What is the best way to backup an external hard drive full of photos and videos to another external hard drive?

This is exactly why I stopped participating in forums... You respond to a question and someone doesn't like the response, or wants to defend a particular, favorite app, tries to slide a comment by you to let you know you're less than informed, and the whole thing turns into an off-point, rambling mess.

The original question, posted by davidblumfeld, said he had a drive full of photos and videos that he needed to backup to another external hard drive. He did not indicate what Mac he's using and did indicate his current OS is OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), not El Capitan (10.11.3 being most current). However, he does note the subject software is Final Cut Pro X. That's an expensive app used for serious photo/video projects.

As you correctly point out, Duane, the original post does say, "I want an exact clone...," and asks about drag and drop or TimeMachine. I agree with your suggestions, as a, "clone," means to most of us an image (dmg--iso on some op systems), yet added some items from my recent experimentation with the latest version of CCC and another app/hardware solution called Pogoplug. I'm not crazy about either one and will say the solution depends entirely on what a user wants from a backup solution. Essentially, I'm not disagreeing with your suggestions, they're not a road I'd go down for the sort of stuff I do.

The entire topic of backing up work is even more important now than a few years ago when all we had to worry about mostly was hardware failure. An external backup of work files was pretty much all that was needed. Now the internet is loaded with some exquisite malware, ransome-ware and other garbage and, while the Mac OS has been very secure from all these, eventually some hacker or group of these weasel low-life characters will find a way in.

I think we all missed the point, and the discussion does merit discussion beyond the 'sound-bite' approach of television news. A comprehensive backup plan/strategy is an integral part of prudent data storage and protection. At this juncture, I recommend davidblumfeld implement Time Machine, if he has not already done so. It will back up the photos/videos on his Mac, and if he hasn't set it up, that's the first thing to do. Everything else is mostly secondary. Then there's Disk Doctor, a utility that's been with the Mac OS from the beginning of time. It's in the Utilities folder and that is inside the Applications folder. Disk Doctor will make a clone, compress it to save disk space, and check the integrity of the clone/backup. I think it's also possible to secure it with a password (I'm a little rusty on that point). Possibly, Time Machine and Disk Doctor are all the solution needed. Apps like CCC and others might be more than he needs. Thing is, with what little was provided in the original question it's difficult to tell.

Then, there's this... Current thought on the net and here in some of the forums is that a reliable backup plan now includes a local backup, as in clone, including setting up a USB thumb drive to boot a crashed drive or Mac in order to restore from a clone or other full backup, a copy of the clone image, files for the thumb drive and any really important files backed up individually all on cloud storage. Yes, that gets expensive especially if you choose iCloud. There are other clouds that are less expensive per Terabyte. Finally, if your data is really mission critical to your business, a rotating off-site copy of all backup files is recommended. Which you choose depends on the importance of your data to your or your business, how accessible you want any given file or set of project files to be, and the time you want to spend doing or managing scheduled backup routines.

Finally, the Mac OS and its utility apps are a blind spot for many Mac users. The industry has trained us to look outside the OS for solutions to lots of things from virus protection to backup software to do things already built into the op system. I'd advise the original questioner to look into the apps includes as utilities for solutions before branching out into other options that cost extra money. And then, after all the replies here, I think it's time for Mr. Blumfeld to weigh in on what he found helpful, and say thanks so the rest of us can go back to sleep. As for me, I'm done with this one until and unless Mr. Blumfeld comes back with something else on this.

Hi David! I know I'm likely to catch a lot of flack for the lengthy reply that follows. So what! My son-in-law works for one of the major studios in Los Angeles. He produces trailers-yes, they drop the entire movie on him and his team and he/they figure out what to pull out and merge together to make those two to three minute enticements that hook us on some new movie.

If I get what you wrote about here, you are likely talking about some very large files, especially if they're RAW format. Perhaps you meant unedited when you used the word, "raw." Anyway, it's likely your files are larger than what most of us drag around and need to backup. If that's true, I think you'll be unhappy about the amount of time spent waiting for drag/drop files to copy from one HDD to another. Yes, it is an option that works and usually produces an error-free copy. I use it when I need to duplicate a few small files. I use images for large files in quantity.

Apple has long provided two very clean, reliable solutions for backup, Disk Utility and TimeMachine. Used together, they form a pretty airtight solution. Up until the last couple years I was okay with local HDDs (external) for images and drap/drop duplicates. I used a second external HDD for TimeMachine. Both externals were the same size or larger than the internal on my Mac. In less than an hour you can take a look at what Disk Utility and TimeMachine can do. They may be all you need.

First, take a look at the Utility folder within the Applications folder for the Disk Utility app. Open it up and try it out. The picture and brief how/to is below.

Use these File menu items... File/New Image/Image from Folder. It is possible create an image of an individual folder (and folders within it) or the entire Mac HDD. If your files are in one folder on your Mac, or if you can move them there, this is an option to consider.

