Cloud-based Time Machine Backups

What service do you all like for cloud-based Time Machine backups? It can be a paid service, that’s fine. Thanks for any recommendations.

Time Machine “specific” (i.e. being able to recover through the Time Machine app/menu), or just a regular cloud-based backup? (I’m assuming for Mac since you mention time machine.)

I use Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner to back up my local drives to each other and Backblaze to back up to cloud. I haven’t had to restore anything yet, but it seems to work fine and is always running in the background. Backblaze also offers to put your files on a physical hard drive and mail it to you in case you suffer a catastrophic loss. That could come in handy.

@CraigB Yes, I am on a Mac. I suppose it doesn’t have to be a Time Machine-compatible service. Mainly, I’m just looking to move my backup off site.

@Mojo I am not familiar with Carbon Copy Cloner, but I can take a look.

I also use BackBlaze and have done so for several years and haven’t had any issues. But I also haven’t had to (knock on wood) use my BackBlaze backup due to any catastrophic failure. I mainly do it for peace of mind just in case.

But I do not use it as a Time Machine substitute, I have a local physical backup drive that I use for Time Machine. I see BackBlaze as my Time Machine backup.

I might be mistaken, or the info might be outdated, but I think Time Machine only backs up your Mac to externals. It doesn’t back up externals to externals, hence my use of Carbon Copy Cloner to do that.

Again, this might be a misguided or outdated strategy… I don’t use the Mac for storage. It’s 1TB and I only use 200GB. It used to be that would let the software run faster. The only things on the Mac are software, fonts, temp proofs and temp downloads.

Time Machine backs up the Mac to External 1 (1TB). Backblaze backs up the Mac to their cloud.

External 2 (4TB) has all my work files and uses Carbon Copy Cloner to back up to External 3 (4TB). Backblaze backs up External 2 to their cloud.

So there is one local backup of everything, on an external, and one cloud backup of everything on Backblaze.

Maybe I limited myself in making this about Time Machine.

Right now, I use TM to backup my internal hard drive to an external hard drive. This works fine, and it has saved me in the past. But I’d like to have an offsite backup, too.

Not being a big hardware guy, I sort of assumed that I’d be able to point TM at a cloud service like Dropbox (or whatever) and it would work just like an external HD hooked up. That doesn’t sound like it’s the case.

TM doesn’t work with Dropbox. That would have been my first choice. It works with iCloud, but I believe there are some issues. Maybe those got resolved. It’s been a few years since I looked into it.

My set up is pretty similar to @Mojo

I have a 2TB external drive for a Time Machine backup, and I use BackBlaze that backs up everything. However, that is for my personal computer setup. I don’t do much freelance and I am an in-house designer, so my design work gets backed up at my job through DropBox and Internal Servers.

@CraigB @Mojo Both of you guys are talking about BackBlace. I will check them out. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Cloud-based Time Machine backups are becoming increasingly popular among users due to their ease of use, reliability, and robust backup features. Services like Backblaze, Carbonite, and CrashPlan are the top choices for users. They offer secure storage and seamless integration with macOS Time Machine for automated backups and data protection.

if you keep sounding like a ChatBot, you will soon get flagged.

1 Like

They’re done :wink: After many flagged posts, digging up old threads and having the system even delete one of their replies, I’d say that’s enough. I’m so tired of ChatBot replies. There are a few others on here as well that are about to find the door :wink:

1 Like

I back up on hardware. Cloud backups are ok for things you don’t mind losing. Not advisable for anything containing sensitive data because they’re not secure. Yes there have been few problems to date, but if the company running the service goes bust, you’ve lost it all. Not worth the risk when hardware backups are just as good and just as convenient.

Well, I really prefer to back up to where the cloud backups back up to, and if THEY back up to some other backups, I want them too!

I do have a local hard drive for Time Machine backups. My rationale behind wanting a duplicate of that in the cloud would be as a backup in case of a catastrophic loss (fire or theft).

1 Like

Fair enough