- How To Set Up Time Machine With External Hard Drives
- How To Set Up Time Machine With External Hard Drive
- Set Up Time Machine With External Hard Drive
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Step 2: Create Two Partitions for Time Machine & Storage. Next we’ll set up the external hard disk to have two separate partitions, one for the Time Machine backups and the other for regular file system access. A quick note about sizing: It is good practice to set the Time Machine drive to be at least 2x-3x your primary hard disk size. Browse the top-ranked list of Time Machine Backup External Drives below along with associated reviews and opinions. Great Back Up.The Hard drive hub is great to have for a desktop or laptop with it taking up a USB port and it having on the front of the hard drive 2 additional USB ports to make up for the drive being. Simple to set up. I have a Mac Book Pro, and external hard drive, and now, a Time Capsule. Since I don't have a Mac, all photos and music (occasional backups, etc.) have been stored on the one external hard drive. I got the Time Capsule to replace the external hard drive as primary (keeping it as secondary)–in addition to using the Time Machine.
Data loss? Impossible with Get Backup Pro on Mac.
It’s important to back your Mac up. Not only does it help create a backup of files and folders, backups provide a place you can reboot to if your Mac stops working, or you get a new Mac.
Time Machine is Apple’s method for backing your Mac up, and it’s a solid choice. It’s reliable, fairly easy to use, and can keep your Mac backed up on a routine schedule. Here, we’ll show you how to use Apple Time Machine, and showcase a few apps that you might prefer to Apple’s Time Machine.
What is Time Machine?
Time Machine is a service from Apple to backup your Mac. It creates a simple “image” or “snapshot” of your Mac, which simply means a compressed file containing everything on your Mac at the time of the backup that you can revert to when needed. Time Machine backups can also be used when you need to boot a new device, or refresh your Mac after returning it to factory settings.
Apple’s Time Machine is meant to run in the background, offering a simple, straightforward way to back your Mac up. When activated, it will periodically back your Mac up, keeping the last few versions in case you need to revert to a backup from a few weeks ago.
Most will use Time Machine when booting new Macs. On startup, a new Mac asks if you want to start fresh, or boot from a backup. Using Time Machine backups will make you feel like you picked up where you left off. Like most services Apple creates, Time Machine is in both your System Preferences menu and is available as an app for the Mac.
How to use Time Machine on Mac
For most of us, knowing how to use Time Machine means knowing how to activate it. Because it typically runs in the background, the service isn’t something you need to access often to create backups. But we’ll cover Time Machine to restore Mac computers, to backup your Mac, and how to use Time Machine to restore files as well.
Setting up Time Machine
Setting Time Machine up is really simple. Here’s how:
- From your Mac’s menu bar, select the Apple logo on the left side
- Select “System Preferences” from the drop-down menu
- Select “Time Machine”
Note: These directions will show you how to use Time Machine to set up automatic backups.
- Select “Automatic Backups” on the left side of the Time Machine window
- Choose the disk you want to use to store your backups
That’s all you need to do. Once you complete these steps. Time Machine will begin creating a backup to the disk you’ve designated on a schedule. Unfortunately, you’re unable to manage this schedule yourself.
Using Time Machine with an Apple AirPort Time Capsule
Apple used to make routers, and one of their best was the AirPort Time Capsule. You can still find Time Capsules for sale, and if you can source one, we highly recommend it. Not only are they excellent routers, the AirPort Time Capsule works perfectly with Time Machine.
Knowing how to use Time Machine with an AirPort Time Capsule is the same as knowing how to use Time Machine with external hard drive. The Time Capsule has a one or two terabyte hard drive inside it, making it both a router and external drive for Time Machine backups. As you see in the screenshot above, our Time Machine is backing up to a Time Capsule!
All you have to do setup your AirPort Time Capsule as the main router for your network and make sure your Mac is connecting to the network the AirPort is on. Then, choose the AirPort Time Capsule as the external drive you want to save backups to.
That’s it! The best part about using this method is when you reconnect a Mac reset to factory settings or buy a new Mac, and log into the same network, you know your backups are available.
How to restore Mac from Time Machine
Restoring a Mac from a Time Machine backup is straightforward, but not always the best option. Having done it, we can attest it can take days for your Mac to get back up and running when restoring from a backup. Consider whether or not you have time to devote to that process. We should also note since Apple has stopped making the AirPort Time Capsule there’s little chance Time Machine will improve in this area.
