backup memory stick for oldies
Discussion
Hello. Looking for a backup storage wotsit for the missis's 2012 MacBook Pro, 500Gb, solid state drive.
We've used hand-sized memory boxes from the likes of Samsung in the past but we've lost them. I notice that the humble memory stick now seems to be capable of covering this. Will these £10 memory sticks off ebay be OK for the job? Or should I be looking at a more expensive branded one from SanDisk or similar?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393080299617?hash=item5...
We've used hand-sized memory boxes from the likes of Samsung in the past but we've lost them. I notice that the humble memory stick now seems to be capable of covering this. Will these £10 memory sticks off ebay be OK for the job? Or should I be looking at a more expensive branded one from SanDisk or similar?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393080299617?hash=item5...
If you keep losing them, there's little point in having a backup. Can you not backup to iCloud instead...means it's (almost) impossible to lose?
I'd be very wary of the cheap USB sticks on ebay or amazon...they usually advertise high capacities, but are actually much smaller.
For reference a 'brand name' 128GB stick is at least £15, so buyer beware.
The one you linked to has a very slow transfer speed (USB2, and only 6MB/s write speed) so will take forever to do any backups...and you may only realise the advertised capacity is false when you come to recover your files and they've become corrupted.
I'd play safe and get a brand name (e.g. Samsung, Sandisk, Integral, Kingston, etc.) USB3 (50MB/s+ write speed / 100MB/s+ read speed) one from Amazon.
I'd be very wary of the cheap USB sticks on ebay or amazon...they usually advertise high capacities, but are actually much smaller.
For reference a 'brand name' 128GB stick is at least £15, so buyer beware.
The one you linked to has a very slow transfer speed (USB2, and only 6MB/s write speed) so will take forever to do any backups...and you may only realise the advertised capacity is false when you come to recover your files and they've become corrupted.
I'd play safe and get a brand name (e.g. Samsung, Sandisk, Integral, Kingston, etc.) USB3 (50MB/s+ write speed / 100MB/s+ read speed) one from Amazon.
mmm-five said:
If you keep losing them, there's little point in having a backup. Can you not backup to iCloud instead...means it's (almost) impossible to lose?
I'd be very wary of the cheap USB sticks on ebay or amazon...they usually advertise high capacities, but are actually much smaller.
For reference a 'brand name' 128GB stick is at least £15, so buyer beware.
The one you linked to has a very slow transfer speed (USB2, and only 6MB/s write speed) so will take forever to do any backups...and you may only the advertised capacity is false when you come to recover your files and they've become corrupted.
I'd play safe and get (and test) a USB3 (50MB/s+ write speed / 100MB/s+ read speed) Samsung, Sandisk or Integral one from Amazon.
Missis doesn't like/trust the Cloud. Not sure I do tbh. I'd be very wary of the cheap USB sticks on ebay or amazon...they usually advertise high capacities, but are actually much smaller.
For reference a 'brand name' 128GB stick is at least £15, so buyer beware.
The one you linked to has a very slow transfer speed (USB2, and only 6MB/s write speed) so will take forever to do any backups...and you may only the advertised capacity is false when you come to recover your files and they've become corrupted.
I'd play safe and get (and test) a USB3 (50MB/s+ write speed / 100MB/s+ read speed) Samsung, Sandisk or Integral one from Amazon.
Like I said, we're oldies. Thanks for the info re USB3, that's stuff I needed to know.
In that case, and assuming you want to keep the little bugger attached to the Macbook at all times, then something tiny like the SanDisk Ultra Fit 512GB @ £34.99 will be fine.
Otherwise you can get some that have a keychain hole, so you can add it to your keys to avoid losing it...for example Sandisk Ultra 512GB @ £34.50
Otherwise you can get some that have a keychain hole, so you can add it to your keys to avoid losing it...for example Sandisk Ultra 512GB @ £34.50
mmm-five said:
In that case, and assuming you want to keep the little bugger attached to the Macbook at all times, then something tiny like the SanDisk Ultra Fit 512GB @ £34.99 will be fine.
Otherwise you can get some that have a keychain hole, so you can add it to your keys to avoid losing it...for example Sandisk Ultra 512GB @ £34.50
Sorry, got the quoting wrong there, I'll try again:Otherwise you can get some that have a keychain hole, so you can add it to your keys to avoid losing it...for example Sandisk Ultra 512GB @ £34.50
The tiny one looks perfect, does it automatically refresh itself if you leave it plugged in?
Blackpuddin said:
The tiny one looks perfect, does it automatically refresh itself on a regular basis if you leave it plugged in?
Depends how you have your backup software configured, or whether you normally just manually copy stuff over?If it's using Apple's built-in TimeMachine backup tool, then it will backup at regular intervals. If it's manual, then it will only update when you copy files over.
