Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > Backup drive-external or internal?

Backup drive-external or internal?
Thread Tools
mediahound
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: May 2002
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 31, 2009, 07:17 PM
 
Does it make more sense to have a backup hard drive internally in my Mac Pro or to buy an external one? This would be for Time Machine backups.

Also, if I have two internal drives and unmount the 2nd one, can I re-mount it without having to restart the computer? I'd like to do that because one thing that annoys me is having the 2nd one spinning up all the time when it's not even being used except when backing up.
     
AKcrab
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Wasilla, Alaska
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 31, 2009, 09:37 PM
 
Originally Posted by mediahound View Post
Does it make more sense to have a backup hard drive internally in my Mac Pro or to buy an external one? This would be for Time Machine backups.
The only advantage to external would be the ability to take it 'off site' for security reasons.
Also, if I have two internal drives and unmount the 2nd one, can I re-mount it without having to restart the computer?
Nope.
     
cgc
Professional Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Down by the river
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 31, 2009, 10:47 PM
 
You can remount the internal drive via DiskUtility. Select the drive and click on "mount".
     
AKcrab
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Wasilla, Alaska
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 31, 2009, 11:03 PM
 
Originally Posted by cgc View Post
You can remount the internal drive via DiskUtility. Select the drive and click on "mount".
My bad. I thought he was intending to pull the drive out. You are correct.
     
turtle777
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: planning a comeback !
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 31, 2009, 11:10 PM
 
Originally Posted by mediahound View Post
Does it make more sense to have a backup hard drive internally in my Mac Pro or to buy an external one? This would be for Time Machine backups.
Unless you want to remove the drive and store it in a safe place - no, it doesn't matter.

Actually, and internal drive will be cheaper. I'd go for it.

-t
     
finboy
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Garden of Paradise Motel, Suite 3D
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 31, 2009, 11:11 PM
 
Originally Posted by turtle777 View Post
Unless you want to remove the drive and store it in a safe place - no, it doesn't matter.

Actually, and internal drive will be cheaper. I'd go for it.

-t
Actually, "both" is the way to go.
     
turtle777
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: planning a comeback !
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 31, 2009, 11:21 PM
 
Originally Posted by finboy View Post
Actually, "both" is the way to go.
I disagree. But only to the point that attaching a physical drive on a regular basis, and then storing it somewhere else is not the best way to go. Just to cumbersome.

Much better (IMO) is online storage, encrypted.

I'm backing up all important my data online now, using Twin. Incl. my iPhoto stuff, it's about 30GB.

-t
     
mediahound  (op)
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: May 2002
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Aug 1, 2009, 01:20 AM
 
Thanks for the input. I may go with internal.

I wish there was any easy way to adjust the Time Machine interval to longer. I hate having to hear it backing up every hour.
     
turtle777
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: planning a comeback !
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Aug 1, 2009, 01:24 AM
 
Originally Posted by mediahound View Post
I wish there was any easy way to adjust the Time Machine interval to longer. I hate having to hear it backing up every hour.
There is.

Google is your friend.

-t
     
Simon
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: in front of my Mac
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Aug 1, 2009, 02:18 AM
 
Originally Posted by mediahound View Post
I wish there was any easy way to adjust the Time Machine interval to longer. I hate having to hear it backing up every hour.
You can unmount the TM drive. End of noise. Remount when you actually want TM to backup.

Better solution: get a silent drive. The WD Green series has a very good reputation.
( Last edited by Simon; Aug 1, 2009 at 02:29 AM. )
     
Gus
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Belgium
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Aug 1, 2009, 04:27 AM
 
Originally Posted by Simon View Post
You can unmount the TM drive. End of noise. Remount when you actually want TM to backup.

Better solution: get a silent drive. The WD Green series has a very good reputation.
Yup, I use a 1 TB WD Green in my Mac Pro for TM backups and it's absolutely silent and unnoticeable. Very good solution.
I also use a FW800 drive to backup my digital photos via an Aperture vault.

Edit: oh, and internal drives can be monitored with SMARTreporter which gives an added sense of security (for me anyway).
( Last edited by Gus; Aug 1, 2009 at 04:29 AM. Reason: added some info)
     
SierraDragon
Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Truckee, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Aug 2, 2009, 12:56 PM
 
Originally Posted by finboy View Post
Actually, "both" is the way to go.
Agreed. Both are required. On-site (typically daily and immediately after important additions like new image files) and off-site (typically weekly and/or after important additions like new image files).

Online storage is great for immediate off-site backup of things like a new batch of images or other relatively small volume backup. However for long term backup modern digital image capture usually quickly overloads the cost-effective capacity of online storage. Obviously not everyone has pro-photo workloads, but as an example a wedding shoot creates 10-30 GB of digital image files.

-Allen Wicks
     
mediahound  (op)
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: May 2002
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Aug 4, 2009, 08:31 PM
 
Thanks for all the input!
     
all2ofme
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: London, UK
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Aug 8, 2009, 04:59 AM
 
I rotate a few disks, taking them offsite as necessary.

One of these has made it a heap easier than putting bare drives into the Mac Pro, and much cheaper than buying external ones in cases:
Macintosh Performance Guide: NewerTech Voyager Q FW800/FW400/USB/eSATA
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:22 AM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,