Once you select the folder to image, there are some choices available. For example, you can save the image to any folder (target location) on the Mac HDD (not the best option), on an external HDD (better option), or to a cloud service (great for redundancy). I use Dropbox and it, too, can be the destination for images. If you use any of the popular cloud services, they'll show up in the list of places in the Where drop-down.

In addition to specifying the target location, you can encrypt the image, and compress it. I use compression for almost every image I create, because it saves space on the destination. With encryption, you create a password and you don't want to forget it. Compression can, if things are just right--a perfect storm thing, cause errors in an image. I've not had that happen, and I know it is possible. I do one without encryption and compression and a second with both and save it to my cloud service.

If you're not yet using TimeMachine have a look at it. As I understand it, the difference between TimeMachine backups and image files is that TimeMachine backups allow you to restore individual files, and even get to earlier versions. I've never had to do it. Sure as anything, someone will comment on this and correct me if I've misstated.

Best of luck with your project and hope this helps you being the work back safely.

I've recently been testing various backup options, among these are Carbon Copy and Pogoplug Backup (with and without their hardware device). The version of Carbon Copy is the latest available as of 4/3/16 and after testing it thoroughly, conclude I might as well put a virus, trojan or some other malware on my Mac Mini. First, Carbon Copy does not check the capacity of the destination (target) media to figure out if there's room or not. It will simply happily go ahead and clone until it runs out of space on the target and then fail with errors. The second time, I set the target to a folder on the internal Mac Mini drive (I know one wouldn't do this in practice) and it nearly filled the entire drive to capacity. When I finally figured out what folders and files had been created during the clone, I ended up sending them to the trash. It took an hour or so to locate them and a couple hours to delete the over two million files it had created. My advice is simply connect an external drive, then drag and drop to that drive. Time Machine and other solutions won't give you the flexibility and direct access you seem to want.

Since I mentioned Pogoplug Backup, this free download will do a backup of the four major folders on the Mac's drive to an external drive, or to the internal. That is about as good as drag and drop and will back up files as you update and edit them, as well as backup new files you create in these folders. Oh, it does keep files you delete and that's handy if you foul up deleting something you really needed to keep. Pogoplug, from Cloud Engines, has several hardware devices that connect to your router, and end up working sort of like a NAS drive. Thing is, once you buy one of their devices and hook it up, they'll pester you with upgrade offers and once you connect an external drive to the Pogoplug device, you lose the ability to manipulate files on that drive with drag and drop.

Good luck...

CCC is my go-to backup. Select directories to backup, select "keep old copies" or "delete files to synch with source". As to size left on target drive ... at some point the user must accept responsibility.

I always make clones on external drives, and use separate external drives for separate backups because that just makes sense.

Thanks for commenting. It may be that CCC is your go-to backup. Everyone has a preference they like best. I'm simply pointing out that any bush-league programmer or development manager would certainly make sure their code FIRST checks for available space on the target and, if there isn't enough, at minimum alert a user. I've had a very good backup system for a long time and was looking into CCC and others to see what's new or different.

I think before users commit to any backup software app, they ought to bang on it really hard to see if it does things logically, effectively, including alerts about possible difficulties. An app that doesn't do some basic checking up front, seems suspect as to how it might handle one's data later on when you really, really need it to be right. And, sure, it is each user's responsibility to know when drives are getting full and what to do about that.

From your reply, you obviously have a well thought out backup scheme involving multiple drives and apps. A lot of users are looking for that since the rise of ransom-ware and other maladies of computing (Mac so far mostly safe). Perhaps you can expand this discussion by writing more about how you're set up, what you tried on the way to where you are now and so on. I'd like to read what you have to share. I'm an old dog with this stuff and still like new tricks now and again. For one, I'd like to know how your backup system works or supports the functionality of Time Machine.😁

Since you did not indicate that there was an OSX installed on your external HDD and your objective it to copy some photos and videos on a second external drive, all you need to do is copy the photos and videos. You do not need any software to do it, be it Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner or whatever. Unless there is more to your situation that has not been mentioned, drag and drop will do it. Why this discussion of backup software has erupted is a puzzle to me.

Ciao.

My comment came because the OP stated "I want an exact clone". Drag and drop isn't designed for that. Drag and drop will probably do the job OP needs but it won't make a clone of one drive to the other drive.

Duane wrote:

My comment came because the OP stated "I want an exact clone". Drag and drop isn't designed for that. Drag and drop will probably do the job OP needs but it won't make a clone of one drive to the other drive.

My experience with drag and drop from one volume to another has always been that an exact duplicate is always made (presuming you are retaining the original on the source volume). In the end, the result is the same whether one calls it a copy or a clone. My intent is not poke a stick in a hornets nest but it seems to me the discussion was going on an unnecessary tangent. Nothing more than that.

