Backup drive for Mac to Time Machine

Av8 · 5 Oct 2022 at 16:57

Hi all,

I'm looking into getting a new drive for backup to Time Machine, my question is can I use an NVME M.2 without any issues instead of a physical HDD?

I'm using Mac OS Ventura beta at the moment and backing up to a Samsung USB drive have had a few issues in the past but good now, so with the advance of the software of Mac OS I'm thinking a better/faster drive will be more future proof than a HDD.

Any thoughts please?

Av8

Feek · 5 Oct 2022 at 17:29

Yes. Time Machine will work to an SSD.

I run multiple backup solutions. I have a mechanical USB3 HDD that’s used for Time Machine, I also Time Machine backup to my NAS and I run a Carbon Copy Cloner backup to an SSD on a daily basis.

ChrisD. · 5 Oct 2022 at 17:45

I back mine up to my QNAP NAS and an external NVMe drive without issue.

Av8 · 5 Oct 2022 at 17:51

Thanks guys, think I'll stick with a backup directly connected to my iMac via usb c. Was tempted to go down the networked route like you do, but due to factors of space for a NAS etc the smaller space required I can hide the drive out of sight. Thanks again for input.

ChrisD. · 5 Oct 2022 at 18:29

Plus restores from NVMe are extremely quick compared to from a consumer NAS. Just don't forget if the drive dies, you lose your backups so perhaps get a cheap HDD based drive to alternate with.

Av8 · 5 Oct 2022 at 19:09

ChrisD. said:
Plus restores from NVMe are extremely quick compared to from a consumer NAS. Just don't forget if the drive dies, you lose your backups so perhaps get a cheap HDD based drive to alternate with.

Have these drives got high failure rates? I've not seen anything suggested anywhere, but maybe I've not been looking around to find out more.

ChrisD. · 5 Oct 2022 at 19:30

Av8 said:
Have these drives got high failure rates? I've not seen anything suggested anywhere, but maybe I've not been looking around to find out more.

No but you could misplace it, drop it in water or otherwise damage it. You’re only as good as your last backup.

Av8 · 5 Oct 2022 at 20:16

ChrisD. said:
No but you could misplace it, drop it in water or otherwise damage it. You’re only as good as your last backup.

Ah ok, fortunately it would be in a small external caddy on the back of my desk so I should be ok as such.

ChrisD. · 5 Oct 2022 at 20:26

Av8 said:
Ah ok, fortunately it would be in a small external caddy on the back of my desk so I should be ok as such.

Honestly for the price of a cheap external drive for a weekly backup just do it, a single backup device is not a reliable backup.