Hi, I'm just picking up a new 13"Retina MBP, 256gb HD (ie. small) - just wondering what the best wireless backup/storage/streaming hardware solution to go for. Any ideas?
MacBook Pro with Retina display
You will want two external disk drives: one for holding live data that will not fit on your internal SSD and one for a Time Machine (or other) backup. If the offload drive has 1 TB of capacity then the backup drive should have 2 TB or 3 TB of capacity. Use USB 3.0 drives; they are inexpensive and just as fast as the expensive Thunderbolt disks (~110 GB/s). USB 2.0 drives are slow.
The backup drive can be wired on your desktop (preferred at a cost of ~$100) or a wireless Time Capsule (OK but costs $300 and is much slower than a USB-attached drive). Do not place any live files (files you do not wish to lose) on the backup drive or TC.
To have Time Machine backup your system disk and your external offload disk up onto your Time Machine disk:
> System Preferences > Time Machine > Options… > Remove the offload HD name from the exclusions list.
Optimum speed:
For a substantially faster external offload disk (~165 to ~195 GB/s for not much more money: ~$130) you can use a Seagate 1 TB hybrid SSHD drive in a USB 3.0 enclosure. You would need to purchase these two components separately.
$22 USB 3.0 enclosure: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ES2.5**3W/
Google "Seagate 1 TB hybrid SSHD”
Great. Thanks hands4.
Do you think it would be suitable to park my entire iPhoto library on the offload drive? That's the main problem, the enormity of iPhoto. Then, if i do put iPhoto on an external drive.. backups to another drive will be nightmarish do you think? having to come back through the bus from the offload and out to the backup drive? Or would it not be too bad...?
Thanks again..
Many users keep their large media on external drives, especially those with small internal SSDs like yours. I would keep working copies on the internal SSD with the bulk of the data on a super-fast external 1 TB SSHD. I have been assuming the 256 GB SSD is too small to hold all of your media files. If it will all fit on the internal SSD then that is a good place to store it.
No matter where you park it you need to back it up and the backups will run at about the same speed whether the live data is on internal or external fast media. The backup rate will most likely be limited by the backup drives’s speed, which on USB 3.0 is not bad (~100 MB/s). Initial backups can take a while to run but incremental updates after the initial backup tend to run quickly.
If you need the external storage for live data, I would concentrate on using super-fast disks for the live data (~100 to 300 MB/s) and then fast (~100 MB/s) disks for the backup data.
FYI, if you choose the Seagate 1 TB hybrid SSHD disk there is an even faster alternative than USB 3.0 speeds. I was under the impression that Thunderbolt enclosures cost $200 to $400 but I found one going for $100. An SSHD on Thunderbolt should run at ~300 MB/s when accessing its 8 GB SSD cache and ~100 MB/s when accessing the rotating disk.
Note it has only one TB connector so you can attach only one of these devices but it would be a darn fast 1 TB disk. Additional SSHD disks would run at ~100 to 200 MB/s on USB 3.0 with standard disks running at ~100 MB/s.
Performance and price summary:
$0, Internal SSD, Many 100s of MB/s, 256 GB capacity
~$100, Standard disks on USB 3.0, ~100 MB/s, 1, 2, or 3 TB capacity
(Avoid 4 TB disks. They are not as reliable.)
~$130, Hybrid SSHD on USB 3.0, ~100 to 200 MB/s, 1 TB capacity
($110 SSHD + $20 USB 3.0 enclosure)
~$210, Hybrid SSHD on Thunderbolt, ~100 to 300 MB/s, 1 TB capacity
($110 SSHD + $100 Thunderbolt enclosure)
Hi, I'm just picking up a new 13"Retina MBP, 256gb HD (ie. small) - just wondering what the best wireless backup/storage/streaming hardware solution to go for. Any ideas?
