p.1 #1 · Adding additional External Hard drive storage with iMac computer
I currently have a Time Machine backup and a Gylph backup connected to my IMac, I want to add an additional backup storage device for photos. Is there any way I can have both Gylph external devices connected to the one port and be able to access them both, or do I have to disconnect the cable to select the one I want to access?
Thanks in advance
p.1 #2 · Adding additional External Hard drive storage with iMac computer
Are you out of ports? If so, buy a USB hub to plug into the iMac thus adding multiple ports to the one. You would then be able to access all drives all the time.
It connects via your iMac's Thunderbolt ports and the enclosure has additional ports for daisy chaining should you want more expansion. Although RAID is available I use mine as a JBOD enclosure and use Carbon Copy Cloner as backup software. This way should you even have to replace the enclosure the different chipset would not lose data, just pop your drives in and out.
p.1 #4 · Adding additional External Hard drive storage with iMac computer
BobnJake wrote:
I currently have a Time Machine backup and a Gylph backup connected to my IMac, I want to add an additional backup storage device for photos. Is there any way I can have both Gylph external devices connected to the one port and be able to access them both, or do I have to disconnect the cable to select the one I want to access?
Thanks in advance
You probably want to connect your drives via Thunderbolt (e.g. USB-C connectors), assuming they have that capability, since this is the fastest.
Are you out of ports? If so, there are hubs that can connect to your single remaining port and let you attach more than one drive. In addition, some drives (I have a few like this) have additional USB-C/Thunderbolt ports that allow you to daisy-chain drives.
Also, you do not necessarily need separate drives for your existing and prospective photo backups. A large enough drive can easily be partitioned (use Apple’s disk utility software in the utilities folder on your Mac) to create separate partitions on one drive large enough to hold all of your backups.
Another “left field” option could be to use a NAS storage device and connect via Ethernet.
p.1 #5 · Adding additional External Hard drive storage with iMac computer
gdanmitchell wrote:
Another “left field” option could be to use a NAS storage device and connect via Ethernet.
That's not a "left field" option, but the right thing to do.
I just put up a quickie 4x28TB, ZFS RAID-Z so ~74TB. It's only one of many NAS, but quite compact and portable.
p.1 #6 · Adding additional External Hard drive storage with iMac computer
EB-1 wrote:
That's not a "left field" option, but the right thing to do.
I just put up a quickie 4x28TB, ZFS RAID-Z so ~74TB. It's only one of many NAS, but quite compact and portable.
EBH
I think it is a great option in a lot of cases. Though if one wants the highest speed (and has typical ethernet wiring) it won’t be as fast as the Thunderbolt option… and it can cost more to add a NAS than to simply attach an external drive.
That being said, we have a file server on the network in our home for backing up all of our various computers. One plus of the NAS (or a drive attached to an old computer on the network) is that you physically separate your original files from the backup, which makes things just a bit more secure.
