#Free backup software for mac os x how to#
#Free backup software for mac os x upgrade#
#Free backup software for mac os x full#

There is also an option to Show Time Machine in menu bar. Older Macs might feel a bit sluggish during the backup process, though. Excluding items can speed up the process, but you can still use your Mac while its running in the background. If you want it to back up at regular intervals, make sure to check the box next to Back Up Automatically.Д¬lick the OptionsВ button in Time Machine's panel in System Preferences to indicate what types of items you'd like Time Machine to exclude. Encryption means restoring from the Time Machine backup will require a password.

When selecting your drive for Time Machine, you can also choose to encrypt backups. Doing so will erase anything on the drive, so make sure there's nothing on the drive you don't want to lose. If it's not already formatted to work as a backup drive, Time Machine will ask if you want to format the drive. If your Mac forgets its manners and doesn't ask, select the drive to use by going to System PreferencesВ > Time MachineВ and clicking the Select DiskВ button. To begin, plug the drive into your Mac and wait for the prompt to use it with Time Machine.

AirPort Time Capsule (technically discontinued, but still available as a refurb).

External drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac) or AirPort Time Capsule.

Mac shared as a Time Machine backup destination.

Network-attached storage (NAS) device that supports Time Machine over SMB.

External USB, Thunderbolt or FireWire drive connected to your Mac.

The drive can be directly connected to your Mac or connected via your network. You can find an external hard drive or SSD for relatively little, and we even have a handy guide to the best drives. For example, if your Mac has 512GB of storage, you'll want a 1TB drive. Once the backup drive is full, it will make room by deleting the oldest backups.ДЄs far as how big of a drive to get, the rule of thumb is 1.5 to 2 times the size of your Mac's hard drive. Once Time Machine is set up, it will create and store one backup every hour for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month and one backup a week for all previous months until it runs out of space. In fact, when you connect an external hard drive or SSD to your Mac, you may see a prompt asking if you want to use the drive with Time Machine.

#Free backup software for mac os x how to#

You don't have to do a thing after the initial setup process, which takes just a few minutes.Д«elow I'll walk you through using Time Machine, cover how to check what iCloud is keeping a backup of and for those who want some extra assurance, how to back up your Music library.ДЄs long as it knows where to store the files, Time MachineВ can be set to periodically backup your computer, though you can also manually trigger a backup.

#Free backup software for mac os x full#

For example, they don't remember the local coffee shop's complicated Wi-Fi password or every setting you've changed that's finally made booting your Mac feel as familiar as sinking into a comfy couch.ДЄpple makes backing up relatively painless by including its Time Machine app in the Mac operating system, which you can schedule to run a full backup of your Mac. But cloud drives can't back up everything on your computer. With so many cloud storage services available that can automatically sync your files, such as Dropbox or Google Drive, it's easy to just set it and forget it.

#Free backup software for mac os x upgrade#

A backup also makes it easy to move your apps and data to a new Mac if you upgrade to a new machine, like the newly announced Mac Studio desktop or the rumored M2 MacBook Pro. But if your MacBook or iMac crashes at an inopportune time - as computers always seem to do - you'll be infinitely grateful you took a few minutes to save all your important files. Backing up your Mac is one of those routine tasks that can wind up buried beneath the more urgent priorities on your to-do list.