
> * Does it do the verification every time, or 1 in 10? If the latter, going back to the most recent snapshot isn't enough. It's not a "real" backup as another poster pointed out, but it's better than nothing. I do at least have Google Drive sync on most everything important. I really should just set up a different backup system. And if you do say 3 backups then get rid of #3, can it take incremental #4 on top of #2, or will it complain that the #3 state it expects is absent? * Does it do the verification every time, or (say) 1 in 10? If the latter, going back to the most recent snapshot isn't enough. Does it have a hook to run a command to take a snapshot? * I let Time Machine starts backups automatically whenever it pleases.

I'm unsure how to manage the details though: I think I can take snapshots with Synology. This is something that I would like it to be robust to but may be "the problem". (Although I am using btrfs on that volume so maybe it's a wash.) I'm sure I've disconnected my Mac from my Thunderbolt dock (and thus the active NIC) and/or put my Mac to sleep mid-backup many times, though. I don't know how to determine authoritatively where the fault lies, but I trust it more than I trust Time Machine. In my case, the NAS is a Synology server. Drives which are clicking age a lot faster and in reverse, clicking is an easy indicator the drive is beginning the end of it's useful lifecycle. Of course, your head may crash down on the platter the next recelibration try, the clicking causes a lot of head movement and parking, so it also causes a lot of wear. The usual suspects in your smart data are "Recalibration Retries", "Seek Error Rate", "Head Stability" (if WD), "High-Fly Writes", "GMR Head Amplitude" and "Head Flying Hours".Īll of these generally don't cause runtime issues with the drive, but a clicking sound or an increase in these numbers means the mechanical assembly of the HDD, while still in spec and good enough to operate the HDD almost normaly, is degraded. It can lead to an increased number of high fly writes as the head is unparked and is usually a bit too high for a bit until it finds it's air cushion again. This inherently doesn't cause data loss or corruption, just high latency when using the disk. When the firmware detects this, it tries to reset the head, usually by parking it for a moment and then unparking it. Clicking in HDDs is usually caused by the head not moving fluidly over the platter.
