[chassis]

Looking for an external SSD to backup latest MacBook Air with latest macOS using Time Machine.

Is there a good/better/best hierarchy with these or are they all the same?

I’m a garden-variety computer user, not an IT guy running an enterprise.

[2000cs]

I’ve been using WD on my iMac with no issues. One is about 6 years old and got full so the second is only a year old. 1TB and 2TB. Yeah, I ought to delete some stuff.

Edit: These are not SSD, just regular old HDD backup drives.

[tcphoto]

I have relied on GTechnology external drives for twenty years and prefer the mini drives.

[shoei]

For MacBook? I recommend this one because -

1. It's reliable brand
2. It's credit card sized
3. Biometric scanner on device is kinda nice

Samsung MU-PC500K/WW 500GB T7 Touch SSD Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082VVSJTH...CTHEFAD4PD17Q7

Dude specifically asked for "ssd external" and responses are suggesting everything but a ssd external

[vreihen16]

I have a common USB Western Digital spinning hard disk on my work iMac for Time Machine backups.

On my personal MacBooks, I have Time Machine backups running over wifi to my home NAS.....

[zx10guy]

You want to look at the specs of the SSD in question. They come in all different types of NAND flash: SLC, TLC, MLC, QLC. Each has it's advantages and disadvantages. The key spec most would look at is how durable the flash memory is in the drive. For consumer grade SSDs, the durability is given as total bytes written. Which means how many bytes can be written to the flash memory before there is data loss. Enterprise SSDs have a durability rating based off of drive writes per day. So obviously enterprise SSDs are more durable across the board.

So you have to set the parameters of what data you're backing up and how often. As an FYI, SSDs are NOT considered archival grade. Hard drives and magnetic tape are still the standard as archival grade. There are also archival grade writeable optical media. The issue is if the SSD is allowed to sit for a long duration, the electrons captured in the cells of the flash memory will eventually leak out the electrons. The only way to avoid this is to energize the flash memory periodically. How long you can go without energizing the flash memory to ensure data integrity is highly dependent on the flash memory used.

[vreihen16]

With the write lifetime limitations on SSD flash memory, I would only use mechanical/spinning hard disk media for backups.

After having a Samsung SSD fail on me after less than two years, I strongly recommend automated backups to spinning disks just to be safe.....

[chassis]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

You want to look at the specs of the SSD in question. They come in all different types of NAND flash: SLC, TLC, MLC, QLC. Each has it's advantages and disadvantages. The key spec most would look at is how durable the flash memory is in the drive. For consumer grade SSDs, the durability is given as total bytes written. Which means how many bytes can be written to the flash memory before there is data loss. Enterprise SSDs have a durability rating based off of drive writes per day. So obviously enterprise SSDs are more durable across the board.

So you have to set the parameters of what data you're backing up and how often. As an FYI, SSDs are NOT considered archival grade. Hard drives and magnetic tape are still the standard as archival grade. There are also archival grade writeable optical media. The issue is if the SSD is allowed to sit for a long duration, the electrons captured in the cells of the flash memory will eventually leak out the electrons. The only way to avoid this is to energize the flash memory periodically. How long you can go without energizing the flash memory to ensure data integrity is highly dependent on the flash memory used.

Thanks to all. Thanks for the comment about non-archival aspect of SSD, I am rethinking this and reconsidering spinning disk.

[M_Six]

Not to mention spinning disks are way cheaper.

That said, Amazon has a bit of a deal on Crucial's 500GB X6 for a tiny and quick external. As it's been stated here, not the best choice for backups. But if you need some quick and portable storage space for whatever reason, this is cheap space. I like things like this to store RAW files when I travel. I always keep a copy on my laptop, but it's good to have another on an external. I have enough SD cards where I don't have to wipe them during the trip, so I have the original RAW files on the SD, a copy on my laptop, and a 3rd copy on something like this tiny Crucial drive.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08W1F8YGJ/

[shoei]

Originally Posted by chassis

Thanks to all. Thanks for the comment about non-archival aspect of SSD, I am rethinking this and reconsidering spinning disk.

If you look on Amazon, in the reviews section, people post images of performance. Will help you out during the decision making process

[UncleWede]

For back-ups, if you set up the timing correctly (hours you aren't using the device) speed of the disk isn't very important. Getting an inexpensive 7200RPM disk in the 2-5 TB size shouldn't be that expensive.

Heck, for the price of an SSD, you should be able to get 2 spinners, and store one (somewhere other than where the Mac is)

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

For back-ups, if you set up the timing correctly (hours you aren't using the device) speed of the disk isn't very important. Getting an inexpensive 7200RPM disk in the 2-5 TB size shouldn't be that expensive.

Time Machine does continuous backups on a Mac as a background task. Drive speed and backup time windows really don't matter once the initial backup is seeded. (Restore throughput aside.) I'd personally use a slower RPM drive, to save the bearing wear.

Leaving an external backup drive mounted on the backed-up computer 24/7 is probably not a great idea as malware/ransomware protection, and not covered under 3-2-1 backup scheme recommendations without another copy both on-site and off-site. Rotating between two backup drives should get you to at least 3-2.

This is why I use my home NAS as my Time Machine backup repository, since it has RAID1 mirrored disks and is also backed up off-site to one of my Amazon AWS S3 buckets.....