If you use TimeMachine, the first backup will take the longest as it has to backup everything. Subsequent backups will be quicker as it will only copy over items that have changed.
mmm-five said:
Blackpuddin said:
The tiny one looks perfect, does it automatically refresh itself on a regular basis if you leave it plugged in?
Depends how you have your backup software configured, or whether you normally just manually copy stuff over?If it's using Apple's built-in TimeMachine backup tool, then it will backup at regular intervals. If it's manual, then it will only update when you copy files over.
Blackpuddin said:
The tiny one looks perfect, does it automatically refresh itself if you leave it plugged in?
You should really keep a backup in another location in case the Macbook gets stolen or catches fire or something. I don't know what you're worried about but the cloud is ideal for this. I would have thought Apple's is especially secure.Fore Left said:
Blackpuddin said:
The tiny one looks perfect, does it automatically refresh itself if you leave it plugged in?
You should really keep a backup in another location in case the Macbook gets stolen or catches fire or something. I don't know what you're worried about but the cloud is ideal for this. I would have thought Apple's is especially secure.The USBs you have linked are ok as a cheapo way of sharing info to machines in the factory or to leave drawings/ proposals with customers, we buy loads at work usually 4 or 8GB as they are basically disposable, I would not want to use as a backup, we buy 20 or 40 at a time as they last for a month or 2 of use, I would say 10% are DOA.
I wont buy branded memory sticks (or SSDs) off amazon or ebay as there seem to be masses of fakes, stick to a proper company.
I wont buy branded memory sticks (or SSDs) off amazon or ebay as there seem to be masses of fakes, stick to a proper company.
OK, so I got the small SanDisk drive and tried backing up the missis's MBP to it. After half an hour it had backed up 600KB of 418GB. It's calculating the time remaining, but hasn't come up with an estimate. My own estimate would be about a year at this rate.
Her MBP does have issues, the screen starts breaking up if you move the machine the wrong way and she has to restart it a lot.
However I tried the SanDisk on my own MBP which is stable if old, found the same ultra-slowness on the backup. Looks like I've wasted £34 there
Now trying to back my MBP up to iCloud.
ETA: the 'eject disk' command doesn't work for the SanDisk. I have to pull it out of the machine and then get told off for improper ejection.
Her MBP does have issues, the screen starts breaking up if you move the machine the wrong way and she has to restart it a lot.
However I tried the SanDisk on my own MBP which is stable if old, found the same ultra-slowness on the backup. Looks like I've wasted £34 there
Now trying to back my MBP up to iCloud.
ETA: the 'eject disk' command doesn't work for the SanDisk. I have to pull it out of the machine and then get told off for improper ejection.
Edited by Blackpuddin on Saturday 14th October 09:52
Have you formatted the drive to Mac format, as it might have come in FAT format by default...which is still readable/writable in a Mac, but is really slooooowwwwwww.
The other issue that may be contributing to the slowness is the icloud prep process accessing the same slow drives at the same time.
The other issue that may be contributing to the slowness is the icloud prep process accessing the same slow drives at the same time.
Edited by mmm-five on Saturday 14th October 11:47
mmm-five said:
Have you formatted the drive to Mac format, as it might have come in FAT format by default...which is still readable/writable in a Mac, but is really slooooowwwwwww.
The other issue that may be contributing to the slowness is the icloud prep process accessing the same slow drives at the same time.
The SanDisk didn't tell me to format it to the Mac, not sure how I'd do that. The other issue that may be contributing to the slowness is the icloud prep process accessing the same slow drives at the same time.
Edited by mmm-five on Saturday 14th October 11:47
I've stopped the Time Machine backups, the optimisation process on this MBP is the only thing that's going on at the moment. Is wifi speed an issue for this? We have less than 2Mb here. Would I stand more chance attaching the MBP to the router with an Ethernet cable?
Thanks to all for advice so far.
For Time Machine, you probably want around 3 to 4 times the capacity of the drive you’re continually backing up. If you want a decent copy speed, not overheating and resilience to accidentally unplugging without ejecting, then you might want to look at a USB/Thunderbolt SSD enclosure and a 2TB NVMe drive. Something like a Crucial P3 Gen 3 (not the fastest but OK for this purpose) - about £75
mikef said:
For Time Machine, you probably want around 3 to 4 times the capacity of the drive you’re continually backing up. If you want a decent copy speed, not overheating and resilience to accidentally unplugging without ejecting, then you might want to look at a USB/Thunderbolt SSD enclosure and a 2TB NVMe drive. Something like a Crucial P3 Gen 3 (not the fastest but OK for this purpose) - about £75
Blimey, £75, I'm starting to pin all my hopes on iCloud now!Still 'optimising', been doing that for a couple of hours.
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