External storage issue on a Macbook

[Sgt Bilco]

I've got a Macbook and as it's storage is very limited, I use a "My Passport for Mac" external storage hard drive for all my work stuff, pictures etc.

The hard drive has developed a fault where I can't save anything else to it which is a pain. The saving grace is I can move all the stuff back onto the Macbook.

I've got a new hard drive so my question is, do I need to down load all the information back to the Macbook in small stages then onto the new one or is there a short cut?

 

[stever1]

If you have 2 USB ports why not try plugging them both in and see if you can transfer direct.

 

[Loiq]

why not use office 365 one drive and work online..?

 

[Sgt Bilco]

why not use office 365 one drive and work online..?

I'll have a look at that.

 

[sparkplug]

I believe there are many, much better options than 365, but that aside...

It's fairly common on WD MyPassport to randomly go into 'read only' mode on Macs.

This can easily be fixed by modifying permissions in most cases. Have a search, I'm sure there will be several 'how to' guides online. Ignore anything that tries to persuade you to download software to fix it as that seems to be a common way of fooling people into downloading malware. This should just be a setting that needs changing.

What you have highlighted though is that some of (if not all of) your data exists in only one place. i.e. the stuff on your Mac isn't on your WD drive and vice versa.

If either fails then you've lost data.

Again, lots of ways to address that depending on budget / importance of data but it might be worth thinking about it now that you've had a near miss...

 

[landmarkjohn]

I use a MAC and pay €3 a month for icloud+ 200GB (Apple product).

I think everything is backed up to the cloud, plus photo and video are synced across MAC and iPhone. And notes are synced. I'm fairly confident I'm covered if a device fails.

 

[Hustler]

I use a MAC and pay €3 a month for icloud+ 200GB (Apple product).

I think everything is backed up to the cloud, plus photo and video are synced across MAC and iPhone. And notes are synced. I'm fairly confident I'm covered if a device fails.

I have the same through Apple.
But with only 50GB, for 99 pence per month.
I don't have anything synced across other devices though.
Fingers crossed I'm covered as well, although I've never put it to the test.

 

[sparkplug]

iCloud is a better option for this use case IMO and 'it just works' without upfront investment or any tech setup to speak of.

I have mine on a Synology NAS using Time Machine but it's a bigger financial investment up front and needs a bit more setup, although it doesn't need a monthly subscription.

Upside is that you're fully in control, downside is that if your house burns down or someone steals your NAS as well as your laptop then you've lost everything...

It's always swings and roundabouts.

 

[Orinoco]

iCloud is very handy and does 'just work', I've the 200Gb back up, but not without issues as it won't back up audio files - as far as I understand, so have to separately back up my FLAC files to a small SSD hard drive using Time Machine, quite irritating

 

[er-minio]

Another voice in the chorus.

Do yourself a favour and avoid using Microsoft OneDrive for anything. It's utter crap.
Do yourself another favour and avoid using iCloud for online storage. It's slightly less crap, but still crap.
(for the record, I use both the above)

Use Dropbox if you wanna keep your sanity and understand where your files are.
(I've also been using Dropbox since its inception)

What type of files are you not able to keep on the Mac?
What's the Mac internal storage size? Are you backing up an iPhone to this Mac (in this particular case iCloud can be helpful)?

WD drives: I've had a few and, strangely, most of them failed. I stopped using those.
As Sparkplug wrote above: probably a permission issue in this case.
You can try and run Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities) on the drive and see if it sorts out permissions properly and verify if something else is happening that triggers it.

 

[ShakeyGS]

If you can plug both drives into the mac book then you can use a cloning app to make one look like the other.

 

[cookie]

My main Mac backs up Desktop and My Documents to iCloud automatically.

Tres simple and seems to work.

 

[jefformston]

Another voice in the chorus.

Do yourself a favour and avoid using Microsoft OneDrive for anything. It's utter crap.
Do yourself another favour and avoid using iCloud for online storage. It's slightly less crap, but still crap.
(for the record, I use both the above)

Use Dropbox if you wanna keep your sanity and understand where your files are.
(I've also been using Dropbox since its inception)

What type of files are you not able to keep on the Mac?
What's the Mac internal storage size? Are you backing up an iPhone to this Mac (in this particular case iCloud can be helpful)?

WD drives: I've had a few and, strangely, most of them failed. I stopped using those.
As Sparkplug wrote above: probably a permission issue in this case.
You can try and run Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities) on the drive and see if it sorts out permissions properly and verify if something else is happening that triggers it.

I’ve never had a problem with ICloud, it just works. iPhone, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air & IMac all in sync and I can access my files from anywhere. Probably available on my iPad as well but I’ve never looked as it’s only used for Netflix & YouTube.

 

[er-minio]

Yes, iCloud works.
I'm not a fan of how some things are managed (not super transparent) + where files end up in the filesystem is sometimes confusing + file limitations as someone wrote above.
Controlling what ends on iCloud is not as straightforward as it used to be in the past, and sometimes the OS doesn't "register" you preferences selection.
It's a bit more "embedded" into the OS thus easier to manage for some users. This is ok, it's per design, and follows historical Apple's guidelines. But I find it not great if you want finer control.

It's useful to back-up iOS devices, as Apple ships Mac with (base) ridiculous storage options. If you have a Mac with 256 internal storage and back-up your iPhone to it... you're done.
At that stage, backing up the iPhone to iCloud is a better/cheaper option.

As above: I use all three services. I find Dropbox to be the one where there is more "transparency" over file management.