I understand the advantages, particularly to consumers. If you have anything to contribute from your own experiences and experiments, please post them in the comments! Billing you, of course, for the storage used by all this data. Re: Networked Mac Apple in 2022 makes ultraportable, easy to use, always-connected computers called iPhones, and the Mac product line is a legacy business that exists largely to support the iPhone business, and reap halo effect revenues from it. var asau = '7432961795'; Connect it to the computer it is powering. Time Machine server) have been deleted and/or moved into the base macOS installation. I have many containers but one to emulate a Time Capsule. This is a really interesting point for M1 Mac users. Im fairly sure that this is a network address issue and restarting gives it a new address, which is fine until its not. I think I will go back to connecting an external SSD each night for an overnight CCC backup. The My Cloud Home is not designed to be an ordinary local network file server, but rather a consumer cloud device, so all user and even much file management must be performed via the sluggish and limited WD Discovery desktop software or My Cloud Home mobile app; no internal Web interface is provided. eMail is in several clouds and will sync from there. I run a job to periodically check ZFS for errors and report if there is a problem. Heres a decent USB hub with passthrough for 100W power. I have CCC working now (without the snapshot functionality) on the WD MyCloud - but WD pushed out a firmware update to the device, and my CCC backups failed. I disabled all its Wi-Fi and routing functions, attached an external SSD to its USB port, and sorted through its Web interface to share the drive for network Time Machine. (You cant use an AirPort Express; it doesnt support external drives.). Very cool. container.appendChild(ins); Steve Jobs wanted the entire experience of owning a Mac to be insanely great, but we seem to have lost that vision forever. Im hopeful that NTFS might yet become a way forward in the future, but, for the time being, my experience led me to shelve this idea in favor of the tried-and-true Ext4 file system developed for Linux. Fortunately, Paragon makes a $15 Mac utility called ExtFS. ins.style.minWidth = container.attributes.ezaw.value + 'px'; Yes, but to me the big advantage of a Time Capsule is that it can be connected to my router, which is always connected to my MacBook Pro via Ethernet, thus saving a port. var alS = 1022 % 1000; An alternative solution is to mount the disk image from the command line in Terminal using a shadow file stored on a writable volume, which will make the disk image faux read-write (changes go into the shadow file, not the actual disk image). This leaves an issue open. Can you take an SSD offline, erase it - or more - does it reset the bit limits so it can be used for another few thousand" cycles? This device combines two hot-swappable, high-capacity drives and comes with a wide variety of settings for maximum flexibility and data protection.. For user data (Documents, Music, Photos, etc), I use Carbon Copy Cloner and back up everything directly to my NAS devices filesystem. } As the article explains network Time Machine backups use sparse files, So any product that provides a correct SMB interface is fine. This is an extremely helpful article, that is very timely for our household, after spending a whole weekend restoring a MBP from an old Time Capsule, and looking for better solutions in the future. I believe that they may be bad translations from the original Japanese. Bah, lets talk about getting a new mac! This provides all the NAS features you would expect with a Web GUI interface. (I have to put my ear within about six inches to hear it at all.). This is why, there is no more Time Capsule. The drive is also already preformatted for macOS, so you just need to plug and play to start using it. Just put it in your pocket or bag. There are no alternatives on the market. I managed it without any difficulty by following the excellent post: How to partition bigger than 2TB disk with GPT and ext4. It took losing some files for me to understand the importance of choosing a quality external hard drive for time machine. But I hope what Ive learned will help you decide how best to back up your Macs over your network. This is a very interesting solution, both in the segregation of Time Machine components and CCC components, as well as using ZFS to store Mac-originated files, which is not something I would have conceptually trusted enough to even try. For this reason, I focused on network backup to external drives, which can be quickly detached and plugged into a Mac, if restoring via the network is not working well. Everybody loves a bargain, right? var slotId = 'div-gpt-ad-gigmocha_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0'; In other words, if you think USB 2.0 is acceptable, then I see no reason why you would consider an HDD unacceptable. container.appendChild(ins); I