How to Set up and Use Time Machine to Backup your Mac 2020

[@victorcurtis6400]

Wow it’s been so long since I have searched for an answer, found a video, and then had the information delivered accurately and without tons of personal stories and cute jokes I am