Use Time Machine, the built-in backup feature of your Mac, to automatically back up your personal data, including apps, music, photos, email, and documents. Having a backup allows you to recover files that were deleted, or that were lost because the hard disk (or SSD) in your Mac needed to be erased or replaced. Learn how to restore your Mac from a backup.
Create a Time Machine backup
To create backups with Time Machine, all you need is an external storage device. After you connect the storage device and select it as your backup disk, Time Machine automatically makes hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all previous months. The oldest backups are deleted when your backup disk is full.
Connect an external storage device
External drive connected to your Mac. Time Machine can back up to an external drive connected to.
Create a Time Machine backup
To create backups with Time Machine, all you need is an external storage device. After you connect the storage device and select it as your backup disk, Time Machine automatically makes hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all previous months. The oldest backups are deleted when your backup disk is full.
Connect an external storage device
External drive connected to your Mac. Time Machine can back up to an external drive connected to.
- When Time Machine runs, it will store all backup instances in a folder that is given the name of the current system, so if you connect it to a computer called 'Computer1,' it will create a folder.
- For Time Machine backups, it's good to use a drive that has at least twice the storage capacity of your Mac. 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.
Connect one of the following external storage devices, sold separately. Learn more about backup disks that you can use with Time Machine.
- External drive connected to your Mac, such as a USB or Thunderbolt drive
- Network-attached storage (NAS) device that supports Time Machine over SMB
- Mac shared as a Time Machine backup destination
- AirPort Time Capsule, or external drive connected to an AirPort Time capsule or AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac)
Select your storage device as the backup disk
Backup Mac Using Time Machine
- Open Time Machine preferences from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. Or choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Time Machine.
- Click Select Backup Disk.
- Select your backup disk from the list of available disks. To make your backup accessible only to users who have the backup password, you can select 'Encrypt backups'. Then click Use Disk:
If the disk you selected isn't formatted as required by Time Machine, you're prompted to erase the disk first. Click Erase to proceed. This erases all information on the backup disk.
Enjoy the convenience of automatic backups
After you select a backup disk, Time Machine immediately begins making periodic backups—automatically and without further action by you. The first backup may take a long time, but you can continue using your Mac while a backup is underway. Time Machine backs up only the files that changed since the previous backup, so future backups will be faster.
To start a backup manually, choose Back Up Now from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. Use the same menu to check the status of a backup or skip a backup in progress.
Time Machine Restore
Learn more
- Learn about other ways to back up and restore files
- If you back up to multiple disks, you can press and hold the Option key, then choose Browse Other Backup Disks from the Time Machine menu.
- To exclude items from your backup, open Time Machine preferences, click Options, then click the add (+) button to add an item to be excluded. To stop excluding an item, such as an external hard drive, select the item and click the remove (–) button.
- 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.
The overwhelming majority of us using Time Machine do so very simply: it backs up from a single volume, the startup disk, to a single backup destination on another volume.
Time Machine is actually capable of far more than just that. This article explains what else it can do, and how it does it.
Multiple sources
By default, Time Machine will configure itself to back up all internal drives. As relatively few Macs now have more than one internal drive, this affects a reducing number of users. Fusion Drives, so long as they are operated as such, are considered to be single logical volumes, so are not shown separately.
Also by default, Time Machine will not back up external drives, which are more likely to come and go with time. The way that you go about setting this works a little strangely: with the drive connected and mounted, click on the Options… button in the Time Machine pane. You should see the external drive listed in your exclusions. You can then select it and click on the – button below. You remove it from the exclusions in order to add it to the list to back up.
In general, you should be very cautious about adding external drives as backup sources, and only do so if you can be certain that they will be mounted during each backup. For most with external drives, a different method of backing up is more appropriate.
Multiple destinations
Few users have more than one volume which they can use for the storage of Time Machine backups. However, if you use a laptop in two or more locations and have facilities to back up at each of them, this can make very good sense. It is worth serious consideration if you use your laptop at home and your office, or in two or more different offices, for example. How to get the sims 4 on laptop.
Time Machine manages multiple backup destinations in a simple and flexible way which you need to understand before setting this up. Each backup destination will contain a complete Time Machine backup, but automatic backups are made to only one of those destinations each hour, in rotation. Blazing 7 slots free online play.
Prefedit 4 3 15. Let's say that your MacBook Pro is used in three locations, each with its own destination volume, named Vol1, Vol2, and Vol3.
On the first hourly backup, Time Machine looks first for Vol1. If it finds it mounted, then it will run that backup to Vol1. At the next hourly backup, it rotates backup destination, and looks for Vol2. If it finds it mounted, then it runs the automatic backup to Vol2. If it cannot find Vol2, it looks for Vol3, and will back up to that instead. If it cannot find Vol3, then it will make that backup to Vol1 again.
There are several snags with this scheme. The first backup made to each of the backup destinations will necessarily be complete, and very large. With three rotating backup destinations, that means making three full backups before you even start making routine hourly ones.
Each time that you mount one of your backup volumes, the very next backup to it will be hefty, as it will consist of all the files that have changed since your Mac was last backed up to that volume. If you have been working away for several hours or days, that could be another large backup load.
To add another destination volume for your Time Machine backups, ensure that volume is mounted, then click on Select Disk in the Time Machine pane, and add the volume to the list of Backup Disks.
Delete All Time Machine Backups
Once Time Machine is backing up to two or more destination volumes, you can adjust which it uses by manipulating its queueing system. For example, if it is in the midst of making a very long backup to one volume and you want it to pause that to perform a shorter backup to another one, open the Time Machine pane and click the x How do i take a screenshot. next to the progress bar of the current backup.
When it comes to perform its next automatic backup, it will then look for the next volume in the queue, and try to back up to that. Once that is complete, you can resume the long backup using the Time Machine pane again. However, you cannot alter the order of volumes in the queue: if you want it to skip backing up to one volume, you will need to cancel that backup or unmount that backup volume.
Some recommend backing up to two or more volumes using different techniques, such as scheduling one using a third-party Time Machine utility or a LaunchAgents property list. I'm not convinced that is any better, and it loses some of the advantages of the standard system. If you want to use two backup systems, then it might be better to use two different software systems too.
Problems
Backing up to two or more destinations can become complex. When there are problems, working out what is wrong can be difficult, and you will probably need to browse your log using Consolation (free from Downloads above) or similar.
The Time Machine Mechanic (T2M2, also from Downloads) should provide a detailed analysis to help you get to the bottom of advanced backup schemes. Version 0.3b1 does now cater for multiple backup destinations, manual backups, and more.
