What's the best external backup solution for the 2011 MacBook Air?

I'm really considering moving to a new 2011 13" MacBook Air for my primary machine and I'm curious to know what ya'll might suggest for the ideal backup solution.
Currently I use a Firewire 800 drive with my MacBook Pro consisting of a Bootable OS backup, Media volume backup, Time Machine backup + blank volume for files.
The current external options available —Thunderbolt release date anyone?—are: USB 2.0 and Time Capsule. Lately—and a first up until now—I've started thinking about potentialy moving my backup solution online. I'm curious if anyone has experience with an affordable, simple, online solution?
Also, don't suppose any kind of storage solutions could utilize the SD card slot in any way?
I look forward to hearing about your backup solutions!
All the best,
—Jordan

Redundancy is more important than speed when it comes to backup.
I like a have a clone of my internal drive to an external drive of the same size. If your internal drive fails you can boot from your external clone. I use SuperDuper!
If your data is important to you, you should keep a backup off-site and have more than one backup set.
Cloud storage is an option if you have fast broadband and small data volumes.
I like the simplicity of Time Machine with Time Capsule for incremental and version backups.
Rather than invest in Thunderbolt (expensive and fast), invest in redundancy (cheap, slow).

Similar Messages

  • What is the best & cheap backup solution for a macpro laptop?

    What is the best & cheap backup solution for a macpro laptop? easy & simple to use

    Basic Backup
    For some people Time Machine will be more than adequate. Time Machine is part of OS X. There are two components: 1. A Time Machine preferences panel as part of System Preferences; and, 2. A Time Machine application located in the Applications folder. It is used to manage backups and to restore backups. Time Machine requires a backup drive that is at least twice the capacity of the drive being backed up.
    Alternatively, get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
    Carbon Copy Cloner
    Data Backup
    Deja Vu
    SuperDuper!
    Synk Pro
    Tri-Backup
    Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore.  Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
    Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined.  It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.)  You can purchase hard drives separately.  This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice.  Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu.  You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
    Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available.  You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports.  I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.)  You can find enclosures at places such as;
    Cool Drives
    OWC
    WiebeTech
    Firewire Direct
    California Drives
    NewEgg
    All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover.  Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.

  • What is the best external hard drive for the MAC Book Pro with Retina?

    What is the best external hard drive for the MAC Book Pro with Retina?
    I was looking at WD MY PASSPORT FOR MAC and Toshiba. I want something that will work best with time capsule! Suggestions on the best external hard drive would be greatly appreciated!!!

    A Time Machine backup drive should be substantially larger than the system drive.  If you have a 128 or 256 GB SSD then a 1 TB drive will suffice.  If you have a 512 GB SSD then a 2 TB drive will suffice.  As leroydouglas indicated any brand other than WD will do.
    For 1 TB drives PlotinusVeritas gives some great suggestions here:
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5602141?tstart=0
    A 2 TB drive sold by Apple:
    http://store.apple.com/us/product/H9378ZM/A/lacie-2tb-usb-30-porsche-design-p923 3-desktop-hard-drive
    $130
    A 2 TB drive just as good for only $92.
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toshiba-Canvio-Basics-3-0-USB-2-TB-Portable-Hard-Drive-M odel-HDTB220XK3CA-/231162655273

  • What is the best free backup solution for Hyper-V R2/2012? CSV support is necessary

    Hi,
    I need so guidance, please.
    I’m planning to deploy a free backup solution for my virtual environment and I need your advice. I have the following configuration:
    Failover Cluster:
    Two Dell Servers
    OS: Windows 2012 STD
    Each server has two AMD Opteron 4180 6C @ 2.6 GHZ
    16 GB – RAM (supports 256GB)
    QNAP NAS (CSV)
    It’s hosting a DC, an Exchange 2010 and soon a SharePoint 2013 VM
    Standalone Hyper-V:
    Dell Server
    OS: Windows 2008 R2 Datacenter
    It has two Intel Xeon E5520 @ 2.2 GHZ
    16 GB - RAM
    It’s hosting 3 VMs
    In my research I found these apps. All of them are limited in some way but they do the job:
    Veeam Backup Free Edition v7
    Altaro Hyper-V Backup
    Unitrends Enterprise Backup
    PHD Virtual Backup for Hyper-V
    HV Backup from CodePlex
    Windows Server Backup (WSB)
    What is your experience with them? What would you recommend?
    When it comes to money, which one is more affordable? (In case I want to buy the full version)
    Thanks in advanced. 

