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It doesn’t take much time to learn how to back up a Mac computer—certainly less than what it takes to recover lost data. In this article, we describe multiple tried-and-tested backup methods so you can choose the one that fits your needs the best. Of course, it’s always a good idea to combine multiple backup methods for extra redundancy.
Sooner or later, all hard drives begin to fail. Maybe opening files begins to take minutes instead of seconds. Maybe you start to hear strange noises coming from inside your Mac. Maybe you begin to see strange messages about corrupted files.
Instead of shrugging off these early warning signs, take action to back up data on Mac quickly. As long as your Mac is still running, you can use Disk Drill Mac data backup software to create an exact snapshot of the hard drive, also called a disk image, so that you can recover it later.
Disk Drill makes the creation of OS X backups quick and painless. The software copies every bit of data stored on the hard drive, including areas marked as free space, ensuring that even recently deleted files that haven’t yet been overwritten are not left behind. As such, it allows you to perform data recovery with Disk Drill and restore missing files right from the backup disk image.
Data loss knows no mercy, and it has a tendency to come when you expect it the least. By regularly backing up your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac mini, or Mac Pro, you can avoid losing important files whose recovery otherwise wouldn’t be possible even with the best data recovery software.
Once emptied, the Trash bin folder, whose purpose is to temporarily store deleted files, can be recovered only using specialized data recovery software, and the results are not guaranteed, especially not when a TRIM-enabled SSD is part of the equation.
It doesn’t take much to make a mistake and accidentally erase or format a wrong partition. But with a complete backup at hand, you should be able to recover the entire content of the partition without any issues.
If only users never made any mistakes, data loss wouldn’t be such a widespread and costly issue. Unfortunately, users do make mistakes, which is why it’s so important to know how to backup MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, iMac, and Mac Pro.
Data loss can often be addressed using data recovery software, but not if its cause is physical damage. In such cases, your best option is to recover lost data from a backup.
Thieves are attracted to Apple devices as bees are to flowers. While a backup won’t give you your beloved MacBook back, it will at least make it possible for you to recover lost data.
Depending on its extend, corruption can make important files inaccessible, and it’s not always possible to repair it using first- and third-party tools.
Just like it’s a good idea to wash your car before taking it in for servicing, there are certain steps you should always take before backing up your Mac. If you do, the chances of you experiencing issues during the backup process are guaranteed to drop down significantly.
There’s a good chance that your Mac is full of junk files, such as downloads you don’t need anymore, duplicate files, and app leftovers. Junk files have no place in your backup because they would only make it larger, so you should get rid of them. Disk Drill comes with multiple extra free tools that can help you effortlessly find and delete all junk files, so make sure to give it a try.
While the best backup software applications check how much storage space is available before the backup process begins, it’s always a good idea to check available storage space manually. The easiest way to do just that is by launching Disk Utility and choosing your backup storage device from the left pane.
It goes without saying that your backup drive must have a functioning partition on it otherwise you wouldn’t be able to copy files to it in the first place, but there’s more to it than that. You also need to use the right file system for the job because not all files systems are supported by all operating systems. We recommend exFAT for the best cross-platform compatibility and APFS for Mac-only backups.
For your backup to contain the latest versions of important files, you need to first save your work. Why? Because many applications store document changes in a temporary storage location that may be excluded from your backup, and some even store changes only in system memory.
To avoid software conflicts and other issues during the backup process, you should close as many running apps as possible. When we say close, we actually mean that you should terminate them (such as by pressing the CMD + Q shortcut) so that they’re not running at all. You can open Activity Monitor to see all running processes.
Backups sometimes take a long time to create, especially when backing a lot of small files to a slow hard drive. That’s why you should always pick a time when you know your Mac won’t be needed. By starting the backup process at the wrong time, you might be tempted to interrupt it just so you can use your computer as you would normally, and that’s never a good idea.
Thanks to Disk Drill’s Byte-to-byte Backup feature, it takes just a few clicks to create a complete backup of your Mac and store it someplace safe. Should anything happen to your Mac, you will be able to restore all data with ease.
You can download Disk Drill for free from its official website. The Byte-to-byte Backup feature is a free extra, so you don’t have to purchase a license to use it. To install Disk Drill, open the downloaded installer file and drag the Disk Drill icon to the Applications folder.
Next, you need to connect a sufficiently large external hard drive to your Mac. The drive should be at least as large as the hard drive you want to back up, but it’s even better when it has plenty of extra storage space. With your external drive connected, you can go ahead and launch Disk Drill. Keep in mind that Disk Drill will ask for the admin password when launched for the first time.
To create a byte-to-byte backup image, select the Byte-to-byte Backup feature from the left pane and choose the drive you want to back up. Click the Create backup button and specify where you want to store the backup file. When backing up a drive encrypted with the Apple M1/T2 security chip, Disk Drill will warn you that the backup image probably won’t be recoverable. Unfortunately, this is a downside of using full-disk encryption, and there’s nothing that can be done about it.
Now that you know how to backup files on Mac, consider a constant protection of any little changes of big importance with the help of Disk Drill's Guaranteed Recovery, Recovery Vault, and S.M.A.R.T. monitoring. These features ensure that all your data is kept safe and no little change is left unguarded.
Byte-to-byte backup images created using Disk Drill make it easy to recover even from the most serious data loss situations, but they’re not your only backup option. Let’s take a look at five other ways you can back up your Mac.
