Time Machine solutions

sist_si · Friday at 22:41

Hi all!
I’ve been using Time Machine for years hooked into a WD NAS drive.
It’s worked ok and I’ve used it for the odd file now and then.
Recently my MacBook died and Apple wiped it in the process of investigating and fixing it.
When I tried to restore it was a nightmare. Long story short the backup was useless and I lost some important files.

So…there’s got to be a better way. Any tips?

ChrisD. · Saturday at 08:34

I've never had an issue with Time Machine restores. But as with all backups, you need to ensure you have multiple copies, or copies of copies. I have iCloud Drive, then Time Machine to two different NAS's, plus an external NVMe. One of the NAS's also replicates to a third NAS, as well as Cloud Storage. I test recovery in a VM every once in a while to make sure it's all working. I realise having 3x NAS's is a little extreme, but you should get a second backup target at least such as an external drive or NVMe.

You can also use tools such as https://eclecticlight.co/2024/01/02...ic-t2m2-version-2-for-apfs-backups-on-sonoma/ which check the health of backups.

sist_si · Sunday at 12:58

Cheers! Yea, I hear you re: the backups of backups.
Will check the link out.

Scott C · Tuesday at 13:21

sist_si said:
Cheers! Yea, I hear you re: the backups of backups.
Will check the link out.

There’s also Carbon Copy Cloner if you wanted to use something in addition to Time Machine, very well respected utility