Consider why you’re trying to restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup, too. Sometimes we restore to a backup because we believe we’ve lost a file that was crucial. If we go back in time, the file will be there, right? Maybe, but the process is time consuming, and not always accurate.
A better option may be Disk Drill. It recovers lost files with relative ease – or at least files you think you’d lost. With Disk Drill, you may be able to find those lost files without the trouble of diving through Time Machine backups and wasting hours (or days!) restoring your Mac for one file.
How to restore from Time Machine to a new Mac
Ready to learn how to use Time Machine on new Mac computers? We’ve got you covered. Here’s how it’s done:
- Make sure your backup disk is connected to your new Mac (Note: if you’re using a Time Capsule, make sure your router is setup and your computer connects to the same network. This will automatically “connect” your backup disk to your Mac.)
- When signing into your new Mac, select “From a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk” when asked how you’d like to transfer your information
- On the next screen, select your backup disk from the available options
- Select “Continue”
- Choose the data you’d like to transfer, and select “Continue”
That’s all you need to do. Your Mac will begin the process of transferring your data from the Time Machine backup.
Restore your Mac from a backup
Here’s how to restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup:
- Make sure your backup disk is connected to your new Mac (Note: if you’re using a Time Capsule, make sure your router is setup and your computer connects to the same network. This will automatically “connect” your backup disk to your Mac.)
- Open the Migration Assistant app on your Mac
- Select “From a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk” when asked how you’d like to transfer your information
- On the next screen, select your backup disk from the available options
- Select “Continue”
- Choose the data you’d like to transfer, and select “Continue”
How To Set Up Time Machine With External Hard Drives
This is Apple’s method for restoring from the most recent backup. If you need an earlier backup to restore, to, simply open the Time Machine app and choose the backup you want to boot from. You can scroll through a list, and the right side of the screen has a timeline feature in the event you’re trying to reboot to a more narrow timeframe.
A failing of Time Machine is you lack granular control. There’s no way to really define the files or folders you want to back up, and you can’t define a backup schedule that works for you. Instead, Get Backup Pro may be the better solution for you.
Get Backup Pro allows you to customize the backup schedule that works for you. How to download an os on a new pc. If you’d rather have a weekly backup on Friday night after your work week is done, it can handle that. You’re also provided a lot more control over the files and folders included in your backup; maybe you aren’t worried about things backed up to iCloud, or Google Drive which are duplicated on your machine. Perhaps you would rather your important documents folders be what’s saved; Get Backup Pro can do it!
It also compresses backups to a really small size, which speeds up the backup process by quite a bit – especially if you define the items you want backed up.
Additional tip: How to Speed Up your Mac
In addition to files, folders, apps, and things you interact with daily, Mac backups also include things like settings for apps, the system, and even browser history. Those all add up to a whole bunch of garbage cluttering your system.
This is where CleanMyMac X shines. The app pokes through your Mac to ensure all of your settings are optimized, the file system is well organized, and unnecessary stuff like browser cookies and mail attachments are disposed of when appropriate. How install snapchat. It runs on a schedule, and allows you some deep granular control over which settings and systems are optimized. Run CleanMyMac X on a routine schedule, and you know all of your backups will help your Mac run smooth after you boot to them.
Conclusion
Backing your Mac up is really important; everyone should do it on a routine basis. Time Machine is a great option, but also very basic. It can be time consuming when you’re restoring from a backup, too.
Many may prefer Get Backup Pro, which allows for a lot more control, and compresses backups far more than Time Machine. When used with CleanMyMac X, you’ll always know your backups are clean, organized, and free of any weird settings or bloatware you forgot about.
Those trying to use Time Machine to recover lost files should try Disk Drive first. More often than not, you’ll find your files quickly with Disk Drive, saving you a ton of time with backups.
All three of these apps are available for free as part of a seven day trial of Setapp, the world’s best suite of productivity apps for your Mac. When your trial is through, continued unlimited access to the full Setapp catalog of nearly 200 Mac apps is only $9.99 per month, or $19.99 for families with up to four Macs. What are you waiting for? Give Setapp a try today!
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We are going to show you how to do a simple Apple Time Machine Backup.
You ignore it. But it worries you, doesn’t it? When you know you don’t do backups and are resting on the precarious chance that nothing will go wrong and you won’t lose all of your irreplaceable data.