was excited to learn that the latest version of the Linux kernel (version 5.15) has all-new NTFS capabilities contributed by Paragon, authors of commercial file system translator software, and indeed I found their new NTFS3 Linux kernel module to perform well on a Raspberry Pi. The appearance and even performance of the drive dont matter if it fails you when you need it.. You can get a max speed of 10.0 Gbit/s with the 3.0 port while the USB-C port has an even better speed with a max of 40.0 Gbit/s. And it shows both My Cloud and My Cloud Home as supporting Time Machine backups. Particularly: (1) Is it really advisable to use SSD in this function. I ended up taking an existing (large) hard drive and connecting it to my 27-inch iMac (2020), setting it up for sharing as a Time Machine volume. When you mount the disk image, you can easily browse the backup snapshots in the Finder, or you can use the Time Machine interface by holding down the Option key and choosing Browse Other Backup Disks from the Time Machine menu. All external hard drives arent made equal and you cant just use any external hard drive with time machine. I also leverage ZFS snapshots - the backup volume is snapshotted daily. The Pi is running a, just released from beta, 64-bit version of Raspberry Pi OS Lite, a server edition. The eye-catching grey and black case contains two spinning-platter drives. If you regularly plug in your MB to charge, be it at the office or at home, you can make a local inexpensive backup work without any added effort. Thats precisely the issue and error I kept getting. But your solution sounds robust; thanks for sharing it. They're sleek, stylish, and have a ton of features that make them attractive to consumers. And best of all its a Finder readable backup instead of a .dmg file and the Safety Net function in CCC. If not, you may also reduce the cost by buying a used Mac. Im interested in the CCC approach. However, Im less sanguine about an AirPort Extreme with an external hard drive due to its slow performance. var ins = document.createElement('ins'); For instancemy last attempt at trying itI set up 2 different shares on my iMac that were configured and permissioned identically and set one laptop to use one share for TM and the other one to use the other share. I just have (redundancy) external drives (one NAS) and use CCC. Can handle up to 512GB ECC RAM. Its the same old story here. For desktop Macs, its easy to keep an external Time Machine drive permanently connected. ins.style.display = 'block'; I have now switched to CCC for backups - they strongly recommend against using a NAS for backups, and specifically recommend against the WD MyCloud device. ins.style.height = container.attributes.ezah.value + 'px'; The result was my CCC roll your own TM over wifi solution. Is it a My Cloud, or a My Cloud Home? Using an entire Mac for network backup is not the most elegant solution and feels like overkill, but it is the only actively developed network Time Machine product made and supported by Apple, and it provides all of what I want. The 802.11ac model (sixth generation) performs a bit better than older versions, has the newest (and thus most optimized and bug-fixed) internal software, and is still nominally supported by Apple (but I wouldnt count on that for long). While its not difficult to set up a Synology NAS, configuration is more involved than with some of the other products discussed. I understand - I think you made the limitations clear. But first, one product stands out purely on simplicityWestern Digitals My Cloud Home. var lo = new MutationObserver(window.ezaslEvent); For some reason, Apple supported using a drive connected to an AirPort Extreme for Time Machine Is it possible they (or someone) could re-write time machine so it would work reliably on a commodity network storage devices? var pid = 'ca-pub-6722346464718871'; window.ezoSTPixelAdd(slotId, 'stat_source_id', 44); The Samsung T7 is the first drive Ive encountered to feature fingerprint security.. Very interesting article - the first I have seen that really goes into detail on NAS used for backups. Huh, bandwidth point taken in some cases, but does a CCC backup interrupt work while its running? This drive is rated to be IP54 dust and water-resistant and can also withstand a 4-foot fall. There already was a lot of competition in the market for routers and backup storage equipment, but nothing that added it all together in a way that was super easy to set up and use. In the end, Im unsurprised that there is no single right choice, and, due to currently available products using foreign file systems, there probably never will be, at least from my point of view. This has been working really well and the only additional cost was that of Arq, which is modest. I am disappointed that Apple dropped the Time Capsule but other drives are working well for me (touch wood!). It is less comprehensive and requires considerably more work to restore from, especially if you