The Best External Hard Drives and SSDs for Mac in 2021. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your Mac? Here's what you need to know, along with our top-rated Apple-friendly drives.
If only! This is the two-word refrain of anyone who lost hard drive data without having a solid backup waiting in the wings. Learning how to backup your computer to an external hard drive may not be the most fun way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon, but trust us on this!
You may well be thanking yourself (and us!) later.
Nerds On Call Computer Repair are always here to help you retrieve lost hard drive data, but when it comes to keeping your data safe, the simple fact is that prevention is way better than finding a cure!
- Making a backup is an important part of preparing your Mac for service, especially because some types of repair might require erasing or replacing your hard drive. Get your Mac ready for service How much space do I need for a backup? To see the size of a specific file or folder, click it once.
- How to Backup Mac with External Hard Drive. Backup Mac with Time Machine. Mac system has a.
- How to Back Up Your Computer with Time Machine. Mac macOS (10.5 and above) has an excellent built-in backup tool called Time Machine. Once you plug in a hard drive and set up Time Machine, it will work automatically in the background, continuously saving copies of all your files, applications, and system files (i.e., most everything except for the stuff you likely don't need to back up, such.
So here's a quick and snappy guide to keeping your data safely backed up on an external hard drive. We'll start by giving you the pros and cons of opting for an external drive backup. Then we'll walk you through the five key principles of data backup. Then we'll give you a step-by-step walkthrough for backing up your data to a Mac or a Windows PC.
So, first up, why might you want to create an external hard drive backup?
The obvious reason is it's a contingency plan. Hard drives are physical devices, and they can destruct. Keeping a backup on your existing hard drive won't help you if that hard drive fails!
What about cloud backups. Absolutely. A cloud backup is a good thing to have. However, an external hard drive backup means you'll be able to restore your computer with or without a functioning Internet connection.
For many, this is a more convenient and secure option.
The first and most obvious reason is in case of hard drive failure. That failure could look like a complete and sudden breakdown of your hard drive, or (more often the case) you may have experienced file corruption owing to a gradually deteriorating drive.
You might also face a situation where software failure damages crucial files. This is less common than it once was, but sometimes software fails catastrophically, damaging files you may have been reading or editing.
Finally, there's good old-fashioned human error. Accidental file deletion or overwriting happens all the time. While you have a range of options for retrieval here, an external hard drive backup is your best final safety net.
If all else fails you can always grab that crucial archive.
OK, so by now hopefully you're convinced that backups aren't an optional extra in your computing life! So let's get down to the nitty-gritty of how.
Know Your Backup Best Practice
Your first step is to know and understand some basic principles of good backup practice. There are five rules of thumb you should attempt to follow faithfully:
- Have a schedule – It's boring we know, but backing up is something you should do regularly. Some software will handle a regular backup schedule for you, but just to be sure, add a regular reminder to your calendar to check that you're backed up. We'd recommend that, at a minimum, you aim for a quarterly full backup schedule.
- Aim for redundancy – External hard drives can fail as well! If your budget will spring for it, don't just backup to one external drive. Backup your backup. One neat way to do this is to alternate your quarterly backups across two external drives.
- Only backup clean data – Before you perform a backup, it pays to spend a little time cleaning your hard drive of old, duplicate files. Spend a little time on file structure as well. The more organized your folders are before you backup, the easier it'll be to retrieve specific files or folders.
- Keep your drive safe – Ideally, you'd keep your external drive off-site. At the very least, make sure it's stored away from your main computer, and somewhere that wouldn't easily be found in the unfortunate event of theft. Again, it happens! Make like a cub-scout, and be prepared.
- Encrypt where possible – People backup in different ways, and encrypting your backup drive (making it impossible to read or access without a password) isn't always feasible. However, if you can, encrypt your backup. It takes a little longer but it keeps your data extra safe.
