Storage advice pls, not cloud

[Big John]

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Am just a hobbyist and have recently spent several weeks sorting out my photos library on my Mac (and deleting a lot - note to self: delete as you go next time!)  Plan to upgrade OS but beforehand want to establish a full back-up, I already use Apple Time Machine.  Don’t want to go down the cloud route (yet). Only need 500GB but looking for recommendations for 1TB storage pls (avail in U.K.). Portability not important, USB 3. Thanks everyone. 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Big John

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[LocalHero1953]

I use a Lacie 8big, set up as RAID 1 (mirrored drives), connected by USB-C. It's been running for the past 18 months with no problems.

I back it up manually (I.e. I start the backup) using Microsoft's SyncToy - again painless. I run the backup every week or so - more often if I have added a new batch of important images.

I have an automatic backup from the Lacie to the cloud using Backblaze - but you don't want to hear that🙂.

Edited May 10, 2022 by LocalHero1953

[Siriusone59]

I was in about the same situation as you a couple of years ago.  Using a MacBook with a 500gb time machine external drive.  My inexpensive and fairly simple solution was to replace the 500gb with a 2TB seagate drive.  If I recall correctly, it was only about $70...they are probably even less expensive now.

[ianman]

Storage isn’t backup. If you value your photos I highly recommend a backup strategy. Offsite (cloud or otherwise) is also highly recommended as thieves, floods or other disasters won’t leave your backup behind.

[Big John]

2 hours ago, Siriusone59 said:

I was in about the same situation as you a couple of years ago.  Using a MacBook with a 500gb time machine external drive.  My inexpensive and fairly simple solution was to replace the 500gb with a 2TB seagate drive.  If I recall correctly, it was only about $70...they are probably even less expensive now.

Thanks,  so you recommend a model/what to look for on a Seagate drive?

[Big John]

9 minutes ago, ianman said:

Storage isn’t backup. If you value your photos I highly recommend a backup strategy. Offsite (cloud or otherwise) is also highly recommended as thieves, floods or other disasters won’t leave your backup behind.

Totally understand - and agree. I think this will be a short term thing for me….get the Mac OS updated.  My family photos are viewed via Picasso, which won’t be supported as I upgrade the OS so I am also thinking about processing software. I have LR already but only use it to edit selectively. 

[Luke_Miller]

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Over time as my internal storage requirements increased I acquired a collection of 500GB, 1 and 2TB hard drives that I replaced with larger ones.  With a USB hard drive dock (I use the StarTech version)

https://www.startech.com/en-us/hdd/sdocku33ef

these drives serve as my off-line backup solution.  I store the drives in hard plastic cases designed for the purpose.

[Siriusone59]

3 hours ago, Big John said:

Thanks,  so you recommend a model/what to look for on a Seagate drive?

I'm hesitant to actually "recommend" a model but I chose a seagate one touch 2TB and set it as the time machine drive.

Looking back in time(pun intended), I should have partitioned it into two 1TB drives.  One for time machine backups and one for regular storage.  Still can use it for regular storage as it is but I must enter my macbook's password since time machine can be a bit of a tyrant.

As earlier mentioned offsite backups are ideal and at today's prices on external drives, an additional one might be a good thing if one has the discipline to use it regularly.

[ejg1890]

Several routes to go:

1. Buy an external hard drive and move you photos to the external device. The catalogue can remain on your computer. These drives are cheap. for 1TB-2TB
2. Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. This is not portable. As stated above it can be set up as a mirror; however, I would not consider that a back up.
3. Buy an additional 1-2 external drives Periodically complete a back up of your drive and store that drive off-site from your house - relative, safety deposit box, work. The 2nd external drive can be used for back ups over a period of time. The back up drives can be swapped out periodically and new back ups on the previous offsite drive.

[marchyman]

I know you said portability is not a requirement, but don't rule out portable solutions.   I never more around my second backup volume (nightly clone of my hard drive) or my photos volume, but I could.    I use these:

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-Portable-External-SDSSDE60-1T00-G25/dp/B078STRHBX?th=1

I have a 2 TB version that stores my photos (catalog is on my internal drive) and a 1 TB version for system backup.  USBC.   Fast.  No external power supply needed.  I bought the 1 TB version 3 years ago.  No issues.

[Big John]

Many thanks everyone, really helpful. Cheers. 

[jrp]

Buy yourself either 2-3 4/5Tb external 2.5" drives, keeping one off "site", or, if you are feeling flush, get yourself some external SSDs (Samsung or Western Digital or Crucial) and rotate those.  (I back up to those as I am ingesting from SSD cards onto my laptop and backup my laptop to a NAS, but that's probably overkill, as I tend to put my best pics onto online storage such as Amazon Prime Drive or Flickr).