Is there a point in still using Time Machine?

[andyx181x]

Hi there, so I know there’s a lot of threads already about upgrading to a Mac mini. However I’m trying to figure out the storage situation of buying an entry level max mini and then wondering if I should get another external for Time Machine.

I’m still using a 2010 27” iMac and I had upgrading it with a 1 TB internal and have a 1TB external for Time Machine.

If I go with a mini I’ll have less internal storage, but I read articles about setting up and external SSD to hold the bulk of data as appose to breaking the bank and upgrading the internal drive at checkout with apple.

Then I wondered well if there’s already one external for that what about another for Time Machine? I really depend on that with my iMac and I wonder is it still as important today to use Time Machine or are other apple users going different routes?

 

[fricotin]

Using a mini 2012 and still backing up everyday on TM + SuperDuper. Expecting the original drive to go Kaput anytime.

 

[KaliYoni]

Hi there, so I know there’s a lot of threads already about upgrading to a Mac mini. However I’m trying to figure out the storage situation of buying an entry level max mini and then wondering if I should get another external for Time Machine.

I’m still using a 2010 27” iMac and I had upgrading it with a 1 TB internal and have a 1TB external for Time Machine.

If I go with a mini I’ll have less internal storage, but I read articles about setting up and external SSD to hold the bulk of data as appose to breaking the bank and upgrading the internal drive at checkout with apple.

Then I wondered well if there’s already one external for that what about another for Time Machine? I really depend on that with my iMac and I wonder is it still as important today to use Time Machine or are other apple users going different routes?

I maintain backups using Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner. The Time Machine drive is always connected. The CCC drive is disconnected most of the time. I do a CCC backup about once a week or before installing an OS update.

I do this for redundancy and to increase the chances of having a clean version of my entire setup in the event of a catastrophic failure or a security breach.

More discussion:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...re-any-advantage-of-ccc.2306894/post-30156566

 

[ovbacon]

I'm with KaliYoni,

I have a mini M2 with an external ssd for photo and music libraries and a few other programs and I have a 5TB external hdd that I use for Time Machine. My TM also backs up my external ssd because I want to have extra safety measures. I have another external ssd that I use to make CCC backups of everything... you can never have enough stuff backed up.

 

[andyx181x]

I'm with KaliYoni,

I have a mini M2 with an external ssd for photo and music libraries and a few other programs and I have a 5TB external hdd that I use for Time Machine. My TM also backs up my external ssd because I want to have extra safety measures. I have another external ssd that I use to make CCC backups of everything... you can never have enough stuff backed up.

This is the setup I was thinking but I never tried or looked into how to make the external for Time Machine do two separate projects backups. Do you set Time Machine to combine both the Mac mini and the external or you have to set them up separately?

Is it ok to leave the external plugged in all the time or does it reduce the life of the drive?

 

[ignatius345]

I use Time Machine

Is it ok to leave the external plugged in all the time or does it reduce the life of the drive?

The external should sleep when it's not in use, so it's totally fine. I keep a 4TB portable HDD plugged in behind my iMac all the time for Time Machine and it only spins up when a backup starts (have it set for 1x/day). I also keep a large SSD plugged in all the time with all my media and larger files on it. It doesn't audibly "spin up" the way the HDD does, but I assume it's in some kind of idle state. In any case, no ill effects.

For what it's worth, I use both Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner. CCC I use for a monthly backup I keep offsite. Time Machine is just quick and easy and always plugged in. I've migrated many a Mac using Time Machine and always found it quite good. Have also done so with CCC, but it's a bit more manual and a bit more of a "power user" tool. I think both have their place.

 

[ovbacon]

This is the setup I was thinking but I never tried or looked into how to make the external for Time Machine do two separate projects backups. Do you set Time Machine to combine both the Mac mini and the external or you have to set them up separately?

I have them all part of the same TM backup as it is just easier to have it in one go, with CCC I create different backups for each.

 

[TinaBelcher]

Tbh I've never used it in the 14 years I've used Macs.
I've had lost bunch of stuff from corrupted Flash drives, but never with my Mac machines.
But don't trust my judgement.

 

[andyx181x]

I use Time Machine

The external should sleep when it's not in use, so it's totally fine. I keep a 4TB portable HDD plugged in behind my iMac all the time for Time Machine and it only spins up when a backup starts (have it set for 1x/day). I also keep a large SSD plugged in all the time with all my media and larger files on it. It doesn't audibly "spin up" the way the HDD does, but I assume it's in some kind of idle state. In any case, no ill effects.

For what it's worth, I use both Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner. CCC I use for a monthly backup I keep offsite. Time Machine is just quick and easy and always plugged in. I've migrated many a Mac using Time Machine and always found it quite good. Have also done so with CCC, but it's a bit more manual and a bit more of a "power user" tool. I think both have their place.

Thanks for the advice, that puts me at ease to leave both the external and time machine plugged in all the time.

 

[andyx181x]

I have them all part of the same TM backup as it is just easier to have it in one go, with CCC I create different backups for each.

Wow i didn't know time machine could back up two drives at the same time.

How do you allocate to have the system save photos, music specifically to the external?

 

[lostless]

Wow i didn't know time machine could back up two drives at the same time.

How do you allocate to have the system save photos, music specifically to the external?

Time machine will back up any drive connected that is formatted as HFS+ or APFS. If it's using fat32 or exfat, it will not.
You can change where the library is held for photos and music if you hold down option during the start up of those apps and delete the libraries on your main drive. In music you can change the storage device for the music in the settings.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I'm backing up my Mac mini with Time Machine (the internal storage, plus an external data disk). I also use a cloud backup from the same machine. I'd be willing to look at a different backup solution but TM just... works ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[koelsh]

I used to use TM a lot but because it's basically an everything or nothing type system I've fallen away from it. If you want to restore everything to a new system or reformat the current system it’s great but if there's something you don’t want to restore like app data you don’t use or corrupted or quirky settings/library data it’s difficult or maybe not possible to exclude it when restoring.