need to restore an entire machine. Basically though you are saying that Apple doesnt care about the user experience for Mac owners as long as they persuade enough of us to keep buying laptops. var ins = document.createElement('ins'); You can learn more about Toshiba Canvio Basics on Amazon. But the Synology RT2600ac DOES support Time Machine under SMB! If you dont have a monitor, you can access the Raspberry Pi from your Mac either graphically with the macOS Screen Sharing app or via the command line using Terminal. He also stressed privacy and security; IIRC, it was another unique selling point for Time Capsule. The bitter truth is that all hard drives fail. window.ezoSTPixelAdd(slotId, 'adsensetype', 1); container.style.width = '100%'; I have had 3 computers making Time Machine backups to my RT2600ac for a year now. Time Machine disk images created with macOS 10.15 Catalina or earlier remain formatted as HFS+J, even when used with newer versions of macOS; these utilize directory hard links instead of file system snapshots, so some of the comments below may not apply. Neither includes a USB-C power supply, so make sure you get one, or a kit that includes one. My requirements were never what Apple had in mind, even in the era of the Time Capsule. var lo = new MutationObserver(window.ezaslEvent); Usually Time Machine and the AirPort Extreme could handle that, but occasionally, it would result in a corrupted backup. As such, if all the other possible solutionssome of which are less expensive, offer better performance, and provide more flexible restoration optionsseem overwhelming, just get yourself a My Cloud Home and move on. However, most people choose an external hard drive as their preferred backup option for a number of reasons.. While its normal for you to want to save money, still buy a drive from a reputable brand. Simply writing zeros to the entire SSD does not erase all the flash memory blocks. var alS = 1030 % 1000; LXD containers share the host system kernel so they run at near bare metal speed and can access the disks at full speed. Continuing to support a product that isnt moving lots of windows consumers to Mac just probably isnt worth it, and its one less thing to support. Assuming this works, you will want to make sure you do not try to connect both the source and target drives at the same time, because they will have identical UUIDs and this may cause problems. Thanks, Adam. Arq sits in the background, doing its work quietly, efficiently and without fuss, just as all good software of this kind should do. ins.style.width = '100%'; Most of the time I use it not because my disk has crashed, but because I deleted a file or email I want to get back. Ive been using Mac for a while and have tried multiple hard drives with time machine. var asau = '7432961795'; I did go to the WD Support Site and they have a support document (Answer ID 977) that shows the differences between My Cloud and My Cloud Home. But, when restoring data, direct attachment to a Mac will always yield the quickest operation, even for a hard drive. I used this for years, with an old ethernet attached Mini, in a fireproof safe in the basement. ins.style.height = container.attributes.ezah.value + 'px'; This means you have to take note of the read and write performance of your drive. But they dont market iCloud as a destination for Time Machine backups. This odyssey was not as singularly satisfying as I was hoping it would be, but it has been illuminating. Theres also the AES 256-bit hardware encryption which keeps your personal and private data more secure And I wouldnt want you to make the same mistakes I made back then.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[728,90],'gigmocha_com-box-3','ezslot_2',103,'0','0'])};if(typeof __ez_fad_position != 'undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-gigmocha_com-box-3-0')}; People not familiar with the time machine will also be learning a few things about the program later on in this article. The UI would suggest anything but. I dont trust bus-powered drives to be reliable. The length of the cables (9 inches) isnt going to be a problem with laptop users but the same is not true for people working on desktops., You can check Lexar SL100 Pro on Amazon., Videographers, musicians, and creative pros in general that regularly deal with vast amounts of data will find this external hard drive useful. (Well, at least I do with the iMac. Conversely, if you feel HDD performance is unacceptably slow, then anything with USB 2.0 will be even more unacceptable, ruling out the use of an AirPort Extreme router altogether. This particular model of Asus router requires the storage drive to be formatted with the older (but still adequate) Linux Ext3 file system, which it can do via its Web-based interface. They offer little physical protection for the drive itself, but OTOH swapping becomes a 2-sec task. Apple does not certify third party hard drives: Time Machine can back up certain external storage devices connected