Time Machine, new with Leopard, is an effortless way to back up everything on your Mac. You can go back in time to retrieve a file that was lost, damaged, or changed. To use Time Machine, you need to have an extra drive that’s big enough to store what’s on your computer. Time Machine pretty much takes over from there. It automatically keeps backups every hour on the hour for the past 24 hours, and daily backups for the past month. Beyond that, Time Machine goes weekly, at least until the backup drive is full.
May 09, 2019 The Best External Hard Drives for Mac in 2019. So what's a Mac user who just wants to back up his or her files using Time Machine to do? Read on as we answer that question, and solve your. Time Machine is Apple's software to back up your Mac, and it comes with every Mac. All you need is a separate storage device, or a MacOS Server, to back up to.
- Apr 26, 2018 Here’s how to set up an automatic backup with Time Machine on your Mac with an external hard drive: When you plug your external hard drive in.
- Time Machine is an easy Mac backup solution built into Mac OS X that allows for automated continual backups of files, apps, and the operating system itself. Not only does Time Machine make it incredibly easy to maintain frequent automatic backups of a Mac, it also makes it equally simple to restore.
- If using Time Machine to back up to a network disk, you can verify those backups to make sure they're in good condition. Press and hold Option, then choose Verify Backups from the Time Machine menu. In OS X Lion v10.7.3 or later, you can start up from your Time Machine disk, if necessary. Press and hold Option as your Mac starts up.
To set up Time Machine, plug in your secondary hard drive. When your Mac asks whether you want to use it for a Time Machine backup, click the Use as Backup Disk button. This step is really all you need to do, unless you want to customize which files are backed up.
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The Mac begins dutifully copying everything on the computer, including system files. This first copy job is likely to take awhile, especially if your Mac is stuffed with files. (It’s okay to do something else — like sleep — while the files are copying.) Subsequent backups are a lot quicker because by then the Mac copies only what’s changed, such as edited documents.
The remarkable thing about Time Machine is that it captures multiple copies of your files. This allows you to go back in time to see what a file or folder looked like on the day it was backed up, using Quick Look if you want a quick preview. For example, say that you’re looking at the batch of photos that make up the Last Import folder in iPhoto. When you go back in time with Time Machine, you’ll see how the Last Import folder changes on different dates.
Although Time Machine is initially set up for automatic hourly backups, you can arrange an immediate backup. Hold the mouse on the Time Machine icon in the dock. Select Back Up Now on the menu that pops up.
If your secondary hard drive is full or you have stuff you want to keep private, you can omit certain items from being copied. Open Time Machine preferences and click Options. Then click + to add the files that you want to exclude, or drag items onto your no-backup list.
You can also turn Time Machine off altogether in Time Machine preferences by sliding the off-on switch to the left. Update skype macbook. But why would you want to?
Apple sells a wireless companion for Time Machine called Time Capsule. This backup appliance combines a Wi-Fi base station and secondary hard drive. It comes in 500GB ($299) and 1TB ($499) versions.
Backing up your Mac is simple and important. We recommend it for everyone.
Back up with Time Machine
Reformatting Time Machine For Mac
Time Machine is the built-in backup feature of your Mac. It’s a complete backup solution, but you can use other backup methods as well.
Create a backupStore files in iCloud
You can also use iCloud and iCloud Drive to store files, such as your photos, documents, and music.
Set up iCloud and iCloud DriveRestore your Mac from a backup
When you have a backup, you can use it to restore your files at any time, including after the original files are deleted from your Mac.
Restore from a backupPrepare your Mac for service
Making a backup is an important part of preparing your Mac for service, especially because some types of repair might require erasing or replacing your hard drive.
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How much space do I need for a backup?
Bartender for mac. To see the size of a specific file or folder, click it once and then press Command-I. To see storage information about your Mac, click the Apple menu in the top-left of your screen. Choose About This Mac and click the Storage tab. For Time Machine backups, it's good to use a drive that has at least twice the storage capacity of your Mac.
Related topics
Free up storage on your Mac
macOS can save space by storing your content in the cloud. This isn't a backup, but it includes new tools to make it easier to find and remove large or unwanted files before you make a backup.
Use Optimized Storage in macOSDownload Time Machine For Mac
Erase or format a storage device
You can use Disk Utility if you need to erase or format a storage device.
Learn how to use Disk UtilitymacOS Community
If you can't back up your Mac
Time Machine Mac Set Up
We'll find the best support options for you.