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How many TBs of SSD do I need for Time Machine for a 2T Macbook Air?

How many TBs of SSD do I need for Time Machine for a 2T Macbook Air? Does it have to be 4TB? Please advise.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.5

Posted on Oct 13, 2021 1:11 PM

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Posted on Oct 13, 2021 1:25 PM

Capacity depends on how deep you want your backups.


I tend to go with two to three times the input size, depending on current market prices, how full you run your storage, and how much storage churn you encounter.


In general, I'd look for a four to six TB HDD, here.


Bigger HDDs (or bigger SSDs) mean deeper backups.


Usual for many for Time Machine is HDD and not SSD, unless you have the budget for SSDs. HDDs having cheaper capacity.


If you have the budget for big SSDs for Time Machine, also consider a Time Machine capable NAS device for your network as an alternative, as that means you'll get backups whenever you're within range of your NAS, not just when you connect to the external storage. Synology is one such NAS vendor with Time Machine support.

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Question marked as Best reply

Oct 13, 2021 1:25 PM in response to Murray1255

Capacity depends on how deep you want your backups.


I tend to go with two to three times the input size, depending on current market prices, how full you run your storage, and how much storage churn you encounter.


In general, I'd look for a four to six TB HDD, here.


Bigger HDDs (or bigger SSDs) mean deeper backups.


Usual for many for Time Machine is HDD and not SSD, unless you have the budget for SSDs. HDDs having cheaper capacity.


If you have the budget for big SSDs for Time Machine, also consider a Time Machine capable NAS device for your network as an alternative, as that means you'll get backups whenever you're within range of your NAS, not just when you connect to the external storage. Synology is one such NAS vendor with Time Machine support.

How many TBs of SSD do I need for Time Machine for a 2T Macbook Air?

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