to your Mac or available on your network. As for restoring in 90% of the situations Im helping with, restoring over Ethernet isnt viable; think iMac and modem on opposite sides of a (non-wired) home, or MacBook with misplaced Ethernet adapter, etc. iCloud+, iTunes and iOS plans. Just get a simple USB-C hub with PD passthrough and connect your USB drive and your charger cable to that. var ffid = 1; My passport also works with both USB 3.0 and USB-C ports and it comes with two cables of these types. Further, as with NAS products, its Ext4 file system is foreign to macOS, requiring Paragons ExtFS software if you want to connect the external drive directly to a Mac. ins.id = slotId + '-asloaded'; if(ffid == 2){ ** Cost for Raspberry Pi 400 kit with power supply, mouse, and SD card with the operating system. It works, but these days you dont really want to be on HFS+ for TM anyway. So lets get straight to it and take a look at some of the best external hard drives for time machine. Also, apparently it is exposed to the internet by default - I have that turned off for my WD NAS - too risky. if(ffid == 2){ Dont use this for a TM network backup thoughsince it doesnt reliably workget a copy of CarbonCopyCloner and set it up to do the same thing that TM would normally doand it just works. faster transfers than my old mini (was firewire now USB 3), low power consumption (pi4 3W vs mini 11W-85W) no fans, significantly cheaper than a new NAS or mac mini, OMV is well documented, maintained and with active forums, learning curve for linux, samba and raspberry pi, power supply cable for raspberry pi is its biggest weakness (continuity can be lost if bumped or moved). troubleshoot Many I dealt with that are Mac Only, have moved to iCloud+, along with a Time Machine backup to USB-C drive they schedule-a-reminder to attach with portables. However, remember to copy any provided utility software first before formatting so you can place it back on the drive when the process is complete. That may be true, but it is also depressingly cynical. How to make the Apple Watch zoom out? server computer storage servers computers network ins.id = slotId + '-asloaded'; The Sabrent DS-UTC1 SATA Docking Station supports the direct insertion of Desktop 2.5"/3.5" SATA Hard Drives. var ffid = 1; Eventually, youll get bored of keeping it in the drawer and will reformat it and use it for something else. You can easily choose the Time Machine network share as a source from Recovery or during install with migration assistant. My broadband connection is not fantastic - 16 down and 6 up, but scheduled to run overnight, it gradually chomps its way through the gigs of data after which refreshing the backup is relatively light work. So I recommend most use a cloud service (Code42, BackBlaze, etc) as secondary, with a USB-C external, as primary TM drive, to attach as needed (if users have portables). This is easily accomplished using Paragons software; once done, you just unmount and remount the drive, which will then be shown as read-only. var ins = document.createElement('ins'); He realized that Apple users and prospective consumers and business would welcome easy to set up and maintain WiFi networks. For user data (Documents, Music, Photos, etc), I use Carbon Copy Cloner and back up everything directly to my NAS devices filesystem. Plus, two automated backup systems provide better insurance than one. The read and write speed of T7 is impressive, almost double of the corresponding values of T5: up to 1000 MB/s for both reads and writes. Plus, any technology that synchronizes also has the power to delete files from your computer. Is it really advisable to use SSD in this function. ins.style.minWidth = container.attributes.ezaw.value + 'px'; My takeaway is: Just plug a damn drive into the laptop. Under Mac File Service/Enable Mac file service/Time Machine:, change Time Machine: from Time Machine (which seems logical) to Windows (which does NOT seem logical. I have Chronosync backing up all of my various drives and content areas, either mirroring drives onto each other or onto my WD PR4100. On Monterey we observe that TM runs exclusively on the E cores because it has been set to the lowest Quality of Service level (9). Still, you may prefer its lower price and much shorter physical heightthough larger footprint. Synology is not as well-known for its router products as it is for its NAS products, but the routers are pretty neat, running a stripped-down version of Synologys NAS operating system internally while supporting external drives via USB 3.0. When mounted this way, backup snapshots appear as usual in the Finder. lo.observe(document.getElementById(slotId + '-asloaded'), { attributes: true }); Buying some cheap no-name brands will result in drives that will fail quickly. Time Machine backups are notably fast. And there are dozens of alternatives, both local and cloud. ins.style.height = container.attributes.ezah.value + 'px'; But that is something we cannot presently adjust (at