External HDD for backup (OS-X)

[Matus Kalisky]

My old external HDD which I used only to back up my laptop (MacBook) via Time Machine just died. Not much of problem as I do not need the history of the data, but I certainly need a replacement.

Now the question is - what to get. I consider buying some external HDD with capacity of 1 TB or less. It should not serve as a main storage unit for large volume data (like scans, PS-files or movies - those are sitting on 2x1TB RAID1), just as a bootable disc with full backup of the system and small volume data that change often.

The main purpose is to be able to reboot from this backup drive if the HDD in my MacBook would go belly-up. The size of my HDD is only 160 GB and the 320 GB of my (old and now dead) backup HDD was more than enough too.

I have a few questions in the process:

1) Would it be possible to create two partitions - one to backup my laptop and one to backup my wife's Windows laptop? The boot-ablity is the main task here. It would allow us to have just one external HDD instead of 2.

2) What HDD to choose? Obviously the main parameter is longevity and of course compatibility. The absolute speed or noise is secondary as the thing will run once a week for 10 - 30 minutes. Compact size (small footprint) would be nice. If the HDD would not need external power source (large and bulky stuff, hate them) would be preferable, but that usually means the HDD was designed to be carried around and I do not know how that effects the performance.

EDIT: My current MacBook only has USB2. I will probably change my laptop in the future, but it is not a short or medium term project (I have no real reason to change it. I do plan to boost the RAM to 4GB though)

[Kirk Gittings]

I use an eSATA drive that I can stick right in the computer when the main HD fails. I put it in an enclosure and I use Carbon Copy Cloner to create the bootable drive.

[Peter De Smidt]

I like Kirk's suggestion. Get a quality enclosure for a single drive. Make sure it has a fan and the connections you need. Get a quality hard drive. I've had good luck with Seagate. Note that there are "consumer" grade drives and "enterprise" drives, with the latter being better built. When you get it, install the drive into the enclosure and run a full surface scan and format. This can take hours. You can use it as an external drive, and when your system drive fails, you can take the new drive out of the single bay enclosure and install it directly into your system.

[Allen in Montreal]

I use an eSATA drive that I can stick right in the computer when the main HD fails. I put it in an enclosure and I use Carbon Copy Cloner to create the bootable drive.

That sounds like a great idea.
I like the history of Time machine as I tend to need to retrieve a file more often than I care to admit. I would image it would be fairly easy to have a two disk Firewire enclosure and run Time Machine on Disk A and Carbon CC for Disk B?

[Matus Kalisky]

Thanks. Interesting idea on keeping a "spare" disc in external housing that can be directly used to replace the broken one. But I do not see the need to have another disc that is being cloned by additional software (e.g. the mentioned Carbon CC).

The only downside I see that potentially a good HDD that I would put in my MacBook may cost more than "standard" external HDD. Also - I would mind about the speed and noise as this HDD may actually end up to be used daily.

One additional question. If I were to do as proposed - would I really be be able to put this external HDD directly inside the Laptop and use it like there never was a crash? As I mentioned I do use Time Machine, but I actually do now know whether the backup has exactly the same structure ...

[Kirk Gittings]

Time Machine does not create a bootable HD in IME. You can "restore" your drive from TM. A true bootable copy drive you can stick right in as a replacement. CCC does and it is donation ware.

[J. Fada]

It seems to me that a simple portable external usb 2 hard drive is all you need. If you partition it you can use it for both yours and your wife's machines as backup. When you first get it use a cloning program to clone the operating system to it (I like SuperDuper) and then set it as your Time Machine backup drive. If you do this then you are covered no matter what.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Why put a lot of data from multiple computer backups on one drive? If that drive goes south, you lose way more. Drives are cheap. Redundancy is good. My MacPro has 6 HD's with redundancy among them. My RAID array also protects data loss in case of failure. That's why I don't like the current 16GB CF cards for my digicam. I can accumulate a weeks worth of files and if it craps out, a lot is lost. I download more often to avoid that possibility.

[Matus Kalisky]

- Kirk -
I see, thanks.

- J.Fada -
Thanks. But why should I need to use a cloning program? Last time I just formatted the external drive and told Time Machine to use it as a backup .. ?

- Jeffrey -
Point taken. Don's some pro cameras have dual memory card slots? Concerning the HDD - I only would like to save on space & cables.

OK, guys - so let me ask a following question - should I concentrate on some particular HDDs or pretty much everything produced today will do the job? The prices vary of course (with specs and make). Should I go for portable HDD os some 2.5' that does not require external power source or would a "standard" 3.5' external drive be a better option?

[Allen in Montreal]

Matus,

If your hard drive crashes out and just needs to be blasted and a clean install, a 100 dollar USB 2 drive is all you need. The glory of Kirk's setup is instant swap out of a scrap hard drive and back on line in less time than it takes just to drive to the store to get a new disk if it craps out and is totally dead. The laptop drives cost more but they are not that dear compared to years past.

It really is a great idea for those who can not afford downtime.
If down time is not an issue just search for a Seagate USB 2 drive at discount as most shops want them gone in favor of USB 3 and the are dirty cheap when you can find them.

A year ago I had 3 cheap Lacie drives (90 dollar 1 terra usb drives in a black casing) crash in a few months. And customer support was totally shit!! They finally got me new drives. One of those crashed too. I really could not recommend the cheaper consumer grade Lacie junk.

That said. Hard drives are up 20 or 30 percent since the big floods in Thailand etc.
I swapped out my daughter's MacBook Pro drive from
160 to 750 gig for about 200.00.