To back up important files so they can be recovered even if your main hard drive stops working, you actually only need a suitable external storage device, such as a USB flash drive:
Sure, there’s nothing convenient about manually backing up files like this, but the method doesn’t require any setup and it just works.
All Mac computers come with a backup application called Time Machine. You can configure this backup application to automatically back up your data to an external storage device:
What’s great about Time Machine is that it gives you the ability to recover specific versions of backedup files.
It takes just a minute to back up files and folders to Apple’s cloud storage service, iCloud. Data in iCloud can be accessed from anywhere and any device, so recovering them is easy. To enable iCloud on your Mac:
Of course, you can use any cloud storage service you want—not just iCloud. Some of the most popular options include Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox.
Besides Disk Drill, there are various other third-party backup software solutions that can create byte-to-byte backups, and some can even create backups that are bootable.
One such third-party software application is Carbon Copy Cloner, whose latest version automatically uses Apple's proprietary APFS replication utility (ASR) to make an exact copy of the source.
A network-attached storage device, or NAS for short, is basically a file storage server that can be connected to your home network and accessed from any device on the same network. That’s right, NAS devices let you back up your MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, or Mac Pro to a remote location wirelessly using Time Machine or any other backup software.
These days, NAS devices are fairly affordable (at least considering what they can do), so the convenience they provide is well worth the investment. Popular manufacturers of NAS devices include Synology, QNAP, Seagate, WD, and Buffalo.
Entry-level NAS devices from renowned brands are fairly affordable these days, but there’s one even cheaper option when it comes to backing up data to a network-attached storage device: you can build your own using a Raspberry Pi.
Basically, the idea is to connect a suitable hard drive (or two or ten) to a Raspberry Pi and then use a Linux distribution called OpenMediaVault to handle the software side of things.
OpenMediaVault is an extendable network-attached storage (NAS) solution with support for services like SMB/CIFS, SSH, (S)FTP, and DLNA. It’s perfect for home users and small businesses because it works out of the box and can be easily configured using a web-based interface.
Since a brand-new Raspberry Pi 4 costs $55, you’re looking at a very small investment, especially if you already own a suitable storage device and the few extra bits and pieces required to put this project together.
It’s always best to back up your entire Mac because you can then easily restore it to the last working state even if something goes horribly wrong and the operating system stops working correctly, preventing you from accessing your data.
But there are also many good reasons to back up only select folders, such as when working on an extra-important project. In such situations, software like ChronoSync can be worth every single dollar, allowing you to synchronize two folders and create redundant copies of your files.
We recommend you use it to create two sets of backups: one stored locally on your Mac, and the other one stored offsite.
When it comes to choosing a backup drive, you have two basic options: SSDs and HDDs. Let’s take a quick look at each of these two options.
SSDs don’t have any moving parts inside because they store data using integrated circuit assemblies. Modern SSDs can offer very fast read/write speeds with minimal latency.
Use when: backing up data in real-time or at a short interval.
Avoid when: backing up large quantities of data that you don’t expect to access all that often.
HDDs are electro-mechanical storage devices that store data on rotating platters coated with magnetic material. While more affordable than SSDs, their performance is considerably worse.
Use when: backing up a large amount of data for archival purposes.
Avoid when: you want to create backups as quickly as possible to prevent their creation from interfering with your work.
Updated on by Disk Drill Team
You can back up files on your Mac using Apple’s own built-in backup feature, called Time Machine:
Keep in mind that the first backup can take a long time to create, especially if you have many files on your computer.
Here are the best ways to back up a Mac computer in 2022:
You can back up your Mac to an external drive using Time Machine, a built-in backup feature that lets you automatically back up your personal data:
In fact, Time Machine only works with external drives (and shared network folders), connected using either USB or Thunderbolt.
Yes, you can back up your Mac without using an external hard drive. There are many backup tools, such as the byte-to-byte feature included for free in Disk Drill, that let you save your backup to any suitably large storage device. Alternatively, you can also use a cloud storage service like iCloud, Microsoft OneDrive, or Google Drive.
Absolutely! You can, for example, use the byte-to-byte backup feature in Disk Drill:
That depends entirely on the size and speed of your hard drive. If you have a Mac with a very large hard drive, then a full backup may take several hours, especially if the hard drive isn’t an SSD.
There are many ways to manually back up a Mac, but it’s never a good idea to rely on just one backup method. Instead, you should combine several methods to achieve redundancy. Here’s an example of how you can do just that:
That depends on how you want to back up your Mac. If you want to create a full backup of the entire system drive, then you need an external hard drive that’s at least as large as the system drive. But if you just want to back up select folders, then even a small USB flash drive should be enough to get the job done.
You can easily back up your entire Mac to an adequately large external hard drive using an application like Disk Drill, which lets you create a complete backup of your Mac with just a few clicks:
There are two basic ways to back up an external hard drive to an external hard drive on Mac:
The second approach offers several advantages, such as the possibility to automate the backup process to keep the two external hard drives in sync.
Use Deep Scan feature for those times when there is hardly any file structure left. Disk Drill will scan through the raw data on your hard drive no matter if it is FAT, or NTFS, or something else. It will work file fragments into a single structure and will look for the binary signature of the lost files. Once Disk Drill recognizes a sought for file signature, XLS, DOC, AVI, MP4, JPG, and other formats recovery goes quite fast.
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