Time Machine: This is how you back up your Mac

Want to back up your Mac but not sure how? In this article, we’ll explain how you can do that easily with the built-in Mac Time Machine program.

Back up a Mac with Time Machine

Backups are extremely important, both for business and pleasure. They ensure that you don’t lose everything after a crash. If you accidentally deleted something that you still need, you can get it back via a backup.

And do you want to participate in the beta of macOS Mojave? Then you are always advised to make a backup of the stable version first. Because with beta you never know what can happen.

This is how you make a Time Machine backup

Every Mac is standard equipped with the Time Machine program. That’s the easiest way to back up. If you are going to make a Mac backup, you need a hard drive that you connect to the computer. Then you go through the following steps:

1. Click on the Apple logo in the top left corner of the screen and choose ‘System Preferences’;
2. Select Time Machine in the next screen;
3. Choose ‘Configure Time Machine’;
4. If Time Machine is off, turn it on with the slider;
5. Select a hard drive to backup;
6. The program will automatically back up your Mac.

The program backs up your hard drive every hour, daily or weekly.

Get a specific file from your Time Machine backup

If you have faithfully made your backups and ever need a file that you have deleted, you may be able to get it back through the program. To do this, follow the steps below.

1. Open Time Machine;
2. You will now enter the Time Machine screen;
3. Navigate to the file or folder you are looking for, you can go back in time as long as you have made previous backups;
4. Once you have found the file or folder, click on ‘Restore’;
5. Time Machine copies the file to its original location on your hard drive.

Recover entire Mac hard drive

It is also possible to restore everything from your hard drive from a Time Machine backup. Follow the following steps.

1. Start your Mac and hold down the keys Command + R;
2. A screen called OS X Utilities should appear at startup;
3. Choose Restore from Time Machine Backup;
4. Read the information and click through to your Time Machine backup;
5. Select the most recent backup from your hard drive and your Mac will be restored with the Time Machine backup;
6. When it finishes, the machine will reboot.

Do you also want to know how to back up your iPhone and iPad? Check the tip below.

Also read: Tip: this is how you make a backup of your iPhone