User profile for user: kjwsr
kjwsr Author
User level: Level 1
45 points

Multiple Time Machine Backups

I have an external drive set up as the target for Time Machine backups for my internal SSD. I recently added a new external SSD to offload a large volume of photos. To back up this new drive I have a separate external SSD. I added the new back up drive to Time Machine and initially excluded all but the External Photo drive from the backups. This worked perfectly. Until I noticed that the changes I'd made to the Excluded From Backup list on the new setup had been mirrored on the existing setup.


Is there a way to define unique Excluded list for the 2 time Machine setups?


Thanks,

Kyle


iMac 24″, macOS 15.1

Posted on Jan 17, 2025 2:11 PM

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User profile for user: FishingAddict
FishingAddict
User level: Level 4
3,671 points

Jan 18, 2025 5:18 PM in response to kjwsr

I completely agree with mrokloricred37 about backup strategies that include multiple methods, media, and locations. The nice thing about having multiple backups for all data is that if you ever fill up a backup drive (or if it gets corrupted), you can choose to wipe it and start fresh -- knowing that you have other backups in the meantime.


I have personally settled on:


  1. Time Machine to locally attached external drive
  2. Backblaze cloud backup (includes all attached drives)
  3. Occasional CCC backups to separate external(s), stored offsite in safe


In a former job role, I assisted many end-users in trying to either rescue their data from failed storage. If they were prepared with a backup, it was easy to replace their storage and then successfully recover their data. For the unprepared ones, having to tell someone without any backups that all of their kid's photos are gone with no chance of recovery is a wakeup call to practice good backup strategy. I have used all of my various backup types to recover from various data loses over the years, so I sleep better having all of them.


Hopefully having CCC as a tool will help you devise the strategy that works best for your needs.

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User profile for user: kjwsr
kjwsr Author
User level: Level 1
45 points

Jan 17, 2025 4:56 PM in response to John Galt

That’s what I was afraid of. It seems odd that I can back up the same data to 2 different drives, but not back up different data to different drives. I’m looking at creating one TM back up and including the external drive. I’m hoping it will allow me to restore files from the external back to the external drive.


Thanks

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User profile for user: kjwsr
kjwsr Author
User level: Level 1
45 points

Jan 18, 2025 4:00 PM in response to mrokloricred37

I downloaded the CCC trial this morning. Not only can it back up one external drive to another, it was dead simple. I bought the license 🤣


And because it allows you to create multiple backups I’m looking at using CCC instead of Time Machine to backup my local drive. CCC seems to be a lot more flexible and I can’t see any advantage to using two backup utilities.


Kyle

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User profile for user: kjwsr
kjwsr Author
User level: Level 1
45 points

Jan 18, 2025 4:01 PM in response to mrokloricred37

I downloaded the CCC trial this morning. Not only can it back up one external drive to another, it was dead simple. I bought the license 🤣


And because it allows you to create multiple backups I’m looking at using CCC instead of Time Machine to backup my local drive. CCC seems to be a lot more flexible and I can’t see any advantage to using two backup utilities.


Kyle

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User profile for user: kjwsr
kjwsr Author
User level: Level 1
45 points

Jan 18, 2025 4:23 PM in response to mrokloricred37

I suppose it can become a question of storage capacity. I have 2 4TB SSD’s that I’m using for backups; one for the local drive and one for the external. The local SSD is 2TB and rumor has it your backup drive should be 2X the drive you’re backing up. I’m running afoul of the rule with the external drive. It’s 4TB as is the external backup drive. I don’t think I’ll ever approach 2TB of data on the external drive but if I do I’ll rethink the backup drive.

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User profile for user: kjwsr
kjwsr Author
User level: Level 1
45 points

Jan 21, 2025 3:14 PM in response to mrokloricred37

I think I have it all squared away. I have 2 Carbon Copy Cloner backups set up. The internal drive is backing up to its original external drive. The new external storage drive is backing up to its own external drive. I have replaced Dropbox with Sync. Like Time Machine, Dropbox is not external drive friendly. Sync is.


A bonus to this exercise is that I found Jump, a remote app that’s really easy to set up and allows me to contol my iMac from my iPad. It seems to be very stable.


Thanks,

Kyke

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Multiple Time Machine Backups

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