Ciao.

Yes, I get that. Interesting how one question stirs up all sorts of responses. Kind of annoying is that the original questioner davidblumenfeld hasn't been back or, if so, has not posted any reply. I don't do replies much for the reasons we've all sort of mentioned here and, frankly I am, once again, sorry I spent any time on this at all. At least in the Apple forums, people are mostly civil to each other. If I could, I'd delete all my responses and quietly slip back into the work I was doing before trying to help with this.

FredGFromCA wrote:

If I get what you wrote about here, you are likely talking about some very large files, especially if they're RAW format. Perhaps you meant unedited when you used the word, "raw." Anyway, it's likely your files are larger than what most of us drag around and need to backup. If that's true, I think you'll be unhappy about the amount of time spent waiting for drag/drop files to copy from one HDD to another.

Any time that you are copying to an external HDD, the data transfer speed limiting factor is not the software but the type of connection. Using Thunderbolt connectivity and one will experience the fastest data transfer speeds available today.

My empirical experience using Disk Utility>Restore, Carbon Copy Cloner and/or Time machine, when copying all the contents of an internal HDD to an external HDD, the transfer times seem to be the same (I never have done a formal timing). I have no reason to believe that 'drag and drop' would be any different, but that is conjecture on my part since I have never copied 900+ GB of data using that option. If you or anyone else knows of any studies made of the difference in data transfer speeds as a function of the technique used, I would be interested in knowing such information.

Ciao.

Wow... You're right, this did get out of hand. I think your solution is a RAID 1 backup system (Redundant Array of Independent Disks). These external physical devices connect to your computer via USB, FireWire or ThunderBolt ports. A RAID 1 device copies your files to a primary drive in the array and simultaneously writes the file(s) to a second drive in the array. With this type of backup, should one drive fail, you have an exact copy of everything on the other drive in the array. RAID comes in many flavors starting with Software RAID, followed by RAID 0 and going up to RAID 10. You can pour over the minutia of all this in an article here.

Avoid RAID backup devices that use 1 HDD with 2 partitions setup to look like two separate physical HDDs. When you use this solution and your drive fails, you'll lose everything, since everything is really only on 1 physical drive. This version of RAID is known as Software RAID.

A true RAID systems uses at least 2 physical HDDs of the same size. Some of these devices use 6 physical drives, others use 12 or more. The price of a decent 2 HDD RAID 1 backup system starts around $400 and includes the software to run and manage it. Since all hard drives eventually fail, the preferred RAID unit is one designed so replacement drives slide out and into the box from the front or back without requiring removal of the entire outer case.

Lots of RAID backup devices are available, and while many claim to work with PCs and Macs, take a look the ones from G-Technologies. I think you'll find a solution there. FireWire and ThunderBold ports are on some units, and transfer speeds range from about 360MB/s to 1200MB/s.

I think it's somewhere between poor form to prohibited to reference a particular product line in these forums, so I should be clear that I do not work for, nor do I consult with this company, I hold no stock or equity position in the company, and I do not benefit in any way financially or other from anything mentioned in this comment.

Hope this helps.

Although mirrored RAID has somewhat better availability than a single drive, I would argue that for backups, two different copies of the original files are more immune to problems than a RAID.

I do use a mirrored RAID on my Home Server, but for the active files. For backups, I alternate two drives (automatically) using Time Machine.

Interesting solution. I've been evaluating various solutions for my own needs and the discussion here got me thinking about what I really want and what I want will determine what I need. I use backups because I don't want to lose important files and work product. Often backups get created when I want copies of certain files at various times during their creation and editing. While TimeMachine does some of what I'd like, it falls a little short of my needs.

I want and have not found a solution that works like a document management system inside of, or containing a TimeMachine-like function. It would do this:

1) I open a file for editing (document, photo, video...) and this solution creates a duplicate in the background and in a different location (same or other disk, different folder), without me having to do a Save As or use the Duplicate option.

2) I edit the file and come to a point where I think saving is important, yet I'm still not through editing. I use a menu option that saves the current state of my work, and, again in the background, saves the file in a second location but this time saves it as a version. Better would be if this solution let me set the interval at which it automatically does this without me having to do anything. The location of the duplicate created first and those saved subsequently are versions of my project file. This lets me, when I screw up, go into those files and pick up at an appropriate place from one of the versions saved.

Sure, I'm still going to need a backup solution for these drives/files. That brings us back to where all this began. Sorry about that.

Time Machine would do a lot of what you are asking for, except for saving your intermediate work.

Time machine works at low priority in the background, and does incremental Backups (nominally hourly) without further intervention. Because it is an incremental Backup, a copy of the previous version is also retained in the previous Backup.

There are third-party Utilities that can adjust Time Machine's Backup Interval. These were originally created to delay the onset of the next Backup, but in your case, you may want to start the next incremental Backup sooner.