Drive reliability for Time Machine backups

[gregmacca]

Hi all. I’ve got a Mac Mini and I’ve set up Time Machine with a Seagate One Touch 2TB portable external drive. Could anyone be so kind as to advise me:
1 - whether it’s ok to have this plugged in 24/7?

2 - the average life of these drives if used constantly?

3 - whether using a USB flash drive would be reliable for this purpose?

4 - is it better to have the backup drive wired directly into the PC or plugged into the router as a network drive?
Many thanks,

Greg (a data backup obsessive!)

 

[lsg1r]

1 - I wouldn't personally

2 - hard one to answer in all honesty, it could last for years, it could last for a few months... I've found portable hard drives fail far easier than desktop ones but that could be as much due to them being chucked in a bag etc.

3 - no

4 - directly if you want faster transfers, router if you want convenience and/or have a laptop. Having said that you'd need to unplug it from the router due to question 1 so probably directly best option here.

Personally, this isn't how I'd be doing the backup for time machine.... I would be looking at getting a 2 bay (minimum with mirrored raid) nas (network attached storage) if you're a 'data backup obsessive' with some nas/enterprise grade drives. Not only will it give you redundancy (mirrored drives) it should also work better for the intended use because it can be left on 24/7 etc.

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[gregmacca]

Massively helpful. Thanks!

 

[Tetras]

1. I usually keep back-up hard drives plugged in, which I know I shouldn't, but I can tell you that modern drives will (depending on OS and firmware config) spin down and turn off, so I wouldn't be too concerned.