Hi all, I’m currently using a Mac mini as my back up server to Backblaze. I’m having an issue getting my MacBook Pro to Use the Mac mini as a Time Machine volume. Is there a better way to back up my MacBook Pro to the Mac mini so that it gets backed up to Backblaze?
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I use Chronosync to back up a couple of iMacs to my Mac mini server. Then it is backed up to the cloud from there. With ChronoAgent on the server, it syncs my iMac to the mini in about ten minutes. I do the sync once a day.
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Use Carbon Copy Cloner to copy the files to the server. In my experience with time machine using hard wired devices works much better than over WiFi.
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I’ve owned and used and recommended SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner for backups. I make clones of my internal and external drives, and if any of them go south it’s a simple matter of plugging in the clone and getting back to work in seconds. With TM you need to spend time restoring to another drive (Got one handy?) I do not like Time Machine for that reason, and because it’s a bit fiddly at times. Its one advantage is its file versioning, which I’ve found I simply don’t need.
SuperDuper! is super-simple to use, yet powerful. It’s what I bought my mom to use. I used it for many years but switched to CCC a couple of years ago when it offered a feature or two that SD didn’t at the time (not sure it does now or not), like supporting APFS snapshots and cloning the Recovery partition.
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I would not be a fan of backing up your laptop to a second computer which in turn gets backed up to Backblaze. It seems like a rather Rube Goldberg setup to me. If you want the MacBook Pro backed up offsite (and I certainly think you should) just back it up to Backblaze directly. Backup is a critical task and every additional step in the process is another potential failure point.
This isn’t to say you shouldn’t also keep backing up the MacBook Pro to your mini. I’m a big fan of suspenders and belt when it comes to backups. As @glenthompson and @bowline recommended, CCC is a good tool for this.
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I’m guessing the OP is trying to avoid paying Backblaze for backing up two computers. All he needs to do is back up both machines to a partitioned backup drive, and if Backblaze doesn’t automatically exclude the backup partition from the machine affiliated with the account he could just manually exclude it. Then it’s just a matter of connecting the backup drive at least once a month for long enough for BackBlaze to notice it and back up the backup partition from the 2nd machine.
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Too many potential points of failure for my taste. I’ll gladly pay Backblaze to make this as simple and reliable as possible.
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If you’re doing a local backup, keeping the backup drive connected isn’t particularly failure-prone. Yeah, you’re periodically connecting and disconnecting that drive to back up the 2nd machine, but I always disconnect my backup drive (to protect it from electrical spikes that could otherwise fry both Mac and backup unit - which happened once to me in 2003), and it hasn’t caused any special wear and tear on the backup drive.
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- Remembering to connect the backup drive to the second machine on a regular basis.
- Remembering to move the backup drive back to the machine that’s getting backed up to Backblaze.
- The Backblaze backup of the second machine is going to outdated most of the time.
Any one of these would be a dealbreaker for me.
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He wants to save $60/year. That’s not you either. Everything is a tradeoff.
CCC clone (local external drive) synced to the mini via Resilio sync, then on to backblaze would be an option.
Would also give you 3 backups, of which 2 are local, but on different media, and 1 off site.
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This is true. I also want to grab a few files from my daughters MacBook Pro. I’m not sure exactly what I will do, but I have enough info to figure out out now. Thanks everyone!