Backup help: I have a Mac Mini. I recently attached a Samsung SSD drive to use as the working drive for my photo editing. I would like to be able to backup this drive, but I have not...

FalconChase Loc: Canton,Ohio, USA

I have a Mac Mini. I recently attached a Samsung SSD drive to use as the working drive for my photo editing. I would like to be able to backup this drive, but I have not been able to find a solution for that. Can anyone help with this?

(And, YES, I did search Ugly Hedgehog before asking.)

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Purchase a second one and copy the content to the new one periodically.

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

FalconChase wrote:

I have a Mac Mini. I recently attached a Samsung SSD drive to use as the working drive for my photo editing. I would like to be able to backup this drive, but I have not been able to find a solution for that. Can anyone help with this?

(And, YES, I did search Ugly Hedgehog before asking.)

What is your goal? If you want to back up the SSD to the cloud, you can use any cloud back up service, for example, IDrive. If on the other hand you want to back up the SSD to another physical drive, you can use Time Machine which your Mac should already have. Since Time Machine is set by default to exclude external drives from being backed up, you'll need to configure Time Machine by removing the SSD from the list of exclusions.

2buckskin Loc: Wyoming

FalconChase wrote:

I have a Mac Mini. I recently attached a Samsung SSD drive to use as the working drive for my photo editing. I would like to be able to backup this drive, but I have not been able to find a solution for that. Can anyone help with this?

(And, YES, I did search Ugly Hedgehog before asking.)

I use Carbon Copy Cloner, it will make an exact copy of your SSD drive

odujim Loc: New Jersey

I have a Mac Mini M2 Pro and also use a Samsung SSD to store current photos that I'm working on. If you use Time Machine for regular system backups, you can include any external drives for backup via the Time Machine settings by using the + or - buttons to include or exclude any external drive. If you don't use Time Machine, I would suggest a second external drive for copying files from your current Samsung SSD. Each month, I back up all my RAW photos from that particular month to two external HDDs (HGST brand) so that I have two copies in case one of the HDDs fails.

FalconChase Loc: Canton,Ohio, USA

David Martin wrote:

What is your goal? If you want to back up the SSD to the cloud, you can use any cloud back up service, for example, IDrive. If on the other hand you want to back up the SSD to another physical drive, you can use Time Machine which your Mac should already have. Since Time Machine is set by default to exclude external drives from being backed up, you'll need to configure Time Machine by removing the SSD from the list of exclusions.

I tried that. Time Machine will not allow me to remove the SSD from the excluded list.

My goal is to back up the SSD either to another local drive or to a cloud service, but since Time Machine refuses to back up the ssd, I'm leary of purchaseing other software or icloud storage and then finding out the ssd cannot be accessed.

FalconChase Loc: Canton,Ohio, USA

odujim wrote:

I have a Mac Mini M2 Pro and also use a Samsung SS... (show quote)

I tried removing the drive from the excluded list. It does not work. I highlight the drive and click on - and nothing happens.

FalconChase Loc: Canton,Ohio, USA

2buckskin wrote:

I use Carbon Copy Cloner, it will make an exact copy of your SSD drive

Thanks, I'll look into that.

bhapke

First, you have to unlock the System Preferences before it will let you make any changes such as removing the SSD from the excluded list. Second, I recommend Carbon Copy Cloner since it will let you schedule backups. I make two backups every night starting about 1:30 AM, one of my photos (all on a NAS, so backup to a separate external drive) and one of my Mac mini to a folder on the NAS. You can choose any source and destination (a full drive or just a folder) and schedule whenever and as often as you want. It does incremental backups (only new or changes files) so it doesn't take long after the initial backup. Cost is about $30 and it gets upgraded frequently at no additional cost. I highly recommend it.

You should also consider an off-site backup, either by moving a backup drive to a safe location, or by using a cloud backup program such as Back Blaze or Carbonite or whatever.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Perhaps the file system on the external drive is incompatible with Time Machine: https://macpaw.com/how-to/time-machine-backup-failed#:~:text=Make%20sure%20your%20external%20hard,it%20incompatible%20with%20Time%20Machine.

FalconChase Loc: Canton,Ohio, USA

bhapke wrote:

First, you have to unlock the System Preferences b... (show quote)

I''m not sure what unlocking the System Preferences means.

However, I downloaded a trial of Carbon Copy Cleaner and it appears to be doing exactly what I want. So thank you for the recommendation.

Bruce

FalconChase Loc: Canton,Ohio, USA

2buckskin wrote:

I use Carbon Copy Cloner, it will make an exact copy of your SSD drive

Thank you! I downloaded a free trial and it appears to be doing exactly what I wanted.

FalconChase Loc: Canton,Ohio, USA

TriX wrote:

Perhaps the file system on the external drive is incompatible with Time Machine: https://macpaw.com/how-to/time-machine-backup-failed#:~:text=Make%20sure%20your%20external%20hard,it%20incompatible%20with%20Time%20Machine.

I believe that is the answer. But the Carbonite Cloaner seems to be working, and since all my photos are on the external ssd, I'm not inclined to reformat it.

Thanks for your reply.

2buckskin Loc: Wyoming

FalconChase wrote:

Thank you! I downloaded a free trial and it appears to be doing exactly what I wanted.

You are most welcome, it works great and is pretty darn cheap to boot.
I finally got around to backing up my files like most recommend, I was already using time machine, added Carbon Copy Cloner, and also Back Blaze as a cloud based storage and am very satisfied.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

2buckskin wrote:

You are most welcome, it works great and is pretty darn cheap to boot.
I finally got around to backing up my files like most recommend, I was already using time machine, added Carbon Copy Cloner, and also Back Blaze as a cloud based storage and am very satisfied.

Excellent. Keeping an off-site DR (disaster recovery) copy of your data is in a cloud server is key to protecting your data.