For Mac Owners
Mac processes are usually pretty simple and streamlined. Unfortunately, this rule doesn't apply quite so readily to external drive backup. There are a few reasons for this, but the big reason is that Apple wants you to backup your data to iCloud. This isn't a terrible idea, but you will have to pay for that feature! Once you buy your external drive/s, you face no ongoing expense.
Here are your steps:
- Connect your new drive to your Mac via the USB port.
- Right up at the top right of your screen, you'll see a little magnifying glass. Click that and type Disk Utility. On the left, you'll see a directory of connected drives. Be sure to select your new drive, and then select Erase from the top bar of the Disk Utility app.
- Select Mac OS Extended format (Journaled) and then give your Mac the go-ahead to perform the erase. Note that, if you wish, you can encrypt this drive as you format it. We recommend you do this!
- Your new drive will be wiped and formatted to be compatible with Time Machine backups.
- Open up your Apple Menu (the cute little apple at the top left of your screen). Then select System Preferences and hit Time Machine.
- You'll be asked to select your Time Machine Disk. Select the disk you just formatted. If you ticked the encrypt button during the formatting stage, you'll be asked to re-enter your password at this point.
At this point, Mac will now manage data backups for you, periodically sending a mirror of your hard drive across to your external drive. Should you ever need to retrieve files (or restore your whole system in case of catastrophic hard drive failure) Time Machine will handle your data retrieval for you.
One thing to note: this is a perfectly fine solution for keeping your data safe, except that you need to keep this drive connected to your machine in order for the dynamic backup process to work.
If you want to keep your data safe from theft, you might want to consider an additional external drive to which you periodically copy your most valuable files. This one you can store separately from your computer, effectively covering all your bases.
For Windows PC Owners
First up, be aware that Windows PC owners also have cloud backup solutions they may like to consider in parallel with an external backup option. Google Drive and SkyDrive are among the most widely used in the Windows PC world, and they're an acceptable solution if you don't mind cloud and if you don't mind a subscription service.
If external hard drives backup is your preferred option, the process is pretty straightforward. Docx editor for mac.
- Connect your external hard drive via your PC's USB port.
- Open your Control Panel. The easiest way to do this is by going into your system-wide search bar and typing Control Panel. Then, look for System and Security.
- Select Save Backup Copies of Your Files with File History, then select System Image Backup.
- You'll then be prompted to create a system image.
- Be sure to select your new hard drive from the drop-down box, and then hit Next.
- At this point, your computer will whir into life and backup your whole system. This includes all your system files, your OS settings, and of course, all your media files. Essentially, this backup is a mirror of your whole local hard drive.
- Now, wait! And by wait, we mean that this process could take several hours. While you can continue to use your computer during this process, it's best not to. For this reason, you might want to time your external backup to take place overnight, or even better, while you're powering through Season 4 of Better Call Saul.
A Few Minutes Now Could Save You Hours Later!
So now you have the skinny on external file backups. We know it's not necessarily a fun topic, but keeping your data safe is a vital part of responsible home computing. So, kudos for sticking with us through to the end.
The bottom line is, learning how to backup your computer to an external hard drive is just a smart and prudent thing to do. Sure, it's not the most fun piece of housekeeping, but setting yourself up now with a simple, easy-to-repeat process, may well save you hours of heartbreak and hassle further down the road.
If you'd like to learn more about how Nerds On Call can set you up with an online backup process, check outthis link for Mac users, andthis one for Windows PC users. Or, you could just call us on 800-269-8084.
Mac light pink matte lipstick. Mar 04, 2021 • Filed to: Take Data Backup • Proven solutions
When it comes to backing up an external hard drive, the discussion usually falls into two sections - backing up data stored on an external hard disk and backing up the computer data to an external hard drive. What we'll mainly talk about in this article is the former, and even so, we provide the solution to help you realize both of them. Now, let's first get to know the reasons why you should backup data from your external disk.