 

[cbdilger]

Don't think about a bigger internal as "breaking the bank" — think about it as ensuring longer drive life and MUCH less hassle because you / your drive are not constantly bumping up against capacity. If you get four years out of a computer, that's what, 50¢ a day? Hell, you're pushing 12 years now... so 10¢ a day if you get that much life from the next machine. (Typing this on a 2017 iMac myself...)

As for backup, here's what I do for each of four machines:
1) Backblaze for continuous automagic encrypted cloud backup
2) TimeMachine to external HDD
3) Carbon Copy Cloner to external HDD

I have three external drives formatted as APFS so multiple computers can back up to one drive — you just add another overlapping volume to the same container and they share the space. (I think that's the right terminology....) So I move the drives around every couple days and keep one outside to protect against physical damage.

Not everyone needs that level of redundancy but a data loss would be catastrophic for me given the nature of my work. But anyone who cares about their data needs at least two backups using two different approaches with one offsite. That is: if your new Mini is backed up to a new HDD sitting next to it and a thief comes by... or a fire... or your kid with a Super Soaker... not good.

Strongly recommend reading https://eclecticlight.co/ on Time Machine and lots of other Mac nerdliness. (RIP Pondini, btw.)

 

[Krypton Deer]

I have switched to cloud drive + external SSD route and no longer use Time Machine. My MacBook no longer holds the actual data files anyways.

256GB M2 Air
2TB iCloud Drive
2TB Samsung T7 (mostly identical as iCloud)

(Offsite: fam's house) an older LaCie 4TB hard drive; I add some new files occasionally when I visit them

 

[HDFan]

I had upgrading it with a 1 TB internal and have a 1TB external for Time Machine.

Normally you want the TM disk to be larger than the backed up drive. The larger it is the more history you can have available. In my case I use a drive that is around 3x larger and can keep almost a year of history.

In the recommended 3-2-1 backup strategy only 1 should be a TM disk due to its tendency to fail. For the other 2 you could use other hard disks with something like Carbon Copy Cloner (HDs better than SSDs still but that is changing) or online backup services. iCloud is not a backup service.

 

[apostolosdt]

I've been using Time Machine with all my desktop Macs. You never know when it's going to happen!

 

[Algus]

Good backup strategy is on site backup + remote backup. I use Time Machine to backup my Mini's internal drive to an external disc. I also have another external disc that is used for large media files (ie for my Plex server) which is a dual drive RAID 1 (so the two drives mirror each other, if one fails the other is good). For remote backup I use iCloud for everything but that media storage drive (I guess if I have a house fire I'm a bit SOL there but IDK if I want to play for 16 TB of cloud storage and then spend time uploading all that data)

But yeah, 100% I recommend setting up a time machine backup. You don't have to spend a ton of money to have a decent backup drive in case your main drive fails.

 

[George Dawes]

I rely on multiple macs and iCloud

Had to rely on tm once and it was a huge cock up , not impressed

 

[4wheelcycle]

I still use Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner. I have two 1GB SSDs, one for TM and one for CCC, constantly plugged-in to my Mac mini M2 Pro. TM is set for hourly backups and CCC is set for daily midnight backups. I use them partly as a standby for whole disk failures, which I have never had, but mostly as backups in the event I accidentally erase or totally screw-up an important file. I tend to screw-up a file or a whole folder about once each year, and I have always been able to get them back from TM or CCC.

 

[ignatius345]

Wow i didn't know time machine could back up two drives at the same time.

Yep. It's pretty easy. You just hit the little + icon in the Time Machine settings and add a drive. It will back up to whichever one is plugged in. Or, I assume, both if both are plugged in? Haven't tried that.

How do you allocate to have the system save photos, music specifically to the external?

On my iMac, I use an external SSD for Photos, Music and TV apps and it works well. It also saves me money because I didn't have to pay for a 2TB internal drive when I bought it -- a fairly inexpensive external SSD is doing the trick well and can be expanded later if my needs change. Good to use a reasonably fast drive for this to keep it responsive, especially with Photos. The instructions for moving the data files are different for each of these apps:

Photos: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201517
Music: https://support.apple.com/guide/music/change-where-music-files-are-stored-mus69248042d/mac
TV: https://support.apple.com/guide/tvapp-mac/files-settings-tv0f5accea/mac

Important: make sure your backup also includes the external drive you are keeping your media files on.

 

[Cunfyoozed]

I rely on multiple macs and iCloud

Had to rely on tm once and it was a huge cock up , not impressed

I've been using it for 16 years and never had a problem. Having said that, I always keep extra backups on other drives as a fail-safe.

 

[Fishrrman]

I've never used tm, not once, ever. I can safely state that I never WILL use it, ever.

However, I DO use CarbonCopyCloner and SuperDuper.
Both work for me.

 

[splifingate]

I must say that I have never had a successful recovery from TM backups.

The three times that I really, really needed to recover/step-back-in-time were each unsuccessful.

Every avenue was a wasted detour through multiple cul-de-sacs of frustration.

I am in no way a Wizard, but my grasp of things Mac OS was definitely not the deficit.

We are now estranged, and I actively avoid my brother TM at all family reunions

 

[elvisimprsntr]

I run several enterprise class open source NAS software https://www.truenas.com on some OEM NAS appliances for 3-2-1 backup strategy, which supports TM among other protocols and cloud storage providers out of the box. I have migrated from an Intel to M1 machine without any issue.