The importance of regularly backing up your computer cannot be overstated. If you are like the majority of Mac users, there are a lot of very important documents and files that live on your machine’s storage devices. A catastrophic data loss could result in serious repercussions that can impact you in a variety of ways. It’s one of the dangers we need to accept if we want to reap the fruits of the digital world. Show
Imagine what would happen to all of your digital photos and videos if your hard drive malfunctioned. Over time, it happens to the best equipment. Or if all of the documentation for your home business was suddenly destroyed by a big glass of soda that was inadvertently spilled on your computer. The backup methods are not mutually exclusive, and to really protect your data you might want to consider creating multiple types of backups. Let’s find out how to backup your Mac to ensure that your precious data is safe in the event of an unforeseen event that leads to a data loss. Reasons You Should Back Up Your MacIt is considered a best practice throughout the computing community to regularly create backups. There are multiple reasons why you should adopt this activity to protect the valuable data stored on your Mac. Among the most important are:
Storing Your BackupsWhen using Time Machine to create a backup or cloning your hard drive, you need to provide sufficient storage space on which to save your backup. You might be tempted to designate a partition of your main hard drive for this purpose but that would not be a good idea. The goal is to protect your data, and having a backup on the same physical disk as the original data does not fulfill that objective. To adequately protect your data you will need to invest in a peripheral storage device such as a USB attached hard drive. You might choose to only attach this drive when performing backups or you can leave it connected to your computer at all times. If you want to run automatic backups, a device that is always attached will let your backups run with no manual intervention. Preparing Your External DriveIf you choose to back up your Mac to an external drive, you need to make sure that the drive is fully prepared. You should check two things before backing up your computer: whether there’s enough space in the external drive to fit all your data and whether the drive is of the correct format. Here’s how to format your external hard drive to make it compatible with macOS: Method 1: Backup your Mac with Time MachineThere are many reasons that may have influenced your decision to purchase a Mac for your computing needs. One is the ease in which the advanced functionality of the machine can be harnessed by just about anyone. Your computer is full of features designed to make your computing life easier and more productive. The engineers at Apple are well aware that it is important for them to provide users with a way to easily take quality backups of their system and data. To that end, they have included an excellent backup utility with your Mac operating system. It is called Time Machine and we are going to show you how to use it to protect your data. Steps to Backup Your Mac With Time Machine:It really is that simple. Time Machine makes it easy for you to back up your Mac. It’s up to you to either leave the external drive attached or connect it periodically to allow the utility to protect your data. How Time Machine WorksAccording to Apple, Time Machine will automatically make hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all previous months. As your storage device becomes full, the oldest backups are deleted so newer backups can continue to use the device.
This method of backing up, known as incremental backup, saves time and storage space by not making unnecessary duplicate copies of files. It does, however, save multiple copies of files that change, so you can go back to get previous versions as long as there is room on your backup storage device. For this reason, it is recommended that you obtain the largest storage device that you can so you can retain your old backup versions for a long period of time. Method 2: Use Backup Software to Clone Your Hard DriveThe second method of backing up your Mac also requires the use of an external storage device to hold a clone of your hard drive. The external drive needs to be at least as large as your primary disk in order to be sure that there will be enough room to store the cloned copy. A clone of your disk indicates that the disk is copied bit-by-bit to create an exact copy of your primary drive. Clones can be used as your main backup method and can also be instrumental in data recovery efforts by minimizing disk usage on a damaged drive. Here are some ways to clone your Mac’s drives: 1. Clone your Mac with Disk Drill (Free)Disk Drill software for Mac offers an easy & totally free way to clone your Mac. The tool can use the clone to enact data recovery functions or you can simply use it as a backup that is an exact copy of your original disk. 5 Steps you Need to Backup your Mac with Disk Drill:It may take a while, but eventually the process will end and you will now have a large DMG file that contains the contents of your hard drive. This clone can be used for data recovery operations, or simply stored as a backup of your machine. 2. Clone a Mac with SuperDuper! (Paid)Another tool that you can use to create disk image clones is SuperDuper!. It is an easy to use utility that can be downloaded for a free trial, with a paid version costing $27.95. It is a reliable application that can be used to protect your Mac’s valuable data. Here’s how to back up your Mac with SuperDuper!:3. Clone your Mac with Carbon Copy Cloner (Paid)Here is another software utility that lets you create bootable disk images of your Mac’s hard drive. It works with all version of the macOS and will cost you $39.99 for a fully licensed version. If you want, it’s also possible to try out this application for free. Follow these steps to clone your Mac with Carbon Copy Cloner:Method 3: Back up Your Mac to an Online Backup ServiceRecently a new method of backing up your computer has become available to individual users. Remotely backing up to the cloud offers the user some advantages over more traditional backup methods. Rather than use an external storage device that you furnish, when using an online backup service you use their storage. There are many options available for performing online backups. We will take a look at a few of them and describe what they offer and their costs. iCloud DriveFree options: Paid options: Google DriveFree options: Paid options: DropboxFree options: Paid options: You pay for the storage by the month and can use as much as you are willing to purchase. You are not constrained by the size of your storage device. Since you have backed up to an online location, your data is kept separately from your computer, ensuring that you can retrieve your data in the event of a catastrophe such as a fire or flood that may destroy the primary and backup copies of your data. OneDriveOneDrive is Microsoft’s consumer cloud storage platform and can be used to back up files on your Mac by using the following steps. You need a Microsoft account in order to use OneDrive. Once you have created your account, you can continue this procedure.
