Automatic backups are usually a better option - you’ll have more backups and you won’t be able to forget about it. To do this, open Time Machine’s settings screen and toggle Time Machine to “Off.” You can then click the Time Machine icon on the menu bar and select “Back Up Now” to perform a manual backup at any time. You can also choose to perform manual backups instead. Your Mac would back up when the drive is connected. You could disconnect your external drive when using your MacBook during the day and plug it in when you get home in the evening. If your drive is connected to the computer or the network location is available, it will back up once per hour. Time Machine normally functions automatically. Future backups won’t take as long, as only new and changed files will have to be backed up. The first Time Machine backup will take the longest, as everything on your drive is backed up. For example, you could exclude your /Applications folder to save space on the Time Machine backup. While Time Machine does include everything by default, you can click the Options button in the Time Machine window and exclude certain folders. RELATED: Save Space on Your Time Machine Drive by Excluding These Folders From Backups This provides you with a way to recover deleted files or restore previous versions of files even if you’re away from your backup drive for a while. Your Mac will save a single daily snapshot as well as a single weekly snapshot of your files to its internal storage if the Time Machine backup drive isn’t available. RELATED: How to Set Up Your Mac to Act as a Networked Time Machine DriveĮnabling Time Machine on a MacBook will also enable the “local snapshots” feature. You can even have your Mac back up to multiple locations, rotating between them so you can have backups in two or more locations. Sadly, Apple doesn’t seem committed to updating this device anytime soon, but you can use another Mac as a Time Machine server instead, or even a Raspberry Pi if you’re feeling creative. The simplest tool for this is Apple’s Airport Time Capsule, a combination router and storage device that makes backing up easy. While external hard drives are the simplest option, it’s also possible to back up wirelessly over the network.

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