles are to be believed) fairly easily.

I do like the idea of dealing with my own backups and storage. HD Storage is super cheap sub 8TB too. I always figured safety deposit boxes were for the super rich, lol.

WOW that's cheap.

If you're backing up to just a single external hard drive you should get at least one more.

Agreed, I was debating buying another hard drive or spending that $ on an online backup service (say, OneDrive, Google Drive, BackBlaze, AWS, etc (maybe with Arq Backup?)). Arq Backup to AWS / BackBlaze is REALLY cheap - just really slow.

Try 3-2-1 backup strategy: at least 3 copies of your data, 2 of them should be local copies on different media, and 1 off-site (on the cloud or on the residence of one trusted person for example).

In this strategy, the reliability of one your backup copies does not need to be very high. Redundancy will lower the risk to an acceptable level.

I always justified it like this. I had 1 copy of my data on my MBP. One backup local on my TimeMachine drive. One Remote on iCloud, lol. Which, I know, iCloud isn't a backup service (more a syncing service).

Agreed, I do need another option.

Thank you!

 

[Fishrrman]

Get TWO of these (they're on sale):

SAMSUNG T7 Shield 1TB, Portable SSD, up to 1050MB/s, USB 3.2 Gen2, Rugged, IP65 Rated, for Photographers, Content Creators and Gaming, External Solid State Drive (MU-PE1T0R/AM, 2022), Blue

Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD delivers high performance on-the-go, not matter the terrain. It has an IP65 rating for water** and dust* resistance, with Dynamic Thermal Guard to manage heat control. Transfer huge files instantly. USB 3.2 Gen 2 and PCIe® NVMe™ achieve soaring sequential read/write...

www.amazon.com

Use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create a cloned backup on the first drive.
Keep this drive "close at hand", for immediate needs.

For the second drive -- ALSO create a second cloned backup.
Keep THIS backup "off-site" -- at work, or even "in your car". The idea is to get it out of the house, so that in case of a total home disaster, it will still exist.

Aside:
I don't know (or care) how CCC or SD handles stuff "in the cloud".
I don't use iCloud (or any other "cloud"). I want my data "in hand" and under MY control.

 

[Clix Pix]

I suppose if one has a bunch of gold bricks or a bag full of gold coins to stash away that one of the larger safe deposit boxes would be necessary. For me, a fairly smallish one does the job, big enough to store important documents such as car title, passport, various certificates and other papers, plus the external SSDs that I use for backups. I've been doing this for years and like Fisherrman, I like having my important data and image files under my sole control. Sure, it's not the most convenient thing to run to the bank every month, especially when I use online banking for just about everything else, but I know my material is safe there and if anything happens here at home those files will still be promptly available to me.

 

[Weaselboy]

Arq Backup to AWS / BackBlaze is REALLY cheap - just really slow.

I use TM to a local disk, then a weekly (or so) CCC clone, then Arq to Backblaze B2 daily for the house burned down scenario you mentioned. Once you were to get over the initial upload to Backblaze, how much new/changed data do you think you would have each day?

Here is the report from my Arq backup from a few minutes ago.

Backup Plan: Back up to B2
Computer: My-Mac
Storage Location: B2:/Arq-Backup-MyName
Arq version: 7.19.11
Start Time: 4/3/23, 9:00 AM
End Time: 4/3/23, 9:05 AM
Errors: 0
Scanned Bytes: 17.3 GB
Scanned Files: 38,519
Uploaded Bytes (compressed): 226.1 MB
Uploaded Files: 477

 

[Clix Pix]

I back up my image files on a weekly basis because I do a lot of photography most weeks, and it just works out well to keep up with that each week. Other data files I back up on a monthly basis unless there is something important which requires backup more promptly, such as after I have done my income taxes and filed the returns. I don't generate a lot of new documents each month, nor do I add or subtract much from my movies and music files. Doing monthly backups works out well for me.

For me, the most important thing to back up is my files themselves, rather than the OS or various settings, as those can and do change from time to time. When I buy a new computer I do not use Migration Assistant; I do everything manually, starting out fresh with the new machine. Yes, that takes longer but I find this a good opportunity to review what I've got in the old machine and decide whether or not it needs to go to the new one, etc. I've never used SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner, although I understand both are very useful for many people.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I use TM to a local disk, then a weekly (or so) CCC clone, then Arq to Backblaze B2 daily for the house burned down scenario you mentioned. Once you were to get over the initial upload to Backblaze, how much new/changed data do you think you would have each day?

Here is the report from my Arq backup from a few minutes ago.

Backup Plan: Back up to B2
Computer: My-Mac
Storage Location: B2:/Arq-Backup-MyName
Arq version: 7.19.11
Start Time: 4/3/23, 9:00 AM
End Time: 4/3/23, 9:05 AM
Errors: 0
Scanned Bytes: 17.3 GB
Scanned Files: 38,519
Uploaded Bytes (compressed): 226.1 MB
Uploaded Files: 477

This is what I'm leaning towards - really happy you mentioned this. I almost bought those SSDs on sale but I think Arq with B2 is the way to go. I just set that up on my wife's computer and my computer - was going to buy the Backblaze $170/2 year thing but Arq with B2 is considerably cheaper.

My computer:

My wife has 58GB uploading now to another bucket on my B2 account.


I have maybe 20-200 files changing per day for my work, my wife has maybe a dozen to 30 files changing per day because of her work. I set Arq to back up daily in the morning once a day.

I found an old 380GB SSD in my storage (formatted it and encrypted it) and put my VMWare image and everything local on it - I'll put that in the car or take it off site (encrypted).


Really appreciate the help everyone (did some serious spring cleaning this weekend).

 

[Weaselboy]

Arq with B2 is considerably cheaper.

It is really cheap... I don't even know how they make any money. My B2 bill is around 67 cents a month for the 80GB I have up there.

 

[BigMcGuire]

It is really cheap... I don't even know how they make any money. My B2 bill is around 67 cents a month for the 80GB I have up there.

I was thinking same thing, if I end up getting 350+GB uploaded I'll be paying something like $1.75/mo lol.

Edit: Wow they're making a lot more than I thought...

Backblaze Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Financial Results | Backblaze, Inc.

44% Revenue Growth in B2 Cloud Storage; 23% Revenue Growth Overall in Q4 2022 SAN MATEO, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Backblaze, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLZE), a leading specialized storage cloud platform, today announced results for its fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2022.

ir.backblaze.com