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Choosing a hard drive to back up your data can be a quest in and of itself. This post highlights the different types of hard drives for Mac that you can use, and how to choose the best backup hardware for your needs. External Hard Drives. The standard way to back up a Mac is to use a hard disk connected via USB or Thunderbolt. To get you started in the right direction toward the right add-on backup/storage solution, below are 10 of the best drives we've tested of late, at a variety of prices and capacities. Some are SSD. After you add all the hard drives to the RAID 1 mirror set, you are ready to create the finished RAID volume for your Mac to use. Click Create. A Creating RAID warning sheet drops down to remind you that all the data on the drives that make up the RAID array is about to be erased.
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By AppleInsider Staff
Thursday, May 10, 2018, 12:22 pm PT (03:22 pm ET)
A Network Attached Storage device can provide shared storage, a Time Machine backup target, and additional useful features for Mac, iPhone, and iPad users on a local area network —and beyond. Here are the best Apple-friendly NAS units to meet and exceed the now discontinued Time Capsule's features.Thursday, May 10, 2018, 12:22 pm PT (03:22 pm ET)
Network Attached Storage, or NAS, devices are very handy for a variety of reasons. Beyond just acting as shared file storage for multiple users locally, most can be configured to provide that access to you while on-the-go. Additionally, hosting some form of media server, storing images, mirroring to another unit, and more are all other reasons to get one.
Many also natively support Apple's Time Machine backup tool for Macs. Using Time Machine, if a file is ever deleted, you can browse back through different states of your computer through time to recover the file, or even grab a previous version. If a Mac starts acting up, you can completely restore from any point in the past as well.
Apple's Time Capsule was a great option as both a destination for Time Machine backups and as a wireless router. Now that Apple has officially discontinued them, many are on the market for a new NAS device, so we rounded up the best consumer-grade options for anyone with a Mac or iOS device.
WD My Cloud
There are a variety of My Cloud variants out there, but the most basic and widely appealing option is the My Cloud Home model.
Time Machine support is included as well as media streaming with DLNA, remote file access, and even an iTunes server. We particularly liked the ability to right-click a folder on our Mac and choose sync to copy all the files to the My Cloud.
Mobile apps for iOS and Android make it easy to access on the go, though they aren't the best-designed ones out there. There is also a web interface available if you don't happen to have one of your devices around.
Using the USB port on the back, you can attach USB flash drives or hard drives to import files easily.
Aside from the My Cloud Home, My Cloud Home Duo ups the storage capacity up to 16TB in total. If you need additional RAID options, the My Cloud Expert or My Cloud Pro models are a better bet.
You can pick up the basic My Cloud Home 2TB model on Amazon or at B&H for $139.00. B&H will not collect sales tax on orders shipped outside New York and New Jersey (Colorado and Vermont residents, see here).
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Seagate Personal Cloud
Alongside Western Digital, Seagate is another common brand when it comes to storage solutions. Seagate Personal Cloud is an excellent NAS device with 4 TB of storage.
It has a modern design, with a sleek black body and a horizontal layout, compared to the vertical orientation of the My Cloud. Family and friends can be invited to join with secure file sharing through private emails.
It also supports Time Machine, with it working as a local drive when connected through USB or across the network with Ethernet.
Using the Seagate Media app, files can be accessed remotely on an iOS or Android device. Alternatively, media can be streamed to a variety of devices, including Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku. Many TVs from LG and Samsung also work via DLNA. Not to mention Playstation and Xbox.
The Seagate Personal Cloud with 4TB of storage can be found on Amazon for $179.00.
Promise Apollo Cloud 2
The Apollo Cloud 2 from Promise has one of the easiest setups around, all of which can be done from your iPhone. As a bonus, the device supports Apple's Files app on the iPhone and iPad directly, allowing for easy file migration to and from your mobile device.
Connectivity wise, this NAS device has a USB 3.0 port for backups and file transfers, and an Ethernet port for connecting to the router. The unit is powered by a dual-core processor and dual 4TB 'surveillance-class' drives which can be configured as RAID 0 or 1.
We took a look at it in February, and found it to be a great 'set and forget' device with Time Machine compatibility, but lacking niceties found in other devices like media library streaming.
The Promise Apollo Cloud 2 is available on Amazon and B&H for $379.00.
Synology Diskstation DS218j
Synology is known for their high-end network storage solutions. The DS218j is an upgraded version of their popular DS216 model from a couple years ago.
Unlike some of the others, the DS218j is sold diskless, and it is up to you insert your own pair of drives. Those drives can be set up in Synology Hybrid RAID, Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, and RAID 1 configurations.
Synology offers myriad applications to add capabilities to the unit. Apps like DS File, DS Photo, DS Video, DS Cloud, and others really offer a ton of features for the Diskstation.
Like the others, it supports Time Machine, but so much more. To connect, there is an Ethernet port along the back, with three USB ports available for one-time transfers or expanding the unit with external drives.
