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Time machine drive with Big Sur

What external drive works best as a Time Machine drive if I’m running Big Sur? This is the second time I’m replacing a Time Machine drive after it’s become unrecognized and unable to be mounted. The first one was a WD MyPassport, and the one that quit today was the Seagate Xbox game drive (don’t judge me, I liked the color!). I’m hoping to avoid having to sporadically replace my back up drive and living through the anxiety of waiting for an empty drive to finish backing up 3TB of data. I’m assuming Apple is selling drives that work well with their systems, so I’m considering La Cie or G-Technology. Any opinions or advice? I’m using a 2019 5K Retina iMac, 3.6 GHz, 8-core Intel Core i9.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Sep 13, 2021 7:22 AM

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Yea' Time Machine has a way of killing el-cheap-o off the rack drives.


In addition to the LaCie and G-Tech, add the OWC Mercury Elite Pro or Mercury Elite Pro Mini to your shopping list.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-mercury-elite-pro

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-mercury-elite-pro-mini/usb-c

Posted on Sep 13, 2021 7:31 AM

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Sep 13, 2021 9:48 AM in response to MsFjordstone

The first one was a WD MyPassport, and the one that quit today was the Seagate Xbox game drive

Those are both cheap and low quality drives. Get something more premium, such as:


Jack

Sep 13, 2021 12:22 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Hilariously, today I've been told:


1) Be sure to reformat it when it arrives. You want to use HFS+ (MacOS Extended Journal);

2) Reformat before use; APFS with GUID partition map

3) It comes preformatted; you don't have to reformat it.


🤯


Apple says APFS or APFS encrypted is preferred, however Time Machine still supports backups on Mac OS Extended.


To those of you who are specifically using the Mercury Elite Pro Mini, and who are successfully backing up with Time Machine, what do you say? Thanks in advance.

Time machine drive with Big Sur

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