least to our present knowledge). You can mount the disk image with a shadow file, as described above, and then (non-destructively, because of the shadow file) delete recent backups using the Finder until the backup you want becomes the most recent entry. LXD can run virtual machines for other operating systems but they run slower than native LXD containers due to the overhead of hardware virtualization. var lo = new MutationObserver(window.ezaslEvent); Remember, external USB-C drives (HDD are larger than the SSDs, but SSDs are faster to restore from/backup to) are cheap. The Time Capsule acted as a destination for automatic, hourly Time Machine backups from Mac computers on the same network. Its performed ok for network Time Machine in the various places Ive installed it, except for one where I suspect the unit is defective. Where is it available at that price? There are a variety of issues associated with both hardware and software. ins.style.height = container.attributes.ezah.value + 'px'; For older Mac laptops with neither Ethernet nor USB-C ports, you can purchase an Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter ($29). If your system is running High Sierra or later, there is no point in getting Server - all of the features youre likely to care about (e.g. It is not necessary to mount the image read-write via a shadow file for Migration Assistant to be able to transfer from it, even though the backup snapshots are not otherwise visible. Does CCC expose any of this control to the user? Interesting in that it shows My Cloud Home as using OS 4. var lo = new MutationObserver(window.ezaslEvent); I bought a 4TB external drive and connected it to the USB port on the TC. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); taskpolicy) and get it to run on the P cores if, say for example youre stepping away from your Mac from an hour and in the meantime you want that initial TM to run through. I have a 2TB plan but was only using a fraction of that for my clients so it was a perfect match. (I dont have a need for frequent backups on my MBP 16 Max - the stuff I really care about is in iCloud.) (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); } I thought about buying a refurbished MBA and using that as an always on file server. ins.style.width = '100%'; To save energy and in view of my old laCie Big being noisy event when its drives are unmounted. It has the new OS5 software. My solution is to only back up the system configuration with Time Machine. var cid = '1146314100'; I think the most important thing one should look for when finding external hard drives for any backup is reliability. (I have reported this bug to Paragon, and the company has added the bug to its database.). I did go to the WD Support Site and they have a support document (Answer ID 977) that shows the differences between My Cloud and My Cloud Home. ins.dataset.adSlot = asau; I exclude all my user data. ins.style.minWidth = container.attributes.ezaw.value + 'px'; Synology is well regarded for its NAS products, and with good reason; its DSM operating system, based on Linux, is reasonably easy to get around via its Web interface, and it provides a lot of desirable options and capabilities for a standalone server. And when you spec out $399 for a 2TB Time Capsule (discontinued), versus $120/yr for 2TB iCloud+ plan (and Hide email, relay, homekit video) just a matter of time when they offer 3, or more TB storage for $14.99/$19.99 month Apple wants monthly income. var slotId = 'div-gpt-ad-gigmocha_com-leader-3-0'; TimeMachine is all we get. I do get occasional errors when the backup fails to complete, but these are transient, and subsequent backups are ok. Why yes, Adam, I do verify my backups by restoring something on International Verify Your Backups Day as you recommend, and other times. The good thing is that many external hard disks on the market are already preformatted for PC or Mac, and you just need to plug them into your system and start using them right away., Time machine only recognizes drives that are formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or HFS+. Solutions some of you offer are simple (WD My Cloud has some software issues, reliability and likely WD green or blue drivesI dont trust them-anyone crack one open?). container.appendChild(ins); Instead, the best way is to encrypt the volume when you set it up. ins.dataset.adClient = pid; TidBITS is copyright 2022 TidBITS Publishing Inc. ins.dataset.adSlot = asau; The issue would be frequent read/writes cycles that could eventually reach the limit in certain areas (blocks of bits) as specified by the manufacturer on the SSD (can be only few thousand on inexpensive consumer grade SSDs). Appreciate this article and all the knowledgeable comments. You can connect any external disk to a Mac to use for Time Machine and Im sure thats what Apple would recommend going forward. Of course you should always have more than one kind of backup. window.ezoSTPixelAdd(slotId, 'stat_source_id', 44); I