    Hi,
    I need so guidance, please.
    I’m planning to deploy a free backup solution for my virtual environment and I need your advice. I have the following configuration:
    Failover Cluster:
    Two Dell Servers
    OS: Windows 2012 STD
    Each server has two AMD Opteron 4180 6C @ 2.6 GHZ
    16 GB – RAM (supports 256GB)
    QNAP NAS (CSV)
    It’s hosting a DC, an Exchange 2010 and soon a SharePoint 2013 VM
    Standalone Hyper-V:
    Dell Server
    OS: Windows 2008 R2 Datacenter
    It has two Intel Xeon E5520 @ 2.2 GHZ
    16 GB - RAM
    It’s hosting 3 VMs
    In my research I found these apps. All of them are limited in some way but they do the job:
    Veeam Backup Free Edition v7
    Altaro Hyper-V Backup
    Unitrends Enterprise Backup
    PHD Virtual Backup for Hyper-V
    HV Backup from CodePlex
    Windows Server Backup (WSB)
    What is your experience with them? What would you recommend?
    When it comes to money, which one is more affordable? (In case I want to buy the full version)
    Thanks in advanced. 
    Any Altaro Hyper-V Backup User?

  • Single best external storage solution for Mac Pro & MacBook Pro ...?

    Hello,
    I'm still waiting for the Mac Pro delivery I have around me something like four external hard drives from different vendors and different sizes and all containing important data ... it is really a mess, cables, lack of redundancy, etc.
    I wanted to replace all these once and for all by a single elegant long-lasting and reliable solution to combine with my new Mac Pro and MacBook Pro. The best I could find was OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 8.0TB containing four internal HDD in double RAID with multiple possible setups: RAID 0 and RAID 1, RAID 10 configurations:
    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEQX2T8.0S/
    Looks like an excellent choice for the only one external storage solution! does anyone has experience with this model? are there better contenders?
    Many thanks in advance,
    Best regards,
    Giovanni

    Giovanni,
    I have the OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 (6 TB) external HD array in a Raid 5 configuration (as received from OWC). I have found it to be excellent when connected to my Mac Pro using a PCI SATA card and the SATA output on the Elite-AL Pro Qx2. The speed of the system under Raid 5 easily supports all but uncompressed high definition video, and the system came with Prosoft's Data Backup software which does an excellent job of backing up other external drives installed on my Mac Pro.
    I highly recommend the Qx2 and think you will find it is a good single source solution to providing you with reliable and safe storage for your data. With Raid 5 if one of the HD's in the Qx2 fails, you simply remove it and allow the system to rebuild the data when you insert a new HD. Thus unless two HD's fail simultaneously (high unlikely) you are protected against data loss. Note also that your Mac Pro does not have to be left on while the Qx2 is rebuilding.
    Tom

  • I have a 2007 macbook and I am wondering what is the best external hard drive for my Mac?

    What is the best external hard drive for a 2007 Macbook?

    The Apple USB superdrive would be a great choice for you, ( http://store.apple.com/ca/product/MD564ZM/A/apple-usb-superdrive?fnode=5f ) I am not certain but I am pretty sure that it has the same form factor as the MacMini (Not thickness but all the other dimenetions) so it fits just under and looks like an extension of your mac. 

  • What is the best External Hard Drive for a Macbook Leopard 10.5.8?  I need more memory for documents, pictures, videos, and music.  Thanks!

    What is the best External Hard Drive for a Macbook Leopard 10.5.8?  I need more memory for documents, pictures, videos, and music.  Thanks!

    Hi, does your MacBook have Firewire, or just USB?
    FW is far faster if you have that.
    Avoid Bus powered ones.
    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
    USB only...
    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/usb/eliteclassic

  • What is the best external BluRay reader for a Mac?

    What is the best external BluRay reader for a Mac which is around $100?
    --  MacBook Pro Late 2011
    Thank you!

    There are many that will work just fine. I've been very happy with the units from Other World Computing:
    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/
    but there are other brands and vendors that are also quite good. If your MacBook has a Firewire port, a Firewire-equipped drive will give you the best performance.

  • Question - What is the best external optical drive for an imac W8******5PE ?

    Question - What is the best external optical drive for an imac W8****5PE ?
    <Edited by Host>

    Try http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/
    Allan

  • What is the best external battery to use with a macbook pro retina?

    Looking for the best option here. What is the best external battery to use with a macbook pro retina?

