opine the sorry . misplace irreplaceable photos because your Mac ’s crusade failed ? circumstantially cancel your thesis ? You might think it will never happen to you , but all it takes is a glass of water falling onto your MacBook and you could lose everything .
But at least if you ’ve got a backing , the financial expenditure of bewilder a Modern Mac will be made less traumatic by the fact that you may recover everything from your erstwhile one . Luckily Apple makes plunk for up your Mac really loose , so there really is no exculpation not to do it .
We have lots of general advice about the grandness ofbacking up your Macin a freestanding article , but in this clause we ’re going to focalise on one method in special : Time Machine . Other apps can back up a Mac : take a look at our recommendation of thebest apps to back up a Mac , which includeDisk Drill Pro ( see our review)andSuperDuper ! ( see our followup ) .
In the above example we excluded Downloads from the Time Machine backup.
This tutorial address everything you need to love about backing up your Mac using Apple ’s Time Machine software system , include : how to use Time Machine , what to do if Time Machine is too slow , what Time Machine does and does n’t back up , whether Time Machine backs up when your Mac is at peace , what to do if your back up fails due to not enough space , and how to delete old backups . We ’ll also handle how to back up multiple Macs using Time Machine .
If you want to experience how to doctor or recover a filing cabinet from a Time Machine backup you ’ve made previously , read this : How to reestablish file on Mac using Time Machine . We also explainHow to manage multiple Time Machine backups on and off your Mac .
You may have some interrogation about whether you even want to be backing up your Mac if you are syncing your data using iCloud . or else , you may be wonder if youcan back your Mac up to iCloudor if you’re able to back up iCloud to Time Machine , we hash out those valid question elsewhere . See : Time Machine vs iCloud : Do you want to apply both and can one back up to the other ?
In the above example we excluded Downloads from the Time Machine backup.
What does Time Machine do?
Time Machine is Apple ’s software to back up your Mac , and it come with every Mac . All you need is a freestanding storage gimmick to back up to . We have a round - up of thebest hard drives for Mac , andthe best SSDs for Mac , and the good NAS drives for Mac , so you are bollix up for choice .
Time Machine keeps a transcript of everything on your Mac . It makes hourly backups for the retiring 24 hour , daily backups for the preceding calendar month , and hebdomadary relief for each month . It also creates local snapshot on your Mac . One daily snapshot is saved every 24 hour , start from the clock time you start or restart the electronic computer . One hebdomadary shot is saved every week . These shot will only exist if you haveset up Time Machine to back up to a separate effort , but they are on your Mac , rather than that driving .
This in all likelihood sounds like a lot of backing up but it is n’t . Time Machine only back up the changes you have made since the last support so each stand-in should be really quick .
That does n’t intend that the raw change overwrite all the old variety . Time Machine stores multiple versions of everything you are work on . For example , you’re able to see a text file as it was when you were working on it last Wednesday , as well as the version from Thursday .
Essentially , if you were constantly working on a document you would have 24 copies of it from the past 24 hours , one written matter of it for each sidereal day of the last month , and one written matter a hebdomad from the month prior .
It is also really soft to locate the older versions of a file – which is ready to hand if you have interchange your creative thinker about changes that were made a few days ago . When you look through your Time Machine back up everything is unionise in exactly the same way as it was in the past times .
So , for example , if you had a file on your Desktop before you unexpectedly deleted it last Thursday you could go to the Desktop folder as it was last Wednesday to go back the file . This is why Apple shout it Time Machine , because you are fundamentally go back in time to find the single file .
The other welfare is that because Time Machine is n’t backing up your whole Mac every meter , it should n’t take up a lot of space on your backup driveway . But when you do get to that tip the one-time fill-in will be deleted to make space for fresh ones .
All this support up means that if you ever get a new Mac you’re able to utilize your Time Machine championship to ‘ recoup ’ your old Mac onto your newfangled Mac . All your configurations and all your file and folders will be just as you left them . We ’ll cover how to go back your Mac using your Time Machine backup , and how to imitate your Time Machine backup to a new Mac , below .
What you need for Time Machine
You ’ll require a reasonably large external storage twist . This could be a USB , Firewire or Thunderbolt hard drive or SSD that you plug into your Mac , or a NAS drive which your Mac connects to via a WiFi connection . We ’d suggest getting a unit of measurement offering at least 1 TB if you may open it .
We recommend updating to the latest reading of macOS , but Time Machine has long been available on Macs ( since Mac OS hug drug Leopard in 2007 ) .
We have a collection ofthe good NAS drives , thebest unvoiced drivesand thebest SSDs , to help you find the best option for back up to .
How to back up your Mac with Time Machine
If you do n’t see the option to back up your Mac when you plug in the drive this may be because the ride is n’t format correctly . Time Machine used to require that the computer memory was initialise as Mac OS Extended ( Journaled ) , but these day APFS or APFS Encrypted disk are more suitable . For help formatting your drive open Disk Utility and follow ourHow to format a drive scout .
How often should you back up a Mac?
You should back up your Mac regularly . The beauty of Time Machine is that it will back up always , but rather than make a complete backup of your Mac every time , the software system only copies the things you are solve on , so each relief is diminished and you will hardly find it befall .
Most other backup method postulate a daily accompaniment of your whole scheme . The benefit of Apple ’s method is that you may load up a version of a document you were working on an time of day ago , rather than unwrap over and over again until you get back to that version .
The important affair is to commemorate that while Time Machine backs up regularly , it will only do so if your Mac is connected to the machine you are plump for up to . This could be an external storage machine that require to be secure into your Mac , so do n’t forget to plug it in ! verbalize of which , your Mac also need to be plug in before it will back up to Time Machine , it wo n’t do so when go on bombardment might .
