What is the best 16 TB backup solution for MacBook Pro M4 Max with 8TB SSD?

iCloud isn't backup - if you delete data on one of your devices it's deleted from iCloud and from all your devices and if you don't notice for 30 days or someone maliciously deletes it then it's gone for ever. Just sayin'.

If it were me I'd get a NAS with enough memory to do either RAID 5 or RAID 1+0. Do some research to work out which one is best for your needs in terms of read/write speed, storage needs and reliability/redundancy.

RAID is also not the same as a backup - it just gives redundancy in the case one of the discs in the array dies, but not if the whole drive dies, which is unlikely, admittedly. I have a daily backup to a NAS and an Airport but my photos are also backed up in plain folders on a removeable drive that lives at my folks' house many miles away.

Also - if you're going to put a NAS on your network then if I were you I'd isolate it from the web with a HW firewall (your router should have one). The popular NAS OS's are targets for malware so unless you are looking to configure it as a mail or web server then there's no need to run the risk if it being on the web and open to attack.

Best? MacBook Pro? Probably NAS storage.

NAS avoids needing to manually connect to the storage device too, and many NAS devices provide additional features and services. Time Machine will connect to the NAS whenever the Mac is connected to the same Wi-Fi, and the backups happen.

Most NAS boxes also support RAID, which can provide some redundancy against storage failures. (With RAID-1, RAID-10, RAID-6, etc. Not fond of the RAID-5 failure modes and risks to data, particularly as the HDDs and SSDs become more capacious.)

You will need a NAS box with Time Machine Server support.

Local choice is Synology with WD HGST Helium HDDs, but there are other vendors for both NAS and storage.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

I chose the slightly more old fashioned solution of a Multi-drive enclosure, and created one large JBOD volume across one really big drive plus all the reasonably-large spare drives I had on hand.

That’s basically RAID-0. Which is not known for being particularly robust against failures. One and done, usually.

Locally-attached RAID preference is Promise Pegasus, and have installed those on Macs at various locations.

Host-based RAID-1 is another option for some configurations and budgets and requirements, built either with the integrated Apple support, or with softRAID.

With random storage hardware, I’d look at using TrueNAS, though I’ve not tested support of Time Machine with that. (I have done TM recoveries from Synology.)

I also take advantage of Disk Utility's ability to have multiple backup drives, and place another backup for each computer on a different drive. Then time machine alternates drives -- every other backup goes to every-other drive.

Most NAS boxes can present either a virtual storage device built from a subset of hardware as a volume, or can present virtual devices from a RAID pool.

Local preference is a couple of NAS devices, if there’s a budget for that.

This as TM works across all of the direct-attached storage and the NAS storage boxes present and configured for TM.

3-2-1 is ideal, but Time Machine is really best as an on-premises backup, with some other backup utility for off-site network backups, unless you are going to unfailingly move disks to an off-site location.

Consumer rotating rust drives can be good when run solo, but when in an enclosure with other drives, the combined vibrations take their toll on the drives. NAS rate drives are more tolerant of adjacent drives vibrating the enclosure.

Using a direct attached JBOD concatenated drives to make a bigger volume is fine, as that system is most likely dedicated to backup, and if it fails, you just start over again, because it is a backup and not your original work.

However, if you get a NAS, you are tempted to use its other features, such as a personal dropbox equivalent, a video server, your own home VPN, a personal web site, etc... In that case using RAID so a single disk failure does not take out all the OTHER stuff you have on the NAS. And yes, the files you are using that are not related to a backup, need their own backup. I have a 2nd NAS in a diagonally different part of my home which just backups up the primary NAS. It is NOT "Off-Site", but I'm hoping that one or the other NAS will survive a disaster.

Agreed that RAID is not a backup, but it is useful in that when a drive fails, you do not need to panic that you are no longer backing up. You can take a little time to get a replacement drive, pull the failed drive, plug in the replacement and allow the RAID box to re-silver everything.

One of the nice things about Synology is you can have "Hot Spares" so that if a drive fails, a drive is sitting there waiting to be put into service for the failed drive. Synology also has RAID configurations with 2 redundant drives so loosing 1 drive means you still have redundancy, until you loose a 2nd drive and then you are still functional, but cannot afford to loose any more drives.

From an admin perspective, RAID gives you some flexibility on when you need to replace failed drives.

Chattanoogan wrote:

With our notional Client + RAID’d NAS (assuming that the NAS is on-premises) it would seem that we only have a 2-2-0 backup strategy; vice the notional 3-2-1.

Are we leaving the offsite copy “un/under-discussed”?

I’m “thinking” of a full offsite copy which Time Machine / Migration Assistant could use to Restore new replacement hardware.

Or am I just missing something?

