Best practices - external drives/folders

[golfgirlgolf]

In the age of board soldered internal storage @ $400/TB - to save cost on my next Mac I plan on moving all my inactive files to redundant externals (with the exception of current projects - which will also be synced to the externals.)

Think Different has now become Think External - unless one really pays way over market prices for internal SSD space.
I've already been making synced copies of folders to multiple externals for years - primarily using Chronosync, which is a fantastic tool!
I also use Time Machine (for the main box) - as well as Backblaze - for all the drives connected to my system. (Counting 8 drives currently but moving to 16TB drives to consolidate on fewer drives. Some drives can be used as long term storage and taken offline (old projects).

Some of my externals will also be bootable drives in case a recovery is needed. This is where I'm just wondering how to organize things.
A bootable external drive has the user account on it - which could/should probably be a mirror sync of my primary system/user.
That task is one folder to folder sync job in Chronosync.

I have several other (some huge) directories synced such as - RAW photo data - movies - music/audio/recordings etc - that are going to live on the redundant externals in the resource/available archive world.
I don't want them to be IN my user account folder backups. (mirrored from the primary drive)
But where do I put these folders then - in the Users directory?
Or maybe one higher/root level along side Applications/Library/System/Users?

It's possible of course to partition the drives to keep the "big data" directories separate from the bootable drive+user accounts section - but that adds extra drives to the desktop and additional complication IMO.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[mmkerc]

A lot to digest here so I will try to hit the items/issues one by one.

External vs Internal drives. I use a minimum 1Tb internal drive on both my desktop, and laptop because there are files that I prefer in the default Apple Location, Primarily music files, and active projects/documents. When traveling I will load movies and photos to the internal so I can access remotely. Also all applications are on the internal drive. Additionally I use Apple One as I read a lot, and the monthly subscription is less than if I subscribed to all the magazines individually. This gives me 2TB in iCloud of storage, and makes syncing between computers easier. While I agree you pay a premium for the external storage for my uses it worth it, but understand it might not for most.

I only have one small bootable external drive (500GB) and it is dedicated to just that task. It only has the OS on it (not data files) and a few diagnostic/recovery apps. This drive is connected as needed, though as a practice I will boot off it 2-3 times per years to run checks.

For data storage I have one 4TB drive for photos, and a second for backup of Photos. I have a second set of 4TB drives for backup of music, and storage and backup of Movies. Finally I have a set of 2TB drives for backup of current project/documents, and storage of historical documents. These are all desktop drives that are always connected to my main computer. These are pure data drives, no system software on them

Lastly I make use of a 2TB Samsung T7 drive when I travel.

Hope this helps.

 

[ChrisA]

I use a Synology NAS for most of my data. I can connect to all my computers and virtual machines. Yes the NAS has a slower connection than a directly attached Thunderbolt SSD but the NAS can be simultaneously connected to dozens of computers over either WiFi or Ethernet.

If I do have a few files I need quick access to I can mirror them to my internal SSD. The NAS can mirror then to several computers and if a change is made in one place, it get propagated to the other places. It works in Mac, Linux and Windows, IOS and Android (all at the same time). I can use a VPN to access my files when away from home.

The Synology NAS also solves the problem of running Windows. I run a virtual machine with Windows on the NAS and can use screen sharing to export the display to any other computer.

For backup, I use Backblaze and another (cheaper) NAS in another room.

Yes, a system like this costs about as much as an Apple computer. But like Apple gear, it lasts well over 10 years and keeps its resale value well if you need to upgrade.

 

[MarkC426]

In the age of board soldered internal storage @ $400/TB - to save cost on my next Mac I plan on moving all my inactive files to redundant externals (with the exception of current projects - which will also be synced to the externals.)

From your initial paragraph, I assume you have/are getting an AS Mac..?
External bootable clones are not straightforward anymore (unlike Intel Macs).

It is not a case of use SD or CCC to clone your drive to external when your Mac is AS and T2 protected.

 

[golfgirlgolf]

I use a Synology NAS for most of my data. I can connect to all my computers and virtual machines. Yes the NAS has a slower connection than a directly attached Thunderbolt SSD but the NAS can be simultaneously connected to dozens of computers over either WiFi or Ethernet.

If I do have a few files I need quick access to I can mirror them to my internal SSD. The NAS can mirror then to several computers and if a change is made in one place, it get propagated to the other places. It works in Mac, Linux and Windows, IOS and Android (all at the same time). I can use a VPN to access my files when away from home.

The Synology NAS also solves the problem of running Windows. I run a virtual machine with Windows on the NAS and can use screen sharing to export the display to any other computer.

For backup, I use Backblaze and another (cheaper) NAS in another room.

Yes, a system like this costs about as much as an Apple computer. But like Apple gear, it lasts well over 10 years and keeps its resale value well if you need to upgrade.

Thanks - Nice set up! I've considered something like this, and yes, speed isn't of concern for backups/bulk storage - going over WiFi or RJ45 (don't have in my space) is a huge bonus - but - on a budget, using Chronosync one can emulate the NAS backup routines on a single Mac and multiple direct USB HDDs.

 

[golfgirlgolf]

From your initial paragraph, I assume you have/are getting an AS Mac..?
External bootable clones are not straightforward anymore (unlike Intel Macs).

It is not a case of use SD or CCC to clone your drive to external when your Mac is AS and T2 protected.

Yes, going from the last/best generation Intel iMac to AS/M2 Mac Studio. I'm sure it will bring some challenges and the blind "system" backup routines of SD/CCC or maybe even Chronosync won't be applicable or even run on the boot level. Meanwhile I've already created a working bootable SSD drive for an M1 MacBook Pro by running the System Installer on the SSD. So it's a matter of syncing current user folder data - and maintaining larger amounts of accessible redundant external storage for library/archival/inactive/resources - which isn't realistically going on the internal.

This is the way things are going anyway - reducing the size/affordability of internal storage is only forcing the issue.
In the box - the system which can't be touched. Outside the box - all your User data.... so no matter how bad you screw it up, the box is protected.

 

[ChrisA]

but - on a budget, using Chronosync one can emulate the NAS backup routines on a single Mac and multiple direct USB HDDs.

On a budget, just buy used gear.

 

[ChrisA]

Yes, going from the last/best generation Intel iMac to AS/M2 Mac Studio. I'm sure it will bring some challenges and the blind "system" backup routines of SD/CCC or maybe even Chronosync won't be applicable or even run on the boot level. Meanwhile I've already created a working bootable SSD drive for an M1 MacBook Pro by running the System Installer on the SSD. So it's a matter of syncing current user folder data - and maintaining larger amounts of accessible redundant external storage for library/archival/inactive/resources - which isn't realistically going on the internal.

This is the way things are going anyway - reducing the size/affordability of internal storage is only forcing the issue.
In the box - the system which can't be touched. Outside the box - all your User data.... so no matter how bad you screw it up, the box is protected.

If the question here is "best practice" then the backup answer is "Time Machine". You can ALWAYS do a clean new install and date recovery from a Time Machine disk. Aple makes it really simple and easy. A brand new or newly recovered Mac will ask you to plug in the TM disk and then it "just works".

I say TM "disk" but it can be a netwrk share from another Mac or a NAS. BTW. You can now buy an Intal Mini for $200 or less. Connect a cheap external spinnig hard drive to the Mini and share it over WiFi. All you Apple devices can use that for TM backups.

You do not need or want a bootable drive. When the Mac has received, it will ask for a TM drive.

If you are very concerned about this buy two TM disks and macOS will "ping pong" them writing every other backup to the other disk. Then after both disks are up to date, periodically place one of the TM drives in a fire safe. Do another backup to the cloud, I like Backblaze but there are others. This all runs wirelessly in the background once you set it up. It only costs you the price of a very old Mac of any kind. Some are under $200.

 

[picpicmac]

I've been using an external SSD as my Startup Disk for years.

And when I get my new Mac I will continue that practice. The internal SSD (I don't plan to buy an upgrade) is simply there to deliver the OEM MacOS version, and as a fallback plan if my external ever fails.

There is no reason to avoid using an external SSD as the Startup Disk, for desktop computers. If one is using a laptop and traveling then obviously external storage is more awkward.

 

[phrehdd]

There are several variations on a theme where backups and storage are concerned. Lots of good useful advice here. Here are more peanuts from the gallery -

If you go with NAS RAID - consider RAID 1 or 10. It is less risk than RAID 5/6. You get less usable storage from the drives but drives are cheaper now. The "restore" of RAID 10 is most often faster than RAID 5/6 and if it fails, it is less likely to impact your data as you can try again with another drive(s).

Given the price of SSD, investing in 2 TB better drives is a nice way to do backups or TM.

If you truly need archived data, consider possibly archival discs. These are writable discs that outlast mechanical hard drives. While not as en vogue as before, they still do the job quite well and are both portable and manageable.

A nice setup would be an external drive (DAS), a NAS, and Cloud storage. Make sure to have a good UPS with your Mac and NAS for graceful shutdowns and avoid loss of data.

LAST - no matter if you go with an external drive or NAS, a huge failure is to wait for the drives to fail then act upon them. Far better to plan on how to do a refresh on drives. Rather than replace drives in your NAS it is far wiser to copy the data off then consider a return to a NAS with newly populated drives, etc. I say this as someone who has had 3-year warranty drives last 7+ years and 5 year warranty drives fail in less than a year. Cloud drive services are many in number and you can read up on which one is the best overall bang for the buck (speed, price, security).

 

[transmaster]

Nice running across this thread. This is old hat on my Windows side but I am looking at a clean install of macO15. On Windows side a clean install was SOP for me. I am new in the Apple world and the install of macOS 15 I started the moment it was available was a big mistake considering my internet down load speeds. I should have waited. I just ordered a 1 TB Samsung External SSD to load to. This is also something I did in the Windows world download the OS to an external drive and than load it on the PC.