relaunched the finder on My MbA for good measure. This external hard drive is also very reliable and portable. The My Cloud Mirror does work well for file storage (my photos) and is available for all devices connected to my local WiFi network. This is easy to set up with TrueNAS, and also with Synology if youre using btrfs. var container = document.getElementById(slotId); My guidance here is based only on my impressions. If the Mac you have chosen for network Time Machine also requires backup, its own Time Machine should target a separate volume on the drive being shared, or a different drive entirely. As Im sure everyone here who uses it already knows, CCC can be set for hourly backup too. Unless you have an old Apple Time Capsule or connect the drive directly to your Mac, the Time Machine feature over a network is basically unreliable. ins.dataset.adChannel = cid; Ive tired to set it up at least 3 different times for our two laptops under various macOS versions back to Mojave and despite building the shares on the destinations exactly identically to each other and setting TM up identicallyit just randomly fails to find the destination or doesnt finish the backup. The moment your backup disk, in this case, external hard drive, gets full, time machine will start deleting your oldest snapshots. However, it also suffered from poor performance and requires AFP. Sometimes you could wait many minutes while looking for a single lost file, hoping that earlier dates would eventually make themselves available. Its possible for you to configure this external hard drive in such a way that your system sees it as either two separate 4TB drives, a 4TB drive thats automatically mirrored or backed up to the second, or as a single 8TB drive with faster performance. One really nice thing about this is that it means its very hard for the M1 user to notice TM is running at allapart from perhaps i/o bottlenecks in certain special cases, whatever youre actively doing and certainly all the GUI action is driven with priority over what TM is doing in the background. Atleast Time Machine is included and works for most, and allows migrations to new macs. So, what to do? Youll need to install the Samsung Portable SSD software to set up the T7s encryption and register your fingerprint. Of course Arq is not free but it is a great backup utility, and I know its been mentioned on these boards many times. Two USB 3.0 ports and 6 USB 2.0 ports and additional 4 SATA3 ports on the board. But that is too expensive and too complicated. Basically applications and settings only. Using a Supermicro M11SDV-8CLN4F which includes the AMD EPYC 3251 SoC, 8 Cores 16 Threads @ 55W. If your router is in a tight space, you might wish to consider a used 11-inch MacBook Air or a Mac mini set up to operate without a screen, keyboard, and mouse. Two points: First, time machine is much more than a backup, because it stores many snapshots from the past. I also think I should talk about the durability of this external hard drive. Perhaps thats changed since? Because its a full-fledged computer, the Raspberry Pi can be customized to do whatever you like, including being a network Time Machine appliance with all the characteristics Im looking for. I dont do them hourly and wouldnt know. I also was underwhelmed by the network performance, even exclusively over Ethernet, with copying at speeds I might expect from a directly attached USB 2.0 drive. Ill do it. If thats what you need, no problem. The really strange thing was that since I was using 2 TM drivesone on my Mac mini and one on my iMacfor both of the laptops and the 4 shares were all set up the same which one broke randomly switched between the two destinations and even when TM said the drive was not available I could easily open up the share for that laptopso how can it not be available/. On a Mac, share a folder that other Mac computers on your network can use for Time Machine backups. Storage capacity is the next thing to consider after the brand name. I was actually intrigued by the Asus mesh Wi-Fi products they were highly rated in one review I read the other day, after this was published. Just a tip for other notebook users who might be in the same situation. Mine sits on my desk about 30 inches away from me and at that distance is completely silent. Backup is actually less than half of the equationrestoration is much more important. This external hard drive can be used with USB 3.1 ports which will bring about an increase in transfer speed. For either, utilizing macOSs screen sharing capability should ease ongoing maintenance. Note: we could debate backups forever. This is why I put brand name/reputation first when finding the best external hard drives for time machine. All machines running up to date Monterey and both laptops are M1 models. However, I would like to ask whether anyone understands why Apple has abandoned the Mac community in this way. Ive corrected the price now.
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