No, I think we're responding to the original question. I don't know what trains have got to do with it, but for personal stuff I do:

a daily time machine to an airport on prem

a weekly TM to a NAS on prem

a weekly plain copy of my data files, music and photos to NAS on prem

a weekly plain copy of my data files, music and photos to USB disc on prem

a weekly TM to a USB disc off prem (metal shed at bottom of garded)

a weekly plain copy of photos, music, data to a USB disc off prem (metal shed)

plain copies of photos on a USB disc at my folks each time I visit

plain copies of photos on a couple of hundred DVDs at my folks

I test my TM backups about once a quarter to make sure I can recover files successfully because, as you probably know, backup isn't a backup until you've restored it.

Plain copies are essential in my experience because the first time I bought a new Mac I couldn't restore from the backup because the old Mac was too far behind in OS and the new Mac refused to restore from the old Mac's TM. This was ages ago and I've been told that it's not like that now, but once bitten twice shy and my plain backups are simple rsyncs with delete archives.

The frequencies might look low to you, but they're OK for my personal stuff.

I know that DVDs degrade - but I think I'm covered for my pics.

Oh - and I know you weren't talking about trains.

Local choice is Synology with WD HGST Helium HDDs, but there are other vendors for both NAS and storage.

I use QNAP which works OK. Never used Synology but I'm not sure I'd recommend QNAP. The web interface is clunky and it comes with too many undeleteable apps for my liking. Even when bought with the max on-board memory it still feels slow. Plus points - it's easy to raise support tickets which are responded to fairly quickly and they are still pushing updates for one of my models that is more than ten years old. However, if it's just for Time Machine then the important money is spent on the discs as much as the enclosure and OS. If I were buying a new one today I'd make sure it supported Time Machine but the next most important thing would be how easy I could shift it to one of FOSS server OS's.

I chose the slightly more old fashioned solution of a Multi-drive enclosure, and created one large JBOD volume across one really big drive plus all the reasonably-large spare drives I had on hand.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-mercury-elite-pro-quad/raid-5

options from 0TB to very large available. I chose 0 TB and NO SoftRAID add-on, and find that Disk Utility RAID suffices for my use. I added my own drives.

I like the idea of backups across the network. This keeps others from having to fuss with backup drives next to their computers. I use an old Mac Pro in the basement as a backup server for all the computers on my home network. (requires High Sierra or later). Wi-Fi will suffice, it just takes a little longer

I also take advantage of Disk Utility's ability to have multiple backup drives, and place another backup for each computer on a different drive. Then time machine alternates drives -- every other backup goes to every-other drive.

I use Synology NAS. I've been using IronWolf Seagate NAS rated drives. They have been working fine for me.

Before switching to NAS rated drives, I was using just regular consumer drives, and they did keep failing, causing me to get replacements. Since switching to NAS rated drives, I rarely have a drive failure. Although one did just die on me, but it has been years since the previous failure and my first IronWolf drive failure.

When it comes to backups, and RAID, you have to keep your wits about you. These are BACKUP copies of files that most of the time are just fine in the original.

In most cases, it is NOT worth the SUBSTANTIAL effort to reconstruct a failed RAID that is a Backup.

if you have double the drives you need to store flat files, then you are FAR better off just making TWO backup sets, than creating a convoluted setup like a striped RAID.

R in RAID is for redundant, but RAID is NOT backup!

in particular, Mirrored RAID is used to reduce the time-to-repair after a failure, and to keep drive failures from becoming a data disaster. It does not protect from human error, crazy software, or 'just-because' failures.

I would suggest something modular and upgradable you can use and increase it’s capacity as you need it in the future.

Check out OWC, MacSales.com

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB3SRT16.0S/

Understood. I remembered this from last year when I read your post.

AppleRAID JBOD member failed - how can I … - Apple Community

The advantage of the NAS in Raid 5 is that when a disc fails, or degrades enough that it's time to replace it, it can be done as a hot swap and the NAS left to get on with re-creating the data. The disadvantage is, obviously, the cost, especially if, like you, you've got a load of discs available.

You're right about the NAS - USB drives sort of have to be TM and nothing else, whereas the NAS can have a share for TM a share for vanilla backups (i.e. just file copies) and also run lots of other services. I use mine for DVDs and archiving stuff I know I'll never need again but the hamster in me can't let it go.

<< a dialogue box popped up saying I need at least 16 TB. >>

that's new.

can you post a screenshot of that?

¿does it INSIST on 16 TB or it won't to nothing, or just strongly suggest?

and created one large JBOD volume across one really big drive plus all the reasonably-large spare drives I had on hand.

If it really is JBOD then if you lose one disc you lose all the data on the disc. If there's any striping across the discs then you lose even more data and potentially all of it.