Does anyone know what the benefit of an external hard drive is over just having iCloud on for my Mac? I am tempted to just not bother with an external hard drive...
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External hard-drive unnecessary with iCloud?
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External drive is good for backup purposes, especially if you don't have internet access at that moment in time.
It's good to have your stuff saved to iCloud, but that doesn't provide the same protections a proper backup does. A Time Machine backup gives you
- the ability to restore everything to a new Mac if something happens to yours (or even if you just get a new Mac)
- local copies of files you may have changed or deleted inadvertently
... while iCloud provides only a fraction of that.
It's great to have offsite (iCloud or other) copies of your stuff, for sure, in case of disaster. But having both gives you a lot more protection against data loss.
Also, external hard drives are just dirt cheap these days.
- the ability to restore everything to a new Mac if something happens to yours (or even if you just get a new Mac)
- local copies of files you may have changed or deleted inadvertently
... while iCloud provides only a fraction of that.
It's great to have offsite (iCloud or other) copies of your stuff, for sure, in case of disaster. But having both gives you a lot more protection against data loss.
Also, external hard drives are just dirt cheap these days.
Two backups are better than one, usually.
Or, perhaps you want to back up some things to one place and other things to another? In other words, my iCloud stuff gets backed up there in iCloud.
My copies of old installs, things of "fun" importance rather than "must retain", get drag and dropped or Time Machined to other places.... external storage.
Or, perhaps you want to back up some things to one place and other things to another? In other words, my iCloud stuff gets backed up there in iCloud.
My copies of old installs, things of "fun" importance rather than "must retain", get drag and dropped or Time Machined to other places.... external storage.
guess I am the only person in the world who refuses to use iCloud...
I do not trust storing my "stuff" on "someone elses computer"
I do not trust storing my "stuff" on "someone elses computer"
You ALWAYS want a backup of some kind "close by".
What if you "can't reach the cloud"?
What if you "can't reach the cloud"?
Totally understandable. Everyone is allowed his/her own comfort level. Copy stuff to a memstick and hide it in a jar in the garage!
Euro wrote:
"Copy stuff to a memstick and hide it in a jar in the garage!"
I actually used to do that, except I kept the data on burned CDs instead.
For my "off-site" backup, these days I use an SSD that I keep in my car. It's partitioned, and the "stuff I wouldn't want a thief to see" goes into an encrypted partition...
"Copy stuff to a memstick and hide it in a jar in the garage!"
I actually used to do that, except I kept the data on burned CDs instead.
For my "off-site" backup, these days I use an SSD that I keep in my car. It's partitioned, and the "stuff I wouldn't want a thief to see" goes into an encrypted partition...
Totally fair. I played around with something called SpiderOak some years back. It promised a zero-knowledge encrypted cloud service for backup. I just took another peek at it and it seems its been rebranded as some kind of "hardened" cloud solution. Could be worth a look.
The other thing you can do -- and this is not incredibly convenient but works -- is put your "stuff" in an encrypted disk image and sync/back up that to iCloud or whatever provider. I do this myself with super sensitive files.
OMG, this is genius. I had been keeping my offsite backup at my office, but now that my wife and I are both working remotely I'd been wondering where to keep that offsite drive. It hadn't even occurred to me to put it in the car.
Any issues with heat in the summer? My current offsite drive is a 5TB portable HDD and I wonder how it would like being in a car on a hot day...
- Privacy: you have full control over where your data is stored, how your data is stored, and who has access to it.
- Security: most online malicious actors will have no idea you exist. You have full control over encryption, passwords, and the physical location of your data.
- An internet connection is not required to make or access backups and archives.
- Pay once, use for several years.
- No risk of a cloud provider going out of business, getting sold, or ending its operations.
The standard recommendation for backups is a 3-2-1 strategy. iCloud is not considered a backup. Backblaze and Crashplan are examples of cloud backup solutions.
A bank vault is the usual recommendation. Fire, earthquake, tornado (but maybe not hurricane) proof, normally air conditioned.
What if you're the victim of a ransomware attack? Everything on your computer and disks that are connected is at risk of being compromised. And I think that cloud backup services will just copy the compromised files to replace the good ones until you realize what's happening. IMO, the only way to protect yourself against this is to have one or more good backups on disks that are not connected to your computer.
