Backing up your Mac server
On-site, off-site and cloud strategies — and a reminder that backups are your job, not ours.
Important: unless we have a written agreement, vBoxx does not back up your Mac. We provide the infrastructure, and we'll happily help you set things up, but if your disk fails and you don't have a backup, the data is gone.
The general rule: at least two backups, in different locations, using different methods.
On-site backup (USB drive)
The simplest option is an external USB drive plugged directly into your Mac. We can install a 2.5" SSD or HDD as a one-time service — open a ticket from the portal and tell us the size you want (2 TB, 4 TB, 8 TB+).
Time Machine
Easiest. Enable it in System Settings → General → Time Machine, point it at the external disk, and forget it. Great for recovering individual files. Slow for full system restores — count on hours.
Carbon Copy Cloner
Carbon Copy Cloner keeps a bootable clone of your system on the external disk plus an archive of changed/deleted files. A failed internal SSD can be swapped out and the Mac rebooted from the clone in minutes. Worth the licence on a production server.
Off-site backup (recommended)
A USB drive on the same Mac doesn't help against ransomware, theft or full-rack incidents. Pair it with one of:
- Restic / Borg to a different provider — both deduplicate, both encrypt client-side.
- rclone to S3, B2, R2 or Wasabi.
- Arq if you want a polished GUI on macOS.
Pick a destination outside our data centres for true geographic separation.
What we do back up
- Customer portal data (profile, services, invoices, tickets) is replicated and snapshotted.
- Network configuration, your IP allocations and PDU outlet mapping are managed by us.
- The macOS install on your Mac and everything inside it: your responsibility.
Verify your backups
A backup you've never restored is a hope, not a backup. Restore at least one file from each backup target every quarter.