I’ve used SuperDuper for years. Its quite simple, instructions are in plain english. It tells you what is going to happen before you do it. Easy to set up a schedule for it to run, for example at night. Great support, have gotten help a few times and the developer answers quickly. Highly recommend.
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2TB remaining so that’s not the issue. I’ve seen many threads on rsync issues like this - I’m thinking of upgrading my Synology rsync version to something closer to 3.3.3 and see if that helps.
Tee hee! I’ve been running from assembly language since 1987!
CarbonCopyCloner, Chronosync, and SuperDuper are the big three for easy-to-use backup systems. All three are mature, all three have great support. I’ve used CCC and Chronosync for graphic arts server backups for years with no issues (and in a couple cases with both of them really wonderful support).
Try CCC’s simple mode but if you want to schedule things you’ll need to use Standard Mode which actually can be simple provided you studiously ignore all the gewgaws and just tell it to back this folder up there at 2am. 
Dave
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I’ve been using CCC for more years than I can remember and I feel its interface has become worse over time. As an experienced user I shouldn’t need to work out how stuff works, and where things are. Maybe I’m just getting old but I’m using it less and less and won’t be upgrading to version 7 - there’s other options.
Many years ago we used FoldersSynchronizer at work and it worked very well. I haven’t looked at it in years but the mention of it makes me want to revisit it - and it’s quite cheap from memory.
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I use https://robdutoitsoftware.com/backuplist for many years. It´s rsync with a easy UI.
I use Acronis True Image and have found it to be excellent! When I’ve had to restore my drive, Acronis restores it perfectly often; I don’t have to reenter authorization codes. It has various backup options, and they are protected from malware tampering. Disk cleanup tools are also part of the package. There’s even an option for cloud storage to go along with your external drive if you want it. The price is more than reasonable,Acronis, and the support is excellent.
Another voice here for ChronoSync—years ago now Adam recommended it and he was spot on—flexible, easy & transparent. Backs up to iCloud Drive perfectly—and offers excellent support.
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Big thumbs up for Chronosync too. Buy it once and get upgrades for life. Amazing Customer Service. Love it.
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Another vote for ChronoSync. Really—it’s excellent. Set it all up, schedule the task, forget about it. You’re working far too hard to solve a simple problem!
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That looks compression-related. Yes, I’d upgrade your rsyncs on both ends to the latest you can, some subtle problems result from mismatches even when the protocol versions match and it should be working.
I’ve been using SuperDuper from Shirt Pocket software for many years. It has saved me many times and its developer is incredibly helpful. I always back up to a local hard drive, but I believe it may support cloud backups?
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Another vote for Chronosync. I must have had it for over 8 years at least. Their customer service is excellent, the online help is brilliant and you buy it once get updates for ever. You can set it up using a simple wizard or you can deep-dive and have all kinds of rules and parameters for what gets backedup, when and where.
There is a small extension that you can load on a remote Mac and it will make backing-up to and from that Mac easier. And there is an iOS App that lets you monitor backups, get notifications etc.
I also use it to backup to Backblaze and it supports other Cloud entities.
Chronosync and Alfred are the two utilities that go on every new Mac I get. HNY y’all.
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I’m using CCC for image backups. I use the option to specify which files/folders are to be backed up from the source. This seems to work well.
I have also used ChronoSync a lot. You may want to look at that. You can set up any number of tasks, and create containers for making and running sets of tasks.
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SuperDuper has one curiosity that the developer shows no interest in dealing with. If you have an app from the App Store and delete it, go to the App Store, and it will say OPEN. It won’t say “add” or “install.” When you click on OPEN, the app launches! Tell Siri to find the app; the response will be that it’s not installed. Check the Applications folder; it’s not there! Now, launch TEMBO, if you have it, and hit OPEN in the App Store. TEMBO will show the app launching from the SuperDuper app’s backup! When I asked the developer about this, he responded that he didn’t control what the App Store does or doesn’t do.
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Why is the backup disk mounted? I only have my backup mounted when I am performing a backup or recovery. This eliminates accidentally referencing the backup in normal operations. It also prevents corruption of the backup in case of system failure since the disk cannot be written to without being mounted.
This is obviously trivial to do for manual backups. CCC lets you, as part of a scheduled task, mount a connected, but unmounted disk when the backup begins and unmount it when the backup is done. I haven’t used SuperDuper in a while, but when I did, I believe that I also used a similar capability for scheduled daily backups.
Update: Apps, in general, are not required to be in a system or user Applications folder. If the backup disk is indexed by Spotlight and the app is included in the index, it will be found and can be executed. At the very least, backup disks should be excluded from Spotlight.
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If you have daily backups set and forget to load the drive, no backup is done. Neither Time Machine nor Carbon Copy has this problem. Still, I may eject the drive and set a reminder to activate it again to avoid this. I will also exclude all backups from Spotlight! I appreciate that suggestion!
I maintain backups using Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner. The Time Machine drive is always connected. The CCC drive is disconnected most of the time. I do a CCC backup about once a week or before installing an OS update.
I do this for redundancy and to increase the chances of having a clean version of my entire setup in the event of a catastrophic failure or a security breach.
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That’s not a bug.
- App Store applications install by default to the startup drive’s Applications folder, but you can move them wherever you want.
- An application on another volume, on any drive is just as legitimate as the startup drive’s boot volume. macOS does not have “backup” drives.
This is macOS magic*. You can take most installed applications, move them to another drive, in any folder, and even rename the application to something else. Then open a document belonging to that application, and it will launch it. Try that on Windows!
* not actually magic
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CCC used to use rsync under the covers. I don’t know if that’s still the case.
No, it’s a nightmare for the user of a backup program that will allow an outside source to access it and launch or reinstall from that backup without the permission of the user. Last night a solution was offered that works. Go into your system settings. Find Spotlight. Click on Privacy and add your backup drives to keep them away from the nosy App Store and protect your Mac from intrusions you might not want.