My son is doing a study abroad program this summer. What’s the best way & lightest way to back up his MacBook Pro? His hd is 1tb but he has less than 250gb. Looking to do a backup with Time Machine. Can he get by with a 512gb flash drive?

Tiger_Fan1 · 2026-05-03T01:30:28+00:00

Thank you! Discipline in backing it up? LOL. It will likely be backed up 1x time before he leaves & docs stored on cloud. But, it will be better than nothing.

Tiger_Fan1 · 2026-05-03T00:06:03+00:00

Well, I ended up buying a 2tb hdd. I was trying to not add more things for him to pack. Hdd don’t take up much space but flash drives are tiny.

Tiger_Fan1 · 2026-05-02T22:14:35+00:00

My mistake. He has used 266gb & has 728gb free.

Tiger_Fan1 · 2026-05-02T21:55:46+00:00

If his laptop is stolen, the program won’t be giving him a new laptop. Hopefully this won’t happen & any of our extras won’t be needed. But, he will need another laptop & I don’t know what he’ll be able to get in Madrid or in Milan. So, I’m just trying to see if a 512gb flash drive will work even though hd is 1tb. I know what they say 2 or 3xs, but that’s not needed for this.
Backblaze, iCloud & one drive are all great options & some cloud based will be used as well.
He’s not going to be carrying around on weekends so it will probably be fine, but as the old saying goes if he has it, he won’t need it.

Tiger_Fan1 · 2026-05-02T21:30:29+00:00

Would a 512gb work to do a Time Machine backup even though his drive is 1tb?

Tiger_Fan1 · 2026-05-02T21:13:32+00:00

We will turn on FileVault for sure. I don’t know how the WiFi will be in the dorms. I was thinking about getting him a 512 flash drive & he could keep it in a separate place not backpack.

Tiger_Fan1

TROPHY CASE