Grab & Go pin drives?

[Sooz]

It's fire season here in California and while we've been lucky so far and have not had to evacuate, we know people who have had to do that.

Please recommend a reliable pin drive thingy for me to use as backup for my computer documents and photos--maybe from Amazon or NewEgg, etc. (pictures help! lolam)

After I back up everything, I'll leave it in my Grab & Go evacuation bag which is right by the front door.  If we are under orders to evacuate immediately, it will save me the time and trouble of closing down my computer and disconnecting it and doing the same with my Time Machine and SuperDuper external HDs.  Thanks! 

Smiles,
Sooz

[Xairbusdriver]

There are probably only 5,849 possibilities. And there are also some extremely small SSD mobile models. I think the most important consideration is the data transfer speed. Thumb drives may be cheaper, but an SSD may well be worth the price by being so much faster.

Another option could be a pair of drives you take to a safe building (bank, friends office, etc.) or just a friends house in a less fire prone area. Keep one drive at home and swap with the one at the off-site location.

Lastly, remember that most apps, at least newer ones, can always be restored from the dev, company, App Store. You might not want to use the drives to hold anything except data/documents. Your password manager should be one that syncs with all your Apple devices, so those would be available for use when you replace your Mac.

[Sooz]

Awww, Jim, no pictures? 
Thanks for the input & advice! BTW, everyone I know or am related to, is in southern California!  Oh wait, I do have a couple of friends north of Fresno (northern California).

[Highmac]

Jim - not sure of costs, but would it be safest to back up to storage on iCloud or similar? At least then the contents would be accessible from pretty well anywhere.


I guess the downside might be the quality (or lack) of your internet connection.

[Xairbusdriver]

Correct, the free iCloud space is "only" 5 GB. But if you don't have a lot of images, documents, data, that might be enough. And since all the OS stuff will probably need to be installed on new/replaced hardware (that was destroyed by the fire) anyway, that would be available anyway. Third-party apps with required proof-of-purchase info info might be the hardest stuff to replace.

I was hoping Paddy would respond as she has used several "mobile" drives that might offer more space and ease of use. I believe she has said they are quite small and easy to put in your purse/briefcase. That's one reason I don't like bulky purses; it's so hard to find stuff that always crawls to the bottom of those things. Why don't they put little lights in those purses?!

I'm not familiar with the latest thumb drive technology. Hopefully they have much faster transfer rates now, just by using newer/later versions of USB. Of course, if your computer only has older USB capabilities, just transferring current data might take longer than the next fire!!!

[Highmac]

I bought a 4TB WD My Passport drive in the summer for less than 100GBP (about $130 US). It is also available with 1 and 2TB



Dimensions (cm) H11 x W8.15 x 1.63cm. Weight 0.25kg with a three-year warranty.


Oh, all right.... 4.5in X 3.25 x 0.65, weight 7 ounces. Should fit in most purses, though haven't tried it in mine

[Xairbusdriver]

What is that "cm" bit? I think I've figured out the "H", "W" and assume the last number would be an "L". Is that a fair guess? You hint that the "kg" is some kind of weight, or is that how long you had to "wait" for the warranty to end? This "English" language is sew harde!!!

I also notice you use a lower-case "x" three times, but the one between "4.5in" and "3.25" is upper-case. Is that significant?

O wel...

[sluggo]

Upon the advice of my tech guy I just bought a SanDisk 2 TB SSD from Best Buy. Amazon has them for the same price but Best Buy I could pick up locally instead of waiting for shipping.
I use it for my CCC backup drive. Not much bigger than a credit card so it takes up no space on my desk. Especially when compared to the OWC Mercury 2 TB drive & enclosure that it replaced. $269.99

[Paddy]

A few questions need answering before we can make a recommendation...

