Duplicati

[reteP llewoN]

I am in this forum although I previously posted elsewhere as I was told to post in the appropriate place which I think this is.
I was advised to use more than time machine for my Mac product once I get it. Either Air or MB.
I am trying to figure out how as Time Machine seems straightforward.
I would use APFS on my external hardrive to my external drive. Can Duplicti be used to backup to my external ssd external drive and would it suffice to perform the back up? How would the Format be done if that drive is already formatted as APFS for TM?
Do I need more external drives or would a backup program be compatible with Time Machines APFS. Now TM won't use exfat.
I use iCloud for my phone and would like to leave it as is.
Bottom line how do you backup more than just TM and format the external destination(s) properly?

 

[0128672]

Using Disk Utility, you can add a volume (not a partition) to your external APFS-formatted drive, and you name it differently than the Time Machine volume. In your other backup software (which I'm not familiar with), you would designate the new volume as the backup destination. Check Duplicati's disk requirements though.

Add, delete, or erase APFS volumes in Disk Utility on Mac

In Disk Utility on Mac, add, delete, or erase APFS volumes.

support.apple.com

 

[svenmany]

Using Disk Utility, you can add a volume (not a partition) to your external APFS-formatted drive, and you name it differently than the Time Machine volume. In your other backup software (which I'm not familiar with), you would designate the new volume as the backup destination. Check Duplicati's disk requirements though.

Add, delete, or erase APFS volumes in Disk Utility on Mac

In Disk Utility on Mac, add, delete, or erase APFS volumes.

support.apple.com

I wonder a bit about this recommendation. If the TM volume and the other backup volume share space in the same APFS container, they will compete for the same disk space. Certainly, TM over time will take as much as it can and could prevent the other backup from getting the room it needs. Do you know if this is a concern?

Without more understanding, I would make a conscious decision how much space I'd like to give to each backup and keep those suitably sized volumes in separate partitions.

 

[gilby101]

I was advised to use more than time machine for my Mac product once I get it. Either Air or MB.
I am trying to figure out how as Time Machine seems straightforward.

TM is straightforward and works well for most people. I don't know what was said to your before, but my advice in terms of 'something more' is to backup to a cloud service. This is to give you an offsite backup in the event of some serious mishap - e.g. power surge, fire or theft. I use Arq Backup (have used Duplicacy, but not Duplicati) on my Mac, backing up to One Drive and to Backblaze B2.

 

[svenmany]

TM is straightforward and works well for most people. I don't know what was said to your before, but my advice in terms of 'something more' is to backup to a cloud service. This is to give you an offsite backup in the event of some serious mishap - e.g. power surge, fire or theft. I use Arq Backup (have used Duplicacy, but not Duplicati) on my Mac, backing up to One Drive and to Backblaze B2.

I second Arq backup and use it to back up to OneDrive, Dropbox, and AWS.

Arq can encrypt all your content locally, so no one who gains access to those remote files would have access to their content. It has other useful features; definitely recommended.

 

[0128672]

I wonder a bit about this recommendation. If the TM volume and the other backup volume share space in the same APFS container, they will compete for the same disk space. Certainly, TM over time will take as much as it can and could prevent the other backup from getting the room it needs. Do you know if this is a concern?

Without more understanding, I would make a conscious decision how much space I'd like to give to each backup and keep those suitably sized volumes in separate partitions.

My thought was since having multiple volumes on a drive that also uses Time Machine works well, something I do with multiple Time Machine drives, it might also work with dual automated backup apps. I don't know that TM would prevent another backup from getting the room it needs. It's flexible space and TM deletes old backups when it needs more space. There's no TM requirement that a drive be 100% allocated for it.

But I haven't tried it first hand with two backup systems on the same drives, and I suppose it's not known what would happen when backups try to run at the same time on the same drive.

Added: I decided to have a little fun and test this idea, so have added a volume for Carbon Copy Cloner onto one of my external drives that also has a Time Machine volume. CCC will run when the drive is connected, and TM will run manually. So far, so good. The drive also has a volume of files that I drag over manually to back up

 

[reteP llewoN]

I have not attended to some suggestions as I am a novice and they are over my head.
However, I have bookmarked this page for future reference.

I backup my phone to iCloud; could I do so with a macbook by purchasing more room?
What vehicle would I use so besides TM?

 

[0128672]

I have not attended to some suggestions as I am a novice and they are over my head.
However, I have bookmarked this page for future reference.

I backup my phone to iCloud; could I do so with a macbook by purchasing more room?
What vehicle would I use so besides TM?

Technically, you can do it with Carbon Copy Cloner, but the upload is going to be very slow. There's no macOS function to do that like there is with mobile devices. I recommend trying the CCC 30-day trial so you can see what the destination disk options are. As a test, you can see for yourself what happens if you upload a single file via CCC to iCloud.

Just a side note that mobile device iCloud backups don't include everything. In addition, you can backup to your Mac and those backups are included with Time Machine (or other backup software). The Mac backup includes all of your data; the iCloud backup includes only your important data.

What does iCloud back up? - Apple Support

iCloud Backup helps keep your data safe by making a copy of the information on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro that isn't already synced to iCloud.

support.apple.com

Back up and restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or to iCloud

On your Mac, back up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or iCloud and restore your device if needed.

support.apple.com

 

[reteP llewoN]

"iCloud backups don't include everything" Got me thinking-
Does it include enough to restore your iPhone to functionality?
Besides iTunes, which seems to be fading, is there another more comprehensive way to back up the iPhone.
Because imaging is not fitting for Mac I think a clone would be a consideration for Mac.
I guess if I simplified this, I would use the cloud for my phone as I do now and TM for my Mac. People I speak with don't even back up.
As far as electronics go, my middle name is, 'image /backup'. It has saved precious time on more than one occasion.

 

[Boyd01]

I am in this forum although I previously posted elsewhere as I was told to post in the appropriate place which I think this is.

I'm a bit curious as to who told you this? I don't see a problem with your earlier thread and this one is starting to cover the same ground.

 

[0128672]

I'm a bit curious as to who told you this? I don't see a problem with your earlier thread and this one is starting to cover the same ground.

That might have been me gently suggesting (as part of a larger response) to the OP who created a Macbook thread in the iPad forum, not the earlier thread you linked. Or maybe that's not what he was referring to.

 

[reteP llewoN]

That might have been me gently suggesting (as part of a larger response) to the OP who created a Macbook thread in the iPad forum, not the earlier thread you linked. Or maybe that's not what he was referring to.

Thank you,sir, for posting your polite clarification.