Given the app-centric nature of the device, streaming options are effectively endless with the Diskstation. After software expansion, the device is able to send audio and video to Samsung TVs, Roku players, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, DLNA devices, and more.
You can find the Synology DS218j Diskstation on Amazon or B&H for $169.99.
TerraMaster F2-220
TerraMaster makes some great devices, and the aptly named F2-220 is no different. It has an aluminum alloy body with easily swappable drives. Like others, it comes empty, relying on the user to install any set of drives they'd like.
This device also has an Intel Celeron 2.41GHz dual-core CPU and 2GB of RAM inside to help power it, which is great if you have many users or using it as a streaming media server.
There is also support out-of-the-box for Time Machine, plus a wide array of apps including a file server, mail server, web server, media server, Rsync remote server, FTP server, MySQL server and others
It also supports DLNA streaming, and can act as an iTunes media server.
The TerraMaster F2-220, without drives, can be found on Amazon and Newegg for $199.99.
Buffalo TeraStation 1200D
Buffalo makes one of the best looking NAS devices on our list, fitting well within any home or office. It has two internal drive bays, with configurations ranging from 2TB to 8TB of storage.
Time Machine is supported, as well as multiple user access with remote support.
It is DLNA-certified in addition to iTunes support for media server duties, although reviews suggest it may not be as robust from a file format support standpoint as some of the others.
The Buffalo TeraStation 1200D starts at $227.99 at both B&H Photo and Amazon.com.
Drobo 5N2
Drobo happens to be the most expensive on the list, running nearly $500 without the drives. It is, however, one of the most lauded NAS devices out there, perfect for offices as well as personal use.
This is capable of handling up to 64TB of storage when the drives are installed —which is a fairly easy task. It has enough internal slots for five 3.5-inch drives.
One of the best features is the internal battery. Should power ever fail, the internal battery will keep your data safe until you can get it going again.
Dual Ethernet ports also make it easy to connect. One can connect to the router, the other to your Mac or the rest of the network, possibly offering increased performance, depending on network architecture.
Beyond file sharing, and Time Machine support, a variety of apps are available that work with Drobo, similar to the Synology NAS. Some allow the setup of a Plex media server, others enable remote access or cloud backup, and one is even available to automatically and securely backup all photos from your iOS device.
You can find the Drobo 5N2 on Amazon or B&H for $499.99.
A deep rabbit hole
Some of these devices are extremely easy to set up, like the Promise Apollo Cloud 2. Others need a bit more configuration and maintenance. It's also very easy for a network attached storage project to get very expensive, very fast.
Our list is just of the ones we've used and like, with a limitation we've applied on initial setup ease and a reasonable budget. Many of them have super in-depth options, with large app stores hosting services that can be added that we've only alluded to. Many more can take a pile of drives for truly epic amounts of storage and a similarly profound cost —but for this, we've eliminated those as well.
Take a look at the tech specs of each unit before you buy.
And, don't be caught without a backup
We've said it before, and we'll say it again: backups are key. While a single NAS in your own home isn't the only source of backup you should rely on, it is a crucial start to a good backup regimen. Instead of relying on yourself to consistently connect a wired hard drive and manually backup, a NAS can offer convenience and automation, as well as a variety of other features.
You can extend this with off-site backup options, which is basically installing a compatible NAS in another location such as a trusted friend's house, and automatically syncing the two —but this is a topic for another day.
Be sure to check out AppleInsider's recommendations for alternatives to Apple's discontinued AirPort routers.
RAID 1, also known as a mirror or mirroring, is one of the many Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) levels supported by OS X and Disk Utility. RAID 1 lets you assign two or more disks as a mirrored set. Once you create the mirrored set, your Mac sees it as a single disk drive. When your Mac writes data to the mirrored set, it duplicates the data across all members of the set to ensure that your data is protected against loss if any hard drive in the RAID 1 set fails. As long as any single member of the set remains functional, your Mac continues to operate normally, giving you complete access to your data. Mac os latest update download.
You can remove a defective hard drive from a RAID 1 set and replace it with a new or repaired hard drive. The RAID 1 set then rebuilds itself, copying data from the existing set to the new member. You can continue to use your Mac during the rebuilding process because it takes place in the background.
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Why RAID 1 Isn't a Backup
Although it is commonly used as part of a backup strategy, RAID 1 by itself is not an effective substitute for backing up your data. Here’s why.
Any data written to a RAID 1 set is immediately copied to all members of the set; the same is true when you erase a file. As soon as you erase a file, that file is removed from all members of the RAID 1 set. As a result, RAID 1 does not allow you to recover older versions of data, such as the version of a file you edited last week.
Why Use a RAID 1 Mirror
Using a RAID 1 mirror as part of your backup strategy ensures maximum uptime and reliability. You can use RAID 1 for your startup drive, a data drive, or your backup drive.
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What You Need to Create a RAID 1 Mirror
https://slimyellow414.weebly.com/best-financial-software-for-mac-users.html. While these instructions should work for both past and future versions of OS X, some of the steps, nomenclature, or images shown in this article may be different. If you use OS X El Capitan or later, you need a third party app such as SoftRAID Lite to create and manage RAID arrays.
