MacMost: Backing Up

Time Machine is the part of macOS that allows you to easily back up your Mac to an external or networked hard drive. Here are some of the most asked questions about Time Machine, such as what size hard drive do you need, can you exclude files from the backup, and how do you restore files from the backup.

Many people still use cloning as a method of backing up a Mac. However, this method is not nearly as useful or robust as a standard Time Machine backup. Files you may think are safely backed up to a clone can actually be completely missing. If you use a clone as a secondary backup, better solutions exist such as online backups, cloud storage, or simply a second Time Machine backup.

If you want to permanently delete files from your Mac and your Time Machine backups, you must use a special function in Time Machine to remove all of the versions of that file. After deleting the current file on your drive, you need to Enter Time Machine, look back to a time where that file existed, and then select the file to delete it from all backups.

When you use Time Machine to back up your Mac, you not only get a complete backup of everything, but also a history of files that includes deleted or modified files. You can recover a file you have deleted even if many backups have occurred since you deleted the file. Practice this technique so you know how to use it before you need it.

Every Mac user should be backing up the files on their Mac. The easiest way to do this is to use Time Machine, which is part of macOS. You can get a cheap external hard drive and start doing this today. Time Machine is simple and automatic and can save you from disasters, as long as you start using it.

When you back up for iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to your Mac, it stores it deep in your hard drive. But you don't need to go searching for those backups. You can manage them from inside iTunes. This is useful if you want to review your backups and delete old ones from old devices. You can also quickly find them on your drive to see how much space they take up. An archive function lets you save a backup and start a fresh one for a device.

You have two primary options to backup your iOS device. You can backup to your computer, or backup using iCloud. Most people will want to backup to their computer. But frequent travelers and those without a computer will want to use the iCloud method. You can also backup to both.

There are many things you should be doing with your Mac. But one is the most important of all: backing up. Any computer can have a hard drive failure, suffer from a user mistake or simply be stolen. Backing up is the most important thing that every Mac user should do.

A portable Mac using Lion and Time Machine creates local snapshots of new and modified files when it cannot access its TIme Machine drive. These local snapshots can be used to recover deleted or mistakenly modified files. They take advantage of unused space on your hard drive and adjust according to how much space you have available.

Learn the basic steps to start backing up your Mac with Time Machine. Every computer user should back up his or her data on a regular basis, and using Time Machine on your Mac makes that easy. Find out how to get started.

Learn how Time Machine is different than most backup solutions that simply clone and update the data on a drive. Time Machine saves multiple copies of your files and allows you to access each version as long as it has space.

Did you know that you can use Time Machine with iPhoto, Mail and Address Book to recover lost photos, messages and contacts? Time Machine works with these programs in the same way it works with files in the Finder to allow you to recover lost data.

If you aren't using Time Machine to back up your Mac, then it is time to start. Here are some options for a Time Machine backup drive.

Look at a variety of ways to clean out old files and information from different programs like iCal, Address Book, Safari, Mail, iMovie, etc.

You can use burn folders to archive data and create CD hand-outs. But you can also keep burn folders around and use them to make updated versions of those disks later on.

Gary Rosenzweig shows you how to use Disk Utility to create a sparse image and archive large amounts of data on to it. This is useful for backing up entire Macs.

Gary Rosenzweig takes a look at backup procedures, including Apple's Backup program that comes with .Mac, and Leopard Time Machine. He also talks about archiving and backing up off-site. Some 3rd party backup applications we found were Data Backup 3.0, Retrospect Desktop, Synk Backup and BackityMac.