Use Time Machine, the built-in backup feature of your Mac, to automatically back up your personal data, including apps, music, photos, email, and documents. Having a backup allows you to recover files that were deleted, or that were lost because the hard disk (or SSD) in your Mac needed to be erased or replaced. Learn how to restore your Mac from a backup.
Step 1: Check Hard Disc name. Check to ensure the Hard Drive icon has a name to it. The name should not be all numbers but can have numbers in it as along as the name starts with a text character (s). There should be no special characters like, periods, commas, semi-colons, quotes, etc. Quit all applications. If you'd rather not let your Mac automatically update, you should periodically check to see if there is an update to your version. In High Sierra and earlier you can go to the Mac App Store. You must be at least 18 years old to be eligible to trade in for credit or for an Apple Gift Card. Not all devices are eligible for credit. More details are available from Apple's Mac trade‑in partner and Apple's iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch trade‑in partner for trade-in and recycling of eligible devices. Restrictions and limitations.
Create a Time Machine backup
To create backups with Time Machine, all you need is an external storage device. After you connect the storage device and select it as your backup disk, Time Machine automatically makes hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all previous months. The oldest backups are deleted when your backup disk is full.
Connect an external storage device
Connect one of the following external storage devices, sold separately. Learn more about backup disks that you can use with Time Machine.
Use Time Machine, the built-in backup feature of your Mac, to automatically back up your personal data, including apps, music, photos, email, and documents. Having a backup allows you to recover files that were deleted, or that were lost because the hard disk (or SSD) in your Mac needed to be erased or replaced. Learn how to restore your Mac from a backup.
Step 1: Check Hard Disc name. Check to ensure the Hard Drive icon has a name to it. The name should not be all numbers but can have numbers in it as along as the name starts with a text character (s). There should be no special characters like, periods, commas, semi-colons, quotes, etc. Quit all applications. If you'd rather not let your Mac automatically update, you should periodically check to see if there is an update to your version. In High Sierra and earlier you can go to the Mac App Store. You must be at least 18 years old to be eligible to trade in for credit or for an Apple Gift Card. Not all devices are eligible for credit. More details are available from Apple's Mac trade‑in partner and Apple's iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch trade‑in partner for trade-in and recycling of eligible devices. Restrictions and limitations.
Create a Time Machine backup
To create backups with Time Machine, all you need is an external storage device. After you connect the storage device and select it as your backup disk, Time Machine automatically makes hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all previous months. The oldest backups are deleted when your backup disk is full.
Connect an external storage device
Connect one of the following external storage devices, sold separately. Learn more about backup disks that you can use with Time Machine.
- External drive connected to your Mac, such as a USB or Thunderbolt drive
- Network-attached storage (NAS) device that supports Time Machine over SMB
- Mac shared as a Time Machine backup destination
- AirPort Time Capsule, or external drive connected to an AirPort Time capsule or AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac)
Select your storage device as the backup disk
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- Open Time Machine preferences from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. Or choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Time Machine.
- Click Select Backup Disk.
Enjoy the convenience of automatic backups
After you select a backup disk, Time Machine immediately begins making periodic backups—automatically and without further action by you. The first backup may take a long time, but you can continue using your Mac while a backup is underway. Time Machine backs up only the files that changed since the previous backup, so future backups will be faster.
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To start a backup manually, choose Back Up Now from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. Use the same menu to check the status of a backup or skip a backup in progress.
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Learn more
- Learn about other ways to back up and restore files.
- If you back up to multiple disks, you can press and hold the Option key, then choose Browse Other Backup Disks from the Time Machine menu.
- To exclude items from your backup, open Time Machine preferences, click Options, then click the add (+) button to add an item to be excluded. To stop excluding an item, such as an external hard drive, select the item and click the remove (–) button.
- If using Time Machine to back up to a network disk, you can verify those backups to make sure they're in good condition. Press and hold Option, then choose Verify Backups from the Time Machine menu.
