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hudsonmi Author

Level 1

4 points

is a flash drive ok to use for backup with the Time Machine app on a Mac?

Is a flash drive ok to use for backup with the Time Machine app on a Mac?

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 20, 2020 12:17 PM

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Posted on Nov 20, 2020 12:26 PM

If you are talking thumb drives, then no. If you are talking SSD, and the newer 1Gbps external SSD drives, then yes. Sizing should be 2.5 - 3x the size of your startup drive. Big Sur and earlier expect a HFS+ Journaled (case insensitive) formatted Time Machine drive. Big Sur can also create and use APFS (case insensitive) formatted Time Machine drives, but these are not backwards compatible with Time Machine on earlier macOS implementations.

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Community+ 2024

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Nov 20, 2020 12:26 PM in response to hudsonmi

If you are talking thumb drives, then no. If you are talking SSD, and the newer 1Gbps external SSD drives, then yes. Sizing should be 2.5 - 3x the size of your startup drive. Big Sur and earlier expect a HFS+ Journaled (case insensitive) formatted Time Machine drive. Big Sur can also create and use APFS (case insensitive) formatted Time Machine drives, but these are not backwards compatible with Time Machine on earlier macOS implementations.

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is a flash drive ok to use for backup with the Time Machine app on a Mac?

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