Tip 1. Get to Know Reasons for Backing Up External Hard Drive
Thanks to its large storage space, the external hard drive has become an important data storage device. An external hard drive can help you:
- enlarge insufficient storage space
- resist Internet virus attack and malware infection
- protect data when the computer system crashes
- access data you want anytime and anywhere
Since it can bring you so many benefits, why not choose an external hard drive for data backup or storage.
Tip 2. Choose Another External Hard Drive for Backup
When backing up the external hard drives, another external drive as a backup device is one of the best ways to consider. Backup external hard drive devices are becoming very popular nowadays because of their convenient setup and low market value. External drives offer the possibility of an easily transportable repository to all documents, photos, movies, music, and data of users. Moreover, they provide a 'bigger' destination for a user to backup his valued files during internal storage failure and loss. Indeed, creating a backup external hard drive is a smart move for those who require an increased capacity at decreasing prices to store and upload a larger amount of files which are often insufficient in regular internal storage.
Data is the most essential aspect of a personal computer. Any applications and operating systems can be reinstalled whenever technical glitches happen but it may be difficult, worse, impossible to recreate your original data. Huge business firms understand the importance of external hard drive backup of their data and create a plan for recovering data from system failures. So they have created a team of experts to conduct performance-related tasks, recovery strategy, and even further backup external hard drive on a scheduled basis.
Today, you can see the best external hard drive for backup of different prices and brands that will provide the much-required extra storage space by users. It plays a very important role in either personal or small-business needs replacing your computer's saturated internal memory while boosting its performance at the same time. External hard drives are handy must-haves extra storage you need to store extra copies of all your important files.
Tip 3. How to Backup External Hard Drive in Windows
We know for certain that just like any other technological inventions, the computer and its components will eventually fail. When this happens, the biggest threat anyone would be facing is the corruption or loss of their important data or files. Because data is the brain and heart of any enterprise. You must protect it against database corruption, natural disasters, accidental loss of user data, and hardware failures. The good news is, there are several ways on how to backup an external hard drive, among which we recommend using data backup software.
1. Hand-Picked Professional Data Backup Software
Backing up your data can be done by manually dragging and dropping your data files. However, if you wish to ensure everything is stored in the right place without taking so much of your time, you probably want to use an application. AOMEI Backupper is a very popular open-source application that's going to 'sync' your contents from your external hard drive to another hard drive or Cloud. This application is robust and offers the ultimate convenience in backing up external hard drives for users.
AOMEI Backupper - the best data backup software for Windows
- Take full, incremental, and differential backups of your computer system, hard drive, and files.
- Automate the backup and sync your computer contents based on your configurations.
- Clone the hard disk, partition, volume, command line, and computer system.
- Support Windows OS: Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP (all editions, 32/64-bit).
2. How to Backup External Hard Drive To Another External Hard Drive
To back up the external hard drive on Windows, you should first connect the external disk to your computer and ensure that it can be detected. Then, download and install AOMEI Backupper Professional and follow the next simple steps to create backups of the external hard drive.
Step 1 Select Disk Backup
To backup an external hard drive on the computer, you should run AOMEI Backupper Professional and select 'Disk Backup' under the 'Backup' tab.
Step 2 Select hard drives
Next, you should click 'Step 1' and then hit on 'Add' on the pop-up window to select the external disk you need to backup. Then move on to 'Step 2' to choose another hard drive as the destination path, which can be the computer hard drive, another external hard disk, Cloud storage, or NAS drive.
Step 3 Configure the task
Backup Drives External
Besides, you can also make some settings for this external hard drive backup task, edit the task name for better identity, add more disks to backup, delete the selected external disk, and schedule external hard drive automatic backup. Also, click 'Backup Options' and VSS settings can be made. VSS techniques allow you to backup external hard drive without interrupting the operations in progress.
Step 4 Start to back up external disk
Finally, click 'Start Backup' to begin the external hard drive backup process. You just need to wait for a while and then you can finish backing up the data present on your external hard drive.
3. How to Backup Files to External Hard Drive
You can take similar steps to backup data from the computer to an external hard drive.
- Connect the external disk and run the data backup software
- Select 'Backup' > 'File Backup'.
- Add files and folders by clicking 'Add File' or 'Add Folder'.
- Choose the external hard drive as the backup destination.
- Schedule the backup frequency and click 'Start Backup'.
Tip 4. Create More Than One Backup Solutions
Never assume that your data on the external hard drive is fully secured. To properly secure your files, you may need to create off-site backup storage and multiple copies of the files you wish to protect. According to the old Information Technology rule-of-the-thumb in backing up, create two different formats and at least three copies of data you care about and store them in two different places, in particular another external hard drive and Cloud-based storage.
1. Something About Cloud Backup
Cloud sync is one different approach to creating a drive or folder online. There are several data backup solutions you could choose from but most of those promising solutions may cost you. If you are willing to spend a little of your extra money, you could protect your data and create your drive through Carbonite and MozyHome. While there are some promising cloud services like DropBox which offer free online storage at 2GB, SugarSync at 5GB, and SkyDrive at 7GB. These cloud storage services will only require creating an account using a valid email address for confirmation and login information.
Once account and confirmation are made, users can access their free storage and start uploading their important data and files to the cloud. From there, you can start accessing your data wherever you are.
By the way, this backup strategy could be taken into consideration. Take advantage of AOMEI Backupper Professional to backup and sync files on the external hard drive to multiple storage locations based on day, week, and month. It can greatly lessen your workload of cumbersome manual backup jobs. Regarding how to backup an external hard drive to Cloud, please refer to the above steps and select Cloud as the destination path.
2. More Approaches to External Disk Data Backup
Apart from preparing the external hard drive copy and Cloud backup, you can also take the following measures to fully protect your important data.
- USB flash drive
USB flash drive is also called a pen drive or thumb drive. Similar to an external hard drive, it is a portable device for people to write and read data. But its storage capacity seems smaller compared to a hard drive.
- NAS drive
NAS, short for Network Attached Storage, is an off-site device that can be connected to the network and accessed in a group of people. It requires no Internet connection and thus keeps the stored data safer. Of course, it will be much more expensive personally. Learn more about NAS drive and NAS file backup on this page: How to Backup Files to NAS.
Tip 5. How to Safely Remove External Drive from Computer
When we back up the external hard drives, one important point should be kept in mind. That is to use it properly and securely, especially remove it from the computer safely. The Windows Safely Remove program is responsible for the 'safe removal' of your external drive from the computer. Here are the steps on how you can safely remove your external drive from a Windows computer. Please note that failure to follow such a procedure may cause data loss to your external storage.
- In the Windows System, find and double click the Safely Remove icon. This process will launch the Safely Remove program. When this icon is hidden, you can simply click on the up arrow to proceed.
- Safely Remove window will show all or any detected FireWire/USB devices connected to your computer. When necessary, check or click the box that says Display Device Components to expand the view.
- Click on the specific device you wanted to remove (External Drive) and click the Stop button on your screen.
- The confirmation window will pop up. Choose the device you wanted to remove and just click the OK button.
- A notification will pop up that your device is now safe to remove. You can click the (X) button on the top-right side of the window or it closes by itself. Then you can disconnect or power down the external drive from your personal computer.
For those who own Mac OS, your external drive appears as an icon on your desktop. It will require the user to dismount the device by dragging the drive into the Trash Can. You need to wait for a few seconds once it's gone into the Trash Can when the activity light has gone out, the external hard drive can be safely removed. Once it is turned off you can disconnect its interface cable.
Best External Hard Drive Backups
Now, the article comes to an end. Backup is the best precaution against data loss. Start the external hard drive backup and protect your important data right away.
Data Backup Services
- Computer Backup
- Hard Drive Backup
- Mac Backup
- Cloud Backup