1. How much data do you need to store?
2. How much do you want to spend?

The best option is a portable SSD drive - they're fast, they're amazingly small, and they're....more expensive.
I'm a huge fan of the Samsung T5 drives - and they do have the best reviews (by a hair) of any of the tiny SSD drives. Avoid the T7 - there are some (scattered) reports of it getting a little too hot - plus, unless you have the latest and greatest USB C ports on your computer, you're not going to be able to utilize its higher speed anyway.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-T5-Portable-SSD-MU-PA1T0B/dp/B073H552FJ

BTW - for now, I'd avoid the even tinier NVME-based SSDs as they don't seem to be as reliable (from what I've read, they are very temperature sensitive and tend to throttle when hot. I have one - it's the drive from my now-defunct 2014 iMac - and it lives in an aluminum case for heat dissipation.)

Next best option: 2.5" portable drive. My weapon of choice in that category is the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - they come in various sizes and colours and are generally very reasonable.

And finally - there is the cloud backup option. There are several upsides and several downsides:

1. To get adequate storage you'll likely have to pay a yearly fee. Please note that these are not the same as services such as Dropbox and iCloud, which exist to store and sync your files.
2. To get all your data on the cloud initially will take time - generally upload speeds are far slower than download speeds unless you have fibre internet, in which case it is more likely to be closer to being symmetric (though I don't think I've seen any fibre to the home services that offer actual symmetric speeds) - as will doing any major updates of the data on the drive. However, if you keep it updated regularly, which you should do whether using the cloud or not, it shouldn't be an issue as long as you don't have a cap on your data...in which case it may not be the best solution. (Are data caps still a thing in the US?)
3. Accessible from anywhere - as long as you remember your login details, of course.

https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-cloud-backup
https://www.lifewire.com/online-backup-services-reviewed-2624712

I use one of my SSDs for my entire Lightroom library (as this wouldn't fit on my iMac's internal drive!) and I have a backup of it - also on an SSD and a HD backup as well. Redundancy is good. HDs are cheap...

[Xairbusdriver]

Only 5,837 choices left!

[Sooz]

Okaaaay, good people.

Jim, I've written to Santa and asked for one of them there newfangled purses with the light inside...open the purse, the light inside the purse comes on. Problem solved, yes?

I have no clue as to how much data I have  ... I have lots! 

Do all of these backup drives need an enclosure?

Would it be better, considering my remarkable skills (you can mark & re-mark my skills over and over again with a felt-tipped marker), to get some pin drives, and dedicate one or two to photos, dedicate another one to taxes, another to correspondence, etc?

Smiles,
Sooz

[Paddy]

Sooz, if you mean USB thumb drives when you say "Pin drives" - no, I wouldn't recommend them for backup. They're more prone to failure and corruption than SSDs or HDs. They're fine for moving things from one machine to another ("sneaker net") but not great as backup or long-term storage.

The drives I recommended - both SSD and HD are portable drives - complete with enclosures. They run off the USB port, needing no additional power.

As for determining how much storage you need - first check your Mac HD - in the About this Mac screen, click on Storage. It will tell you how much of your HD you're currently using, and then if you click on "Manage" you'll see a breakdown of the types of files and how much room they occupy. The easiest thing is to just clone your entire drive - but you can also just copy things like Photos and documents etc.

[Sooz]

Thank, Paddy.  I always thought thumb drives and pin drives were interchangeable terms.  Thanks also for your recommendation for SSD & HD stuff with enclosures.

I'm attaching a screenshot of storage...looks like a lot of room, and two backups, but I guess I'm a person who likes a lot of backups, especially for grab-&-go stuff. 

[Xairbusdriver]

I always thought thumb drives and pin drives were interchangeable terms.

They are, but give Paddy a little slack, she lives in Canada where they sometimes are late getting up-to-date information. I’m not sure the interweb goes across the border since they blocked our immune, no-need-for-masks, I-won’t-take-any-vaccine people from their country.
 
I never understood how either name applied; those things never had hands, much less thumbs and their pins are always hidden... plus a “drive” implies at least some moving parts... 

[Paddy]

Never actually heard the term "pin drive" used - definitely not used 'round these parts.