Do you want to backup all of your important data and apps of your Mac OS X with Time Machine then you came at the right place?
Time Machine is Mac’s built-in backup software.This feature was introduced with OS X 10.5 Leopard, and it’s been there ever since.
If you’ve never used Mac’s Time Machine, Time Machine is one of the easiest ways to back up your Mac and is great for recovering individual files you’ve deleted or restored your entire hard drive in the event of a catastrophe.
How does Time Machine work?
Time Machine works with any hard disk connected to your computer via USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt; it also supports Apple’s Time Capsule and backup disks connected over a network, provided the disks support Apple File Protocol (AFP) file sharing. As long as the disk is available to your Mac, you can use it for a Time Machine backup.
When enabled, Apple’s backup software takes periodic snapshots of all your files and catalogs them on an external hard drive you have plugged in or a Time Capsule you’ve hooked up to your network. It backs up the entire contents of your hard disk hourly, daily and weekly; as the drive gets full, Time Machine will delete the oldest backups and replace them with newer versions.
This is better than your traditional “Copy a bunch of files to a cloud service” or “clone a disk to an external hard drive” because you don’t have to restore your hard drive en masse if you lose a single file—Time Machine can retrieve specific images, folders, and projects from its backup because of its layered snapshot system.
How to enable Time Machine backups on your Mac
Step 1: Open System Preference
- Click to System Preference icon from the dock or you can open System preference from the Apple Menu too.
- From Apple menu click to Apple Logo.
- Click to System Preferences…
Step 2: Open Time Machine.
- Once you opened System Preferences you will see clock icon below it written Time Machine.
- Click on it.
Step 3: Select Time Machine Backup Disk.
- Click Select Backup Disk.
- Select which disk you’d like to use as a Time Machine backup.
- After Selecting disk click to Use Disk button.
- Check the Back Up Automatically box in order to automatically back up your Mac to your chosen disks.
It’s done it will backup your data now.
How to restore files from a Time Machine backup
Step 1: Open System Preference
- Click to System Preference icon from the dock or you can open System preference from the Apple Menu too.
- From Apple menu click to Apple Logo.
- Click to System Preferences…
Step 2: Open Time Machine.
- Once you opened System Preferences you will see clock icon below it written Time Machine.
- Click on it.
Step 3: Restore with Time Machine.
- Once you opened Time Machine setting look at the bottom of setting.
- There you will get the checkbox of Show Time Machine in menu bar.
- Tick the box.
- Go to your menu bar at the top side of it.
- Look to the right side there you will see clock icon.
- Click on it.
- Inside of that icon, you will get drop down options.
- Click to entering Time Machine.
- Find the file or folder in question and click Restore
Time Machine will then copy that file back to its original location on your hard drive.
How to exclude files from Time Machine
Time Machine will back up most of your Mac automatically, but you might want to exclude certain files.
Step 1: Open System Preference
- Click to System Preference icon from the dock or you can open System preference from the Apple Menu too.
- From Apple menu click to Apple Logo.
- Click to System Preferences…
Step 2: Open Time Machine.
- Once you opened System Preferences you will see clock icon below it written Time Machine.
- Click on it.
Step 3: Select Exclude Folder.
- Click to Options…
- Click to + icon for adding exclude the folder.
- Browse the folder and click to Exclude button.
- Click to save button.
How to restore your hard drive from a Time Machine backup
Whether you’re having major problems with your current hard drive or upgrading to a new Mac, Time Machine can help you get back to business.
- Power up your Mac and hold down the Command and R keys to enter the macOS Recovery Partition. Your Mac should boot to a screen that says macOS Utilities.
- Select Restore from Time Machine Backup and click Continue.
- Read the info on the Restore Your System page and click Continue.
- Select your Time Machine backup and click Continue.
- Select the most recent backup of your hard disk and click Continue. Your Mac will then restore the Time Machine backup; once it’s done it will restart.
If you’ve had to replace it with a stock drive that has nothing on it—not even macOS—you won’t be able to boot from the macOS Recovery Partition. But fear not, you can get the recovery rolling from the Time Machine backup disk itself: Just hold down the Option key when you start your Mac; you’ll be able to select the Time Machine backup disk as your startup drive, and go from there.