Excellent point and one that isn't talked about enough on here, especially for people who dual boot.
Most modern backup solutions will have version history, though. Backblaze is one I always recommend.
You could though always just do a physical backup every month on an external HDD and store it at a friend’s house on the shelf. That way if you somehow don’t notice for an entire month, and versioning doesn’t go back that far (you can get unlimited versioning as well on some providers) you still have the static copy.
In addition to all the other reasons mentioned, space. At a maximum of 2 TB, iCloud simply doesn't offer enough space. Pics I've been taking since university now amount to 599 GB for me, not including raw files (which are on a relatively new WD Red drive that died), and 7.05 TB of personal videos. Then there's documents etc. If I could move a copy of all that to iCloud, I would, for easier access. Of course keeping backups in other places, like on an actual hard drive.
But Google does offer unlimited storage, and I have about 72 TB on Drive.
If you have good neighbours and assume that your homes will not both be robbed at the same time, or won't burn down both at the same time... You might even both do backups through WiFi instead of cloud.
ignatius wrote:
"Any issues with heat in the summer? My current offsite drive is a 5TB portable HDD and I wonder how it would like being in a car on a hot day..."
No. That's why I picked an SSD over a platter-based drive with moving parts.
I've been doing this for a number of years now, the SSDs seem to survive both the summer heat and the winter cold. I keep a moisture-absorbing desiccant in a ZIPlock bag, and store the drives in that. Works fine.
I don't live in Texas or Florida, though (nor Montana or North Dakota). Temperatures here range from 90+F in the summer to 0F in the winter.
"Any issues with heat in the summer? My current offsite drive is a 5TB portable HDD and I wonder how it would like being in a car on a hot day..."
No. That's why I picked an SSD over a platter-based drive with moving parts.
I've been doing this for a number of years now, the SSDs seem to survive both the summer heat and the winter cold. I keep a moisture-absorbing desiccant in a ZIPlock bag, and store the drives in that. Works fine.
I don't live in Texas or Florida, though (nor Montana or North Dakota). Temperatures here range from 90+F in the summer to 0F in the winter.
Related, but important, is an "archive" of your critical digital media. HDDs, SSDs, iCloud, etc. are not archive devices.
I currently cut Blu-Ray disks of photos, finance records, etc. The Blu-Ray disks have a one hundred year archival life rating. Cost is a BD-R drive (~$100) and the disks cost $20 to $40 / TB based on brand. I prefer the $40 higher rated ones. A copy set of disks should be stored off site for least risk.
Your grandkids should be able to see your photos or movies like you can see your grandparents old B&W. Your HDD will be long gone in 50 years.
I currently cut Blu-Ray disks of photos, finance records, etc. The Blu-Ray disks have a one hundred year archival life rating. Cost is a BD-R drive (~$100) and the disks cost $20 to $40 / TB based on brand. I prefer the $40 higher rated ones. A copy set of disks should be stored off site for least risk.
Your grandkids should be able to see your photos or movies like you can see your grandparents old B&W. Your HDD will be long gone in 50 years.
I'm trying, but can't understand at all what you're talking about. I have one home and am looking to put a physical backup drive of all my stuff somewhere else in case of fire/disaster/burglary. I'm not particularly interested in "wifi instead of cloud" (whatever that means).
SSDs that big are still a bit rich for my blood! I have ~4TB of data I own (though I could pare it down a bit if I excluded media). I am currently cloning my drives to an encrypted 5TB portable HDD. I keep it in a case and a couple of layers of ziploc -- though your suggestion of a silica pack is a good one.
Not sure how hot my car interior gets in the summer, but I bet it's not good. I'll probably see if I can find a relatively climate-controlled place to store it.
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I like to do both: (1) always-connected Time Machine drive, (2) a monthly clone (via Carbon Copy Cloner) which I keep offsite on an encrypted drive -- and then as a bonus (3) a 2TB iCloud Drive plan, which kind of fills in the gaps and generally makes life easier.
Of note: if you're using iCloud Drive and/or Photos, it's good to have enough space locally to switch OFF the "optimize storage" settings on at least one Mac you own, so you have a full and complete copy of everything on your local drive -- which you can then back up with other methods.
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