I knew I was. And after my other hard drive crashed, I finally got myself a new external backup drive on Friday, 5 July 2014.
I bought the Lacie 1TB Porsche Design P’9223 USB 3.0 Mobile Hard Drive from Apple online store. Not the most expensive. Certainly not as expensive as the Apple AirPort Time Capsule (ranging from around AU$350 TO AU$450). But the LaCie 1TB hard drive had one of the most reviews and almost all of them very good.
LaCie Porsche 1TB external hard drive
Note: If you want to know more about the LaCie, I shall be doing a mini-review on this shortly.
External Hard Drive and Time Machine Backup
If you already have an in-built Time Machine backup app on your Mac, why do you need an external hard drive for backups?
Conversely, if you have an external hard drive that you can use as a backup device, why do you need to use the Apple Time Machine?
To use the Time Machine, you need to have an external hard drive.
The external hard drive is for the storage space of your backups. The Time Machine automates the backup so that you don’t have to remember to do backups. It will do it for you.
The external hard drive is for the storage space of your backups. The Time Machine automates the backup so that you don’t have to remember to do backups. It will do it for you.
What does the Time Machine Backup do?
You just need to connect your hard drive to your Mac. Turn on the Time Machine. In fact, as soon as you connect your hard drive to your Mac (e.g. via USB), Time Machine dialog will pop up to ask if you would like to turn the Time Machine on and to use your external drive as a backup device.
You just need to connect your hard drive to your Mac. Turn on the Time Machine. In fact, as soon as you connect your hard drive to your Mac (e.g. via USB), Time Machine dialog will pop up to ask if you would like to turn the Time Machine on and to use your external drive as a backup device.
Let’s say you do.
Thereafter, whenever your external hard drive is connected to your Mac, the Time Machine Backup ensures:
- your entire Mac is regularly and automatically backed up (system files, apps, accounts, preferences, emails, music, movies – everything)
- not just one snapshot but what everything looked like on any given day in the past (so you can easily restore to any given day).
- hourly backup for last 24 hours
- daily backups for past month
- weekly backups …
![Machine Machine](https://support.apple.com/library/content/dam/edam/applecare/images/en_US/osx/tm_sys_prefs.png)
How To Set Up Time Machine With External Hard Drive
till your backup drive is full. When full, Time Machine will delete the oldest backsups to make room for new backups.
Tip: Therefore, when purchasing an external backup drive, choose one that is as large as or preferably, larger than the disk size of your Mac.
To learn more about the Time Machine backup and restore process, please refer to reference below on Mac Basics.
Simple How To Set Up Time Machine Backup
I will assume that you have an external hard drive but have not as yet set up your Mac Time Machine. I will use my LaCie as an example.
When you connect a new external disk to your Mac, the Time Machine will popup a message. It will ask you if you want to use that external disk as a backup drive. The name of the detected disk will be the name of your disk drive.
Time Machine message
You have various options to choose from. To find out more about these options, click on the ? which will bring up a Time Machine overview.
You may note that in my example, I have 2 “drives” to select from: “LaCie” and “LACIE SHARE”. That is specific to my LaCie hard drive where “LaCie” is for backup file and “LACIE SHARE” has been formated to a FAT32 format so that I can save files there that are compatible to a Windows format. That is purely an individual choice.
For now, let’s assume you have your drive chosen and you want to use it as a backup device to perform your Time Machine Backup. To do this, just click “Use as Backup Disk” button.
That is pretty much it. From hereon in, the Mac Time Machine will automatically do your backups behind the screen whenever the disk is connected to your Mac. You can easily checkup on progress and schedules of backups via the Time Machine icon on your menu bar.
That is a simple as it gets:
get external hard drive
connect to Mac
choose to use external hard drive as backup disk
Time Machine Backup is henceforth, automatically done
get external hard drive
connect to Mac
choose to use external hard drive as backup disk
Time Machine Backup is henceforth, automatically done
Set Up Time Machine With External Hard Drive
If you would like to know the specifics of setting up a Lacie Porcshe hard drive as a backup device, from start to finish, please read LaCie Drive and Mac Backup – Steps and Review.
Extra: Time Machine Backup and Restore video
This is a concise YouTube video (by LeftClick) on how to use the Apple Time Machine to backup and restore.
- support.apple.com – Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac