Best way to back up one internal and one external harddrive at same time?

[GJ999x]

Hi all,

Mac user / lover for many years but i'm still useless at the tech side (coincidence??)

I use my 2015 imac for music production. It has an internal 1TB harddrive and I use an external SSD 1TB for storage of all music media that i use and create.

I need an idiot-proof backup system, ideally involving extra external harddrives. On my old machine i didnt have an external HD, so just used time machine, backing up every couple of weeks to two seperate external harddrives, keeping one at home and one at work.

Time machine felt good to me because it would be so easy to restore my entire system on a new machine if the worst happened.

However I'm less clear what to do now i have two HDs in use at all times. Should I just get a 2TB external, do time machine for the internal HD and just cut and paste the entire contents of the external onto the same 2TB external?

is there any way i can push a button and have both backed up to a second external HD?

From googling i gather something called RAID might be useful but it feels a little beyond me..... advice v much appreciated!!

Many thanks

George

 

[satcomer]

A raid system might be better!

 

[gnasher729]

Since you have a total of 2TB storage, you should have a backup drive a bit bigger than that. And to be safe, you want to independent backups - one at home and one at work is an excellent idea. Note that RAID is not backup - there are reasons for RAID, but RAID devices can break down completely, and when one drive in a consumer RAID fails, your data is at extreme danger.

A simple setup is buying two 3 TB external drives; speed is not of any concern really. Set up Time Machine to use both external drives. Keep one at home, one at work, and plug them in when you turn on the Mac at home or at work. Once it's set up you don't push _any_ buttons. Time Machine backs up every hour automatically. And if you have two backup drives, it will backup to whichever one is connected, or if both are connected then it will connect to one, then the other, then the first one again and so on, so even if the backup drive crashes, you still have your original _plus_ another backup.

 

[QQD]

I'm sorry, I know I'm in the wrong subject but can't find what i really want!!

I don't know much about computer's system but my mac is a complete mess it's slow or totally stops... Safari doesn´t work at all. In G. Chrome I can't even open images and have to reload Every single page I open and, with luck it will open...

I'd like to have any advice on how to completely restore my computer without losing family photos and web passwords?? PLEASE!!

 

[gnasher729]

I'd like to have any advice on how to completely restore my computer without losing family photos and web passwords?? PLEASE!!

Make an appointment with one of the "geniuses" at the nearest Apple Store.

 

[Fishrrman]

My thoughts.

Get a 2tb (or larger) drive, USB3.
Partition the new drive into two partitions.

Now, use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to:
a. clone the contents of your internal (boot) drive to the first partition
b. clone the contents of your external drive to the second partition.

Now you will have an EXACT cloned and BOOTABLE copy of your internal drive (which you can boot and run from in an emergency).
You'll also have an EXACT copy of the external drive.

Nothing could be easier.
I prefer CCC, but SD will do the job as well.

Final thought:
For even more safety, get TWO external drives, and repeat the same process on the second as you did on the first. Then keep the second drive "off site" (different building than where your Mac is), to prevent against catastrophic disaster or theft.

 

[QQD]

Thank you for your answer! I hope there's something I can do on my own.

If there's anyone who can help me I'd be very thankful! I forgot to say this.. but if I had conditions to go to an apple store I'd have gone.
[doublepost=1478451817][/doublepost]Thanks Fishrrman!
I'm living abroad very recently and have no devices with me. Is there a site that allows us free use of an internet cleaner or something similar?
It may sound odd but my computer started having problems since I changed countries.. maybe it's just a coincidence.

 

[GJ999x]

My thoughts.

Get a 2tb (or larger) drive, USB3.
Partition the new drive into two partitions.

Now, use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to:
a. clone the contents of your internal (boot) drive to the first partition
b. clone the contents of your external drive to the second partition.

Now you will have an EXACT cloned and BOOTABLE copy of your internal drive (which you can boot and run from in an emergency).
You'll also have an EXACT copy of the external drive.

Nothing could be easier.
I prefer CCC, but SD will do the job as well.

Final thought:
For even more safety, get TWO external drives, and repeat the same process on the second as you did on the first. Then keep the second drive "off site" (different building than where your Mac is), to prevent against catastrophic disaster or theft.

Thank you all, and thanks for this post especially - I think this is what i will try and do, final thought-style....

If it's cool i might pop back with questions as i'm pretty hopeless at getting this stuff up and running!!!

First question is whether i can get away with 2TB harddrives for a couple of years, after 8 months of heavy use i'm on 650 and 750GB free in my current drives respectively. 3TB harddrives are still kinda expensive and also bulky, on the other hand i know time machine asks for more space than the drive its backing up....

Hey QPD is it possible you could open your own thread? You know kind of like how forums are supposed to work