External USB 3 SSD

After an External SSD for backup purposes but not until the new year. Any recommendations or models to price watch until new year?

Is an SSD really sensible for backups? For the cost of a 1TB SSD you could get a 6TB HD. And speed is hardly a big deal for backups.

Good point I still have a Seagate and HGST spinner in use as archive and local backup but was mainly thinking of the no moving parts, longevity of drives and of course speed. I would disagree with you about speed as it takes 2 hours to do a local backup I would like to improve on this for external backups (about once a month) currently takes around 4 hours with a WD spinner. Cant see the point in having USB 3 and using a spinner that will slow things down.

If it takes two hours to do a backup then you are doing something wrong. Use Time Machine on a Mac, or File History on Windows, and you don't even notice that backups are happening. The occasional full system backup can be done overnight. Most backup programs can be set to shut the computer down after they have finished

Continuous incremental backups of changed files provide the most versatile backups. I used to use a similar, but slightly more sophisticated, system at work for over 500 users and could recover lost files within 10 minutes.

I use Macrium Reflect Free for backup and do a full backup once a week. Incremental backups are not available in the free version but differential is. I have a 500gb for local backups as the data I have including bootable drives is around 300gb. It is scheduled to do it overnight once a week. Verifying the backup seems to take the most time.

I tried a differential backup which is available in the free version and it took 43 minutes including the verify, might be the way forward.

Always used Karen's Replicator, with any number of settings to suit your needs. Anything other than a full backup takes less than 5 mins. I tend to run them 2-3 times a year. USB 2 WD Passport.

If non-full backups are taking 43 mins, you must have a lot of data to shift, or far too much files to keep.

Further research shows an enclosure and NVMe might be a little cheaper than a pre built one. I particularly like this one, https://plugable.com/products/usbc-nvme/ because it is a tool-less design and looks well made. Bit pricey at £50 but this may come down I hope and possibly go for another MP510. Decisions, decisions.

In reply to a post by Banger:

was mainly thinking of the no moving parts, longevity of drives

Consumer grade flash and longevity.

Hmmm....

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

Is an SSD really sensible for backups? For the cost of a 1TB SSD you could get a 6TB HD.

Or two smaller ones, two backups, and take one off-site.