    You should check your date of purchase against the manufacturer's warranty
    or guaranty since some of those better brands have some recourse should
    they fail within a specified time period. A good reason to save dated receipts.
    Since solid-state USB drives probably don't (all) use a wear-leveling software
    to equally utilize their recordable space evenly, it is possible that some of these
    may exhibit a failure in some sector areas due to excessive over-writing. If the
    ones you use do not have such a technology or an undercounted total capacity
    with a means to automatically write in other sections, you may have to consider
    manually using a disk utility to zero-overwrite and reformat them occasionally.
    Even so, that may only help a marginal flash or thumb drive work a little longer.
    Should a camera memory card fail you still may be able to attempt with margin of
    success, to +recover image files+ from it. re: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
    The standard default format they ship with works well for most file types; so if
    you aren't moving OS X or Mac app specific files around on a USB flash drive,
    the original format should be fine. Oh, you can use Disk Utility to attempt to do
    a repair; but in some cases you may have to reformat them, etc.
    {Some of the flash drive warranties or guarantees may vary from between regions;
    so if you have one with a '5 Year' guarantee in the US, other rules may apply in EU,
    or when you seek to replace an item under warranty outside of where it was bought.}
    Good luck & happy computing!

  • What are the best settings to use for the newest AirPort Extreme (AC wifi) with my optimum online service provider?

    I have the current generation of the AirPort Extreme and a handful of devices that utilize the new 5Ghz A/C frequency. My internet speeds were blazing fast when I had first set it up but lately it has been lagging terribly. I was told that changing my dhcp did help, which it did it seems like it might be back to its normal speeds but I just want to know what are the best settings to configure for the airport so that I can get the most out of my service on all my devices? I'm using a CAT 6 cable which does help, I have a guest wifi setup with a wifi password which I understand will slow it down a little. Can anyone just point me in the right direction or just give me a step by step guide on what settings to configure? Should I really consider turning off the guest network?

    I am assuming that you are looking to configure your network to provide the highest level of bandwidth possible for your network clients. If that is the case, the following are a few things to consider:
    The Internet modem should support Gigabit Ethernet. That is the Ethernet connection between the modem and your 802.11ac AirPort Extreme should be Gigabit Ethernet.
    Use CAT-5e or CAT-6 Ethernet cables between all wired connections.
    Only expect 802.11ac performance with 802.11ac clients in the same room as the base station.
    Eliminate or significantly reduce any forms of Wi-Fi interference on both the 2.4 & 5 GHz bands.
    When streaming, especially HD video on your local network, use wired connections between the host and player devices when possible.
    Other than the above suggestions there are no "magic" settings that you can make on your AirPort. Note: The Guest network shares the same bandwidth as the "main" network. Unless you have a network goal to provide this type of network, it is best left disabled.

  • What is the best Cisco ASDM ver. for the PIX 8.0(3) ?

    What is the best Cisco ASDM ver. for the PIX 8.0(3) ?
    Correct and exact installer packege needed, which is up to date.
    Thank you.

    Cisco recommends ASDM 7.3(2) for all 8.x+ versions. See Table 2 here.
    The file would be asdm-732.bin, available here (support contract required).

  • What is the Best Blue Tooth headset for the i-phone 3 G? And why?

    Could anyone please tell me what the best Blue Tooth headset for the I-Phone 3 G is, quality and comfort wise, I have tiny ears and don't like the headset that they give with the i-phone it hurts in my ears! If there is a headset that is super comfortable, can you please post and also tell me the pros and cons. Thanks

    just opinions now.
    I drive a truck so I use a Blueparrot BT150. Crystal clear reception, and no one, and I have asked, can tell that I am on a headset. Best noise cancelling mic on the market in my opinion. BUT, it is bigger than most headsets and some people don't like that.
    On the smaller side...finally found what my wife and I think is the best bang for the buck for hers. The Jabra BT 530 Blackmagic. Its small, lightweight, and from my experience talking to her, an extremely good noise cancelling mic.

  • Wich is the best external bluray burner for an iMac

    wich is the best external bluray burner for an iMac
    i am using adobe premier pro and adobe encore.
    any help?

    Try http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/
    Allan

  • What's he best portable hard drive for the Mac Pro?

    What's the best portable hard drive for the MacBook Pro?

    There is no best.
    Look at OWC for some options.  http://www.macsales.com/
    I am biased against the ubiquitous  low price Western Digital.
    I had good luck with DiskGo Edge in the past.

Maybe you are looking for