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recommendation for external 1TB SSD as a Time Machine Backup

I have the M1 24" iMac. Which external 1TB SSD do you recommend to use as a Time Machine backup? I had a Netac Zslim which I've returned due to its poor connectivity. Price is important than overall speed. Thanks in advance

iMac 24″, macOS 11.4

Posted on Jun 28, 2021 7:12 AM

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6 replies

Jun 28, 2021 7:34 AM in response to Denyason

I’d suggest a 4 to 6 terabyte hard disk drive (HDD), as you don’t (usually) need the speed of an SSD, and as you will want storage capacity sufficient to maintain some depth of Time Machine (TM) backups.


I’m working with a mix of NAS storage units (with TM support) and Seagate external HDDs. NAS isn’t cheap, but adds flexibility and hardware data protections, and can consolidate multiple TM backups into fewer boxes, and with fewer or no wires which is particularly handy for portable Macs.


For your iMac usage, a ~USD$120 4-6 TB USB HDD will probably be the best trade-off.


Smaller disks used as Time Machine targets can tend to have issues when they get close to full, too. TM does not “like” big files in small targets, and can have difficulty pruning backups with a relatively too-small target and relatively too-big newly-arriving files.

Jun 28, 2021 9:02 AM in response to Denyason

I have used Samsung SSD's and no issue. Presently I'm using a WD NVME drive in a USB gen 2 enclosure. You did not state the size of your internal drive. Your TM should be >2 x the size of your internal file size (not necessarily the drive size) so you can contain some history without filling up. Just a matter of cost vs speed. I have several Mac's so having a TM that is fast is handy when restoring.

recommendation for external 1TB SSD as a Time Machine Backup

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