Jun 04, 2018 Time Machine is the standard backup program delivered with Apple’s operating systems for Mac computers, macOS OSX. Time Machine is an easy and fun to use solution. Apple has put a lot of effort to make the Time Machine intuitive and easy to use for everyone, without any technical terms and other complicated stuff.
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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.
Apple's built-in Time Machine app makes it simple to back up Mac data. Here's how to back up content using the Time Machine app in macOS Mojave. Great backup drives. Our 2019 favorite: G-Technology G-Drive 1TB ($70) Compact: SanDisk Extreme Portable External 250B, 500GB, 1TB, 2GB (starting at $73). Time Machine is an excellent backup tool for any Mac. However, by default, it keeps all backup versions until the backup destination, be it an external drive or a storage server, is full. This practice can be wasteful, and eventually, you’ll have no space for other uses, like storing files. Time Machine not only backs up your Mac but also generates incremental copies so you can retrieve an earlier version of a file if you need it. You may want to set up Time Machine on NAS drive to back up wirelessly, but it runs at a snail’s gallop.
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
How Does Mac Time Machine Work
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.
Time Machine Preferences
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? Autodesk vred presenter 2020. 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”
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. 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!
Papers 3 3 3 download free. 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.
![Time Time](https://www.techbout.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/time-machine-screen-on-mac.png)
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. 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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Just because your files are tucked snugly in your hard drive, it doesn’t mean their safety is guaranteed. Irreparable data loss could rear its ugly head at any time. Hopefully, you don’t lose any or all your important files or documents before you see the importance of backing up your data. Thankfully, Mac users have Apple Time Machine as a safety net for all their data to fall back on.
Read on to find out how you can benefit by using Apple Time Machine. We’ll provide run-throughs on setting it up and retrieving backup files.
Why Use Apple Time Machine Over Others?
It’s not every day you come across a Mac backup app that runs silently in the background without draining system resources. This is the primary advantage that Apple Time Machine has over other backup solutions.
It does this by making a full backup of your Mac’s system disk initially and then stacking subsequent changes in chronological order. The changes are often saved automatically in hourly, daily, and weekly increments, with the oldest backups being overwritten with the newest versions. The cycle continues until the external backup disk is filled to the brim.
Apple Time Machine’s backups can also be readily used in Recovery Mode. This means you can easily restore your Mac to its original, functioning state if your drive ever crashes and fails. In addition, the backups can be utilized by Apple’s Migration Assistant during the installation of a new OS so you can swiftly transfer files, applications, and even settings from your old Mac version to the newest one with absolute ease.
Best of all, using Apple Time Machine is surprisingly easy. Setting it up is a cakewalk and recovering files is even more so.
How do I Start Using Apple Time Machine?
To begin with, you need to have an external drive that supports the Apple File Protocol (AFP) file sharing. That, or any hard drive that connects via USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt, and as uses a Mac filesystem format.
Ideally, though, it’s best to get Apple’s own AirPort Time Capsule—a Wi-Fi base station with a built-in backup disk. Since it’s a wireless device, you won’t have to keep an external HDD physically connected to your Mac at all times.
How Do I Set Up Apple Time Machine?
Simply connect an external hard drive or the Time Capsule to your Mac. From there, a prompt asking you if you’d want to use a Time Machine backup disk should appear. Check the ‘Encrypt Backup Disk’ option when you want to secure your backups with a password. Otherwise, just click on “Use as Backup Disk”.
And just like that, you’re set to go! The volume you chose will subsequently be formatted and the initial backup will begin a few minutes after. From there on, everything will be taken care of by Apple Time Machine.
Nevertheless, keep in mind that the initial backup process takes a long time. Thus, we recommend you set up Time Machine before you catch some zzz’s and leave your Mac running all night or until the backup is completed the next day.
How Do I Recover Files from a Time Machine Backup?
When you wish to restore individual files and folders to your desktop, follow these procedures:
- Select the “Enter Time Machine” option in the Time Machine icon on the OS X or MacOS menu bar.
- A screen will then appear. In there, you’ll see a Finder window and several others receding into the distance.
- Choose a date from the timeline on the right side of the screen, or just click the up/down arrows to navigate through the backup snapshots.
- When you find the deleted file (or an earlier version of the document) that you wish to restore, select the item in the snapshot window. Click ‘Restore’, and hten Time Machine will copy the file/folder to its original location on your disk.
If you wish to recover your entire startup disk in case of a massive data loss, follow these steps:
- Restart your Mac.
- Press the Command + R keys to enter Recovery Mode.
- Choose the “Restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup” option on the OS X/MacOS utility window.
- Follow the subsequent steps shown on the screen.
With its automated scheduling, straightforward recovery process, and amazing ability to backup your data without hindering your system’s performance, it should come as no surprise that more Mac users are starting to appreciate and utilize Apple Time Machine. Its capacity to save your data from certain doom makes it an indispensable application for every Mac computer.