Accessing 4TB WD SSD from both home and office via high-speed fiber

Your friend could always us the following 4 TB configuration if she wants easy portability:

I have a 4 TB OWC SSD in the same configuration for Time Machine. OWC is considered the premier hardware supplier for Macs by most of the experienced contributors here in these forums.

Since the two computer locations are so close together, I wonder if physically bringing the WD 4 TB when she moves between locations might be worth considering. In the event that anything happened at the modem location her data might be saved if it was at the laptop location - kind of like backup insurance.

Have you considered getting a second 4 TB drive, copying the data from the existing 4 TB drive to the new one and keeping one at each location? Is the data on the 4 TB drive static or does it update as she uses her systems? I am a believer in solid backup sources when the power can fail and possibly cause a hardware glitch or failure. Does your friend use any sort of UPS or backup power system? You have a lot of variables to consider but I sense that you are really looking out for your friend's best interests.

Nomad06 wrote:

If I connect the WD 4 TB directly to the fiber, will she have access to that both in the office and at home with her MacBook Pro via wifi?

Maybe.

You haven't clearly defined the network. You said she has "high-speed fiber from the primary modem to both the house and the office". Are you saying this is a local fiber-optic network? So why are you now asking about Wifi? Or are you talking about a fiber ISP connection to the modem only? And to clarify, is said connection really a fiber-optic cable? Sometimes ISPs like to sell cable or DSL under a misleading "fibe" brand.

Also, what is "WD 4 TB"? Is that an external hard drive? Mechanical? SSD? NAS? What kind of port, if any?

She currently uses her MacBook Pro for all her storage (backing up to her iCloud account and occasionally to a portable Seagate), but she's running out of space. She is also expanding into teaching internet classes and plans to create a website and produce podcasts.

iCloud is not a backup. If this WD 4 TB is going to be used for anything other than a backup, then this user has no backup.

Also, why would someone run out of space on a 2 TB hard drive? That's actually pretty hard to do. If the user really does have 2 TB of recently-accessed data, then a 4 TB hard drive, of any variety, is insufficient as a backup.

If the Mac becomes unoperable, she could switch to using her notebook and have access to all her data from the 4TB drive.

That's a slippery slope. The best solution for this specific problem is iCloud, without any doubt. Loss of power shouldn't be an issue. A notebook doesn't need main power. There are numerous battery backup solutions. Internet connectivity is not necessarily related to power loss. And even if the user loses both internet and power, iCloud is still the best solution. Users who demand more reliability than that either shouldn't be working from home in rural locations or should pay for more local storage.

How large is this one file that updates regularly? 512 GB flash drives are relatively cheap, durable and can be carried in your pocket.

I've enjoyed this conversation and admire your efforts to make accessibility a priority. I have seen that even a simple barrier - like a curb instead of a curb cut - can complicate a task that many people take for granted.

Look at System Settings/Apple Account/iCloud/See All to make sure that her specific applications are being saved to iCloud. For additional peace of mind, you can go to iCloud.com, sign in and confirm what is being saved to iCloud.

Nomad06 wrote:

She has 400 mb fiber to the house and directly to her modem. From the modem, there are two fiber cables: 1 to an outlet in the house and the other directly to an outlet in the office.

That's odd. Plus it's horribly slow for fiber. Definitely better to use Wifi if that's the maximum speed.

WD 4TB is a Western Digital Element HDD drive with a USB 3 Connection. If the 4 TB is insufficient, we'll increase it to 20 TB.

It's not the size that's the issue, it's the usage. A single drive should not be used for both backup and anything else. If you need external storage for something else, then you'll need an additional backup drive for that something else.

Isn't everything that I do on my Mac also in iCloud?

Absolutely not.

So, if my Mac crashes, do I still have access to everything in the cloud? If yes, then it is a backup of my work that I do on my computer.

iCloud is a file sync solution. If you have more than a single device and want to have easy access to your most recently used files on all devices, then iCloud is a good solution. But it's absolutely never a backup. iCloud never has all files. And Apple has iCloud, so the data is never guaranteed. Some other device could delete the files, or some problem at Apple could delete them or make them inaccessible.

She has plans to do podcasts and web classes and wishes to prerecord a lot of what she shares via exercises (not physical) and examples. More space is better than not enough, and having to acquire more later..

Not all space is equal. A mechanical hard drive may be too slow for that kind of use. A bigger drive may be slower still. It's hard to say because the actual speed of an external hard drive may be difficult to discover. It is possible to construct a mechanical storage device with decent speed, but the closer you are to the consumer drive world, the more likely you are to have a drive that is glacially slow and unsuitable for any use other than backup, and maybe not even that.

As I've mentioned previously, she needs to expand both her system and her reach. She teaches classes to an international crowd (writing, composition, rhetoric, etc.). She has students from New Zealand, England, Wales, Korea, the US, and is in the process of creating a website and expanding to podcasts. She can't continue doing it all on her 2020 MacBook.

I don't know what you mean by "2020 MacBook". There was never a model with that identifier. That could be a powerful Apple Silicon machine or an anemic Intel Air.

NAS (with Time Machine server capabilities) is the way to go.

Your current path — re-inventing a NAS, locally, basically — will work, but will usually be more work.

A two-bay NAS (with Time Machine server) can be a good starter, but I’d use disks rather larger than those 4 TB disks.

As what might be a better alternate, I’d look at a mesh Wi-Fi with Time Machine server.

From what you’ve posted, I’d look at Synology MR2200ac, as one starting point:

• https://global.download.synology.com/download/Document/Hardware/DataSheet/Router/19-year/MR2200ac/enu/MR_Synology_MR2200ac_datasheet_enu.pdf
• https://kb.synology.com/en-us/SRM/tutorial/Quick_Start_Mesh_Wifi_System
• https://community.synology.com/enu/forum/2/post/127985

That because it’s a means for getting better Wi-Fi coverage, and a means of connecting a hard disk into your network. If you need more storage, a two-bay or more-bay NAS can be added.

I’d likely look at using a larger hard disk though, as that capacity sets how deep your Time Machine backups can be.

For completeness, a Mac that is running continuously can also be used as a Time Machine server.

The uplink and the ISP link are not relevant to Mac backups, as they’re either all local using Time Machine (and not hosted), or you’re going to be investing in some add-on backup apps for hosted storage, and then practicing with the backup and particularly with the recovery and preferably before you need to.

You’re probably signing up to keep the equipment updated, unless you can help your friend become more comfortable with those tasks.

From experience with remote support, I’d be very cautious about taking over support without also having the ability to maintain backups and other tasks, and to connect into the gear remotely. Otherwise, you’re on call always, and too often with backups somehow not done or failed to complete or whatever, which can all turn into a great big helping of “help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope”. 😉

Are they bare SSD drives or SSDs already in cases with either USB C or 3.0 ports? Just curious.

Did you mean that her speed is 400 Mbps? My Spectrum speed is 1,000 Mbps for a wired connection.