Alternatively , you could apply a meshing attached storage gadget ( a NAS drive ) in which case , your Mac should only need to be connected to the same WiFi meshwork to back up .
If your Mac has n’t stake up using Time Machine for a while you will see alarm cue you to back up . Do n’t wait until a hundred days have passed since your last Time Machine backup and then spill H2O over your laptop computer ( we say this from experience ) .
How to force a Time Machine backup
Time Machine will make hourly backing but you’re able to force it to make a backup at any time , perhaps because you are about to keep out down your Mac and you want to make certain that the Time Machine computer backup is up to date first .
The quickest way to do this is :
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In the above example we excluded Downloads from the Time Machine backup.
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How long will a Time Machine backup take?
wonder how long the Time Machine backup will take ? This can vary wide .
It ’s probable that if you ’ve only made a few changes since the last backup this one wo n’t take very long : just a few minutes .
If you have n’t punt up for a while , or if this is your first backup , it ’s go to take some time . If it ’s been a few month since you last backed up you will have to wait while Time Machine searches your Mac for change before it can set how long the backup will take , so if it ’s been a while expect this to take a foresightful time . Eventually , it will finish forecast clock time remaining and you will see how long it will take .
Eventually , our accompaniment ( which was six calendar month delinquent because we were n’t heading out own advice ) picture that there were about 4 hours remaining .
Is you do n’t have the necessary clock time to entrust your Mac switched on , or if the backup is causing your Mac to slack down while you are working on something crucial , you’re able to opt to Skip This Backup , as we will explain in the next section . Alternatively , there are manner to speed up the backup up , which we reckon at below .
How to stop a Time Machine backup
If you do n’t have time to back up now – perhaps you want to shut down your Mac and rush home – you could stop Time Machine from backing up your Mac .
How to stop Time Machine backing up automatically
If you want to discontinue Time Machine backing up your Mac you could just unplug the external storage you are using for Time Machine support , but the problem with that is you could end up travel for months without updating .
A skilful solution is to disable hourly backups if they become bothersome . alternatively of hourly substitute , you could choose to back up every day or every week .
Remember that the less regular the stand-in the longer it will take because the scheme wo n’t be build the incremental hourly backups so there will be more new content to copy .
How to speed up a Time Machine backup
The first clip you back up using Time Machine , bear it to take some prison term . Time Machine transcript nearly all of the data on your Mac . At least you could keep using your Mac while Time Machine work in the background to back up your data .
If you recentlyupgraded macOSthat could also cause Time Machine to take longer to complete a backup .
It might also take a while to back up your Mac with Time Machine if your previous backup was interrupted , or if a lot of files have changed , perhaps because the backup twist has n’t been plugged in for some prison term .
There are other way to speed up a backup . If you are backing up over a meshing to a server , or to a connection - attached memory board gimmick ( NAS ) , it might be faster if you move your Mac to the same room as your router , or connect the computer storage machine to your Mac , or the Mac to your router via an Ethernet cable . This should rush up your connection .
If you ’re using virtualization software to run other operating systems on your Mac , there might be big magnetic disc images include datum touch on to those other operating systems on your Mac . You might only have changed a few files on in other OS , but Time Machine could back up the whole disk paradigm . For this reason , you might need to enjoin Time Machine to except these files when it back up .
Another thing that can interfere with your championship isantivirus software . You might need to exclude your backup ride from the computer virus scan .
If things are still slow , verify your software is up to date , reboot your Mac , and , if you are backing up over a internet , resume your router .
How to back up multiple Macs to the same Time Machine drive
If you have more than one Mac you do n’t need more than one external crusade for your backups . you could backup more than one Mac to your Time Machine parkway . You ’ll need an external drive big enough to accommodate all the stand-in though – it ’s urge that you add up the space currently used by all your Macs and multiply that by 1.2 for the absolute minimum you will need .
All you postulate to do is secure your Time Machine backup crusade into the other Mac . That Mac will get going recording its own substitute to a separate folder on that cause .
If you do n’t fancy plugging and unplugging the driving all the metre you may back up over the mesh you could place up a internet attached memory gimmick , or you could use Personal File Sharing and colligate both Macs via the web , just be aware that this might be slower than doing so via a pumped connecter .
Time Machine Troubleshooting
If you are ingest problems with Time Machine check over below to see if we have the root .
What to do if Time Machine can’t complete the backup
There are a few scenarios when Time Machine might bomb to back up your Mac and when this happen the Time Machine icon in the menu bar will have an exclaiming mark in the midsection of it .
It could be because the extraneous drive does n’t have enough space ; it might have become corrupted because you unplugged the ride without dismounting it first ( this is why it ’s of import to make certain you always eject a drive properly before unplug it ) ; or it could be that the drive is n’t formatted aright .
To confirm whether the problem is with the machine you are indorse up to , you could try the pursual :
If you back up to an international driving , check that there is n’t a trouble with the drive you are indorse up to . First heart-to-heart Time Machine orientation and twist Time Machine off by deselecting Back Up Automatically , then open up Disk Utility ( press Command + Space bar and search for Disk Utility ) , pick out the backup machine , and expend First Aid to check the external musical accompaniment drive .
If you find that the drive is n’t formatted right use Disk Utility to reformat the disk . If you have to reformat you will lose what ’s on the drive , so make a written matter first or find another movement and use that .
What to do if Time Machine failed due to lack of space
If Time Machine is unable to complete the relief because there is insufficient blank there are a few things you may do .
We have a separate article onWhat to do when Time Machine backing is full here .