To create a RAID 1 mirror for your Mac, you need a few basic components. One of the items you need, Disk Utility, is supplied with the OS X operating system. Gtasan andreas for mac os sierra.
- OS X 10.5.x through OS X Yosemite.
- Disk Utility, which is included with OS X.
- Two or more hard drives. The process of creating RAID 1 mirrored sets erases all the data on the hard drives. Using hard drives that are the same make and model is recommended, but this is not a requirement.
- One or more drive enclosures. Mac Pro users may have internal drive bays available. Everyone else needs one or more external drive enclosures. If you are using multiple drive enclosures, they should ideally be the same make and model, or at least have the same type of interface, such as FireWire, USB, Thunderbolt, or SATA.
The process of creating a RAID set is fairly simple and doesn’t take much time, but erasing all the drives in the RAID set using the Zero Out data option is a time-consuming process that ensures maximum reliability.
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Erase the Drives
The hard drives you use as members of the RAID 1 mirror set must first be erased. Because you are building a RAID 1 set for the purpose of ensuring that your data remains accessible, take a little extra time and use one of Disk Utility’s security options, Zero Out Data, which erases each hard drive. When you zero out data, you force the hard drive to check for bad data blocks during the erasure process and to mark any bad blocks as not to be used. This decreases the likelihood of losing data due to a failing block on the hard drive. It also significantly increases the amount of time it takes to erase the drives from a few minutes to an hour or more per drive.
Erase the Drives Using the Zero Out Data Option
- Make sure the hard drives you intend to use are connected to your Mac and powered up.
- Launch Disk Utility, located at Applications > Utilities.
- Select one of the hard drives you are going to use in your RAID 1 mirror set from the list on the left. Be sure to select the drive, not the volume name that appears indented under the drive’s name.
- Click the Erase tab.
- From the Volume Format drop-down menu, select Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) as the format to use.
- Enter a name for the volume.
- Click Security Options.
- Select the Zero Out Data security option and then click OK.
- Click Erase.
- Repeat steps 3 through 9 for each additional hard drive that is going to be part of the RAID 1 mirror set. Give each hard drive a unique name.
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Create the RAID 1 Mirror Set
After you erase the drives you plan to use for the RAID 1 mirror set, you’re ready to start building the mirror set. Here's how:
- Launch Disk Utility if the application is not already open.
- Select one of the hard drives you plan to use in the RAID 1 mirror set from the Drive/Volume list in the left pane of the Disk Utility window.
- Click the RAID tab.
- Enter a name for the RAID 1 mirror set. This is the name that displays on the desktop.
- Select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Volume Format drop-down menu.
- Select Mirrored RAID Set as the Raid Type.
- Click Options.
- Set the RAID block size. The block size is dependent on the type of data you plan to store on the RAID 1 mirror set. For general use, consider a block size such as 256K or larger to optimize the performance of the RAID.
- Decide if the RAID 1 mirror set you are creating should automatically rebuild itself if the members of the RAID become out of sync. It’s usually a good idea to select the Automatically Rebuild RAID mirror set option. One of the few times it may not be a good idea is when you use the RAID 1 mirror set for It then creates the actual RAID 1 mirror set and mounts it as a normal hard drive volume on your Mac's desktop.
The total capacity of the RAID 1 mirror set you create is equal to the smallest member of the set, minus some overhead for the RAID boot files and data structure.
You can now close Disk Utility and use your RAID 1 mirror set as if it were any other disk volume on your Mac.
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Using Your New RAID 1 Mirror Set
Best hd for mac. Now that you have finished creating the RAID 1 mirror set, here are a few tips about its use.
OS X treats RAID sets created with Disk Utility as if they are standard hard drive volumes. As a result, you can use them as startup volumes, data volumes, or backup volumes
Hot Spares
You can add additional volumes to a RAID 1 mirror at any time, even long after the RAID array is created. Behringer x air software for mac. Drives added after a RAID array is created are known as hot spares. The RAID array doesn’t use hot spares unless an active member of the set fails. At that point, the RAID array automatically uses a hot spare as a replacement for the failed hard drive and automatically starts a rebuilding process to convert the hot spare to an active member of the array. When you add a hot spare, the hard drive must be equal to or larger than the smallest member of the RAID 1 mirror set.
Rebuilding
Rebuilding can occur any time one of the RAID 1 mirror set drives becomes out of sync; the data on a drive doesn’t match other members of the set. When this occurs, the rebuilding process begins, assuming you selected the automatic rebuild option during the RAID 1 mirror set creation process. During the rebuilding process, the out-of-sync disk has data restored to it from the remaining members of the set.
The rebuilding process takes time. While you can continue to use your Mac normally during the rebuild, you should not sleep or shut down the Mac during the process.
Best Raid For Backups
Rebuilding can occur for reasons beyond a hard drive failure. Some common events that trigger a rebuild are an OS X crash, a power failure, or improperly turning off your Mac.