Files copied to the OneDrive folder are backed up to the cloud and accessible from any of your devices with Internet access. How to Restore a Mac from a Time Machine BackupBackups are only useful when used to restore or recover data. Following is the procedure to recover data from a Time Machine backup. We will look at how to selectively restore files from Time Machine in the event of lost or deleted data. The selected files must have been included in one of your Time Machine backups for this method to work. ConclusionAs you can see, there are a multitude of techniques you can employ to backup your Mac. Failure to backup your machine leaves you exposed to data loss and all the problems that can result from such an event. If you are not currently backing up your Mac, choose one of the options above and start doing it today. You never know when a backup may be required to recover your precious files. FAQFollow these steps to back up your Mac with Time Machine:
Disk Drill enables you to create a byte-level backup of your Mac using the following procedure.
Backing up a Mac takes a variable amount of time based on a few factors.
The best backup tools for Mac are:
Use these steps to backup data on your computer to iCloud.
Yes, there are ways to back up the data from your Mac without an external hard drive. For example, you can use an online backup service such as iCloud to backup your computer. Or you can use a third-party app to create a bootable disk image of the hard drive and upload it to an online data storage service. Since iCloud is available on all Macs, here’s how to backup your computer using this service:
Alternatively, you can simply drag and drop the files or folder that you wish to backup to iCloud Drive through Finder. Yes, actually, that’s what iCloud was made for. You can safely back up all of the data from your Mac (photos, videos, documents, contacts, etc.) using this cloud storage service. And it is incredibly easy to set it up since iCloud is a native app on all Apple devices. If you don’t want to use Time Machine to back up your Mac, you can use a specialized third-party app to clone your computer’s hard drive and upload it to an external storage device. For example, apps such as Disk Drill, SuperDuper!, or Carbon Copy Cloner can quickly get such a job done. It depends on how much data there is to backup. For example, if this is your first time backing up your Mac and you’ve been using it for a while, it can take up even a few hours to complete the backup process. But if your Mac is relatively new and there are just a few files located on it, then the process should take only a few minutes. Romana LevkoRomana Levko is a content writer with a strong interest in the technology field: data recovery, cybersecurity, and everything Apple are among her favorite subjects to explore. Her goal is to expand the reader’s unders... Read full bio Romana Levko is a content writer with a strong interest in the technology field: data recovery, cybersecurity, and everything Apple are among her favorite subjects to explore. Her goal is to expand the reader’s unders... Read full bio Approved by Brett JohnsonThis article has been approved by Brett Johnson, Data Recovery Engineer at ACE Data Recovery. Brett has a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Systems and Network, 12 years of experience. This article has been approved by Brett Johnson, Data Recovery Engineer at ACE Data Recovery. Brett has a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Systems and Network, 12 years of experience. How do I backup my macbook pro book?Open System Preferences, click Time Machine, then select Back Up Automatically. Select the drive you want to use for backup, and you're all set. Back up with iCloud. Files in iCloud Drive and photos in iCloud Photos are automatically stored in iCloud and don't need to be part of your Time Machine backup.
What is the best way to backup Mac?Option 1: Use Time Machine
Apple includes its own backup software, Time Machine as part of the macOS. It's an exceptionally easy to use solution. All you need to do is plug in an external storage device, hard drive or SSD, and start backing up with Time Machine.
How do I backup my old Macbook Pro to an external hard drive?Back up your Mac with Time Machine. Connect an external storage device, such as a USB or Thunderbolt drive. ... . Open Time Machine preferences from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. ... . Click Select Backup Disk.. Select the name of your disk, then click Use Disk.. How do I backup my entire Mac hard drive?Step by Step: Backing up Your Mac to an External Hard Drive With Time Machine. Locate System Preferences in the Apple Menu. ... . Select Time Machine. ... . Select Backup Disk. ... . Select Your Hard Drive and Encrypt Backup. ... . Create a Password for Your Backup. ... . Wait for Backup to Begin.. |