How to Backup Files on a Mac Disk

You can back up files on your Mac using Apple’s own built-in backup feature, called Time Machine:

1. Connect a suitable backup drive to your Mac.
2. Launch System Preferences and then click Time Machine.
3. Click Select Backup Disk and pick your backup drive.

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 2021:

1. Best automatic backup solution: Time Machine
2. Best for byte-to-byte backups: Disk Drill Drive Backup
3. Back cloud storage: iCloud
4. Best open-source: Duplicati
5. Best proprietary: Carbon Copy Cloner

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:

1. Connect your external backup drive.
2. Open the Apple menu and select System Preferences.
3. Choose Time Machine.
4. Click Select Backup Disk and add the external backup drive.
5. Check the Back Up Automatically box and close the Time Machine window.

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:

1. Launch Disk Drill.
2. Select the Byte-to-byte Backup option from the left pane.
3. Read the text and click “OK, let’s do it” if this is your first time launching the feature.
4. Select the partition you would like to back up.
5. Click the Create backup button and specify where you want to store the backup.

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:

• Create local backups of important files using Time Machine.
• Use iCloud or some other cloud storage service for offsite backups.
• From time to time, use Disk Drill’s backup feature to create a byte-to-byte backup of your system drive.