For example, I can buy a NAS, but how will that help me avoid the following scenario:
Today is 11 Nov 2024. Everything is fine with my Mac’s SSD (I hope…). I make a backup from Mac to NAS.
Time goes on…
Now “today” is 1 Jun 2025. I make a new backup from Mac to NAS. But what I wasn’t aware of is that the same file on Mac has been corrupted because of degradation since yet, and now the corrupted version from Mac’s SSD has overwritten the “OK” version on a NAS. The “OK” version is lost and now I have two copies of a corrupted version.
Backup strategies have been covered in several threads on this forum, you can search for them.
I will say that corruption of files is very rare these days without a bad actor getting involved.
Especially if you store your photos in an Apple Photos package, there’s not a lot you can do regarding corruption. Backblaze will allow you to keep different versions of files, but the package is a little bit different.
If you’re really that bothered you could take regular backups to hard drives and retain them unchanged or even burn to DVDs, but it will be expensive and there’s no guarantee that they’ll last over the long term.
Your NAS should have some sort of data scrubbing feature to protect from bitrot. Synology does, and I am sure others have something similar.
I don’t really worry about it otherwise. I have photos going back 20 years on my main computer’s SSD, and I was going through old photos in Lightroom recently, no issues.
One thing I just learned, is that even though you can’t do a bootable back up on a Mac anymore, you can use something like Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper to make a full backup that will work with Migration Assistant. So I just started doing that.
On the rare times this has happened to me (like less than once a decade) I have been saved by having two sets of full backups that I alternate between. Performing the backup always points out the corruption, then I just look at the alternate to recover.
I don’t think online Mac to online NAS is a concern. The issue I worry about, especially trying to educate non power users, is the expected lifetime of offline media.
That data degradation article is a good way to explain it, but basically most of the common backup media in use today (portable hard drives, portable SSD drives, DVD or other media) have a shelf life.
Ask non-tech friends and my experience is that 99% do not know this or realize they can’t just put a drive in a drawer, bank vault, or relative’s home and expect it to be intact 20 or 30 years from now.
The biggest shock is that manufacturers rate SSD drives for only 1 to 2 years when powered off, disconnected, and stored in reasonable environment (heat/humidity at normal levels).
That is not very long!
I still put drives of my data in a bank vault, but candidly, I don’t rotate them every month, it is more like every 6 or 7 months, so I still use small hard drives and not SSDs.
I hate to put it this way, but if I’m gone, it might take several years before my spouse/descendants have the emotional state to be interested in looking through family records/papers I backup and if the drives are only SSD they might be irretrievable!
Also, FYI, hard drives are better, but not perfect. They are rated for approx 3 to 5 years stored offline, disconnected.
Agreed. This is why I love the shared library through photos. It means if I were to pass away, my family will have copies of them without having to jump through hoops
Time machine to an external HD and Backblaze. Have never lost any data, but am considering adding a second drive to the Time Machine setup as it will use multiple drives and alternate backups to them.
OwnCloud Infinite Scale hosted on a small minipc running proxmox in a ZFS mirror (separate mirrors for nvme and hdd)
Photos -
iCloud Photos
Immich hosted on a small minipc running proxmox in a zfs mirror (separate mirrors for nvme and hdd)
The reasoning behind iCloud + OCIS / Immich is that iCloud is over the internet while OCIS / Immich are in my LAN so I can access all my data all the time from two sources - one of them in instant when I am at home.
The MiniPC running VMs is then is backed up every night to a Proxmox Backup Server on a Hetzner dedicated server.
As for my Macbook Pro, Time Machine backups every night are done to a 4 TB Samsung T7 SSD.
Time Machine to an external disk taped to the back of my computer; two Carbon Copy Cloner backups, taken weekly to alternate drives that I keep in a box in an outbuilding (so sorta off site); and Arq connected to my Google drive running incremental backups three hourly, so a bit like a second TM.
Worked well enough that a while ago I found a document I’d accidentally deleted 18 months before.
TM is to a Samsung SSD; CCC to a couple of WD spinning drives, they’ve been very reliable.
Two CCC backups, one to a SSD attached to my iMac and one to a drive on another Mac in the house. Both with SafetyNet turned on. Another backup using Time Machine. Finally BackBlaze for off-site.
I try to test my backups quarterly. None of my backup processes require hands on so I never forget.
One TM backup monthly per computer.
One CCC backup monthly for each MBP.
Ongoing Backblaze backup for my MBP.
Manual copy of photos and personal videos to MS OneDrive.
That last step is kind of a PITA, and therefore doesn’t get done frequently enough. I need to automate somewhat and get a better workflow. TBH, I would probably cancel my Office365 family subscription (even though it is the best deal for reliable online space), but my 80+ y.o. parents are on my account and trying to get them on board with an alternative office suite and online storage would be an insurmountable task.
I have a pretty inefficient setup and I know it’s not a true backup plan, but basically:
iCloud for current and my most important files
Once in a while I will compress the iCloud files and copy them to a share on my Unraid NAS, which physically sits about 10 yards away and is always running; it is also not accessible from outside of my house; it has two drives, so if one goes bad the other can be used to restore; if both go bad or my house burns down then I lose all of that data, which is why I also keep a copy of the very important files on iCloud. I’d lose family photos/videos and historical documents though.
Once a year I’ll make a backup of everything and put on an external HD, but admittedly it sits in my house too, in same basement as the NAS and my mac : ) But it’s at least stored in a cheap “firebox” that I got off Amazon. So there’s potentially a way for me to save it if I dare.
I have no need to keep full backups of my mac itself. If it dies or is stolen, I can use a work issued laptop for the work stuff. I’d just go buy a new mac and use icloud to restore.
I know this isn’t a great approach but it’s good enough I think. I may eventually try out Backblaze. Especially if they offer a deal for Black Friday. Or an alternative sync service.
Sounds like you recognize the importance of a true backup (offsite, cloud, or other approach) so half the battle is already “won”.
Curious as to what keeps you from a full safety net. Is it cost, convenience, inertia or some other reasons? (If willing to share, might help those of us trying to sometimes convince family and friends why they should do a bit more)
Mainly because the critical files are backed up both offsite via iCloud as well as on my home Unraid server and external drives. So in three places, both on and offsite. “Critical” files for me are financial and other docs. This is maybe a few hundred mbs of data. The rest, all on my Unraid server which has some sort of redundancy in it via parity disk to protect against drive failure, is stuff I would be greatly disappointed if it were lost but not the end of the world. Media such as movies/tv shows, which is no biggie, and family videos/photos, which would be sad but not enough to go to the effort of making copies and mailing them offsite. That said, if Backblaze has a good deal I may look into it this Black Friday.
