[SOLVED] Is an SMR drive (external USB 3.0) OK for backup (Time Machine on Mac)?

[cumulus]

I'm looking for a suitable external 2.5" (USB bus-driven) backup drive to be used as a Time Machine backup (automatic hourly backups) for a Mac Mini. The Mac's internal drive is 2 TB so I'm thinking the backup drive needs to be larger than that. 3 TB or more should suffice.

Having read many warnings about SMR ("shingled") hard drives and the dilemma that 2.5" hard drives above 2 TB are all SMR types I'm wondering if this is a fact (and if not -which specific external 2.5" bus driven USB drives have regular (CMR) drives inside?), and if SMR drives really are unsuitable for even backup purposes?
I've been considering a 4 TB or 5 TB Seagate Backup Plus Portable which appears to be an SMR drive, and according to Seagate's "which drive has what?" page it's a Barracuda. Seagate's 2.5" drives are apparently all SMR.
Is this drive worth getting for said purpose or are there others which would work better?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

You can make do with 2TB or more, not 3TB or more, meaning your minimum storage requirement should be the same as the drive on your Mac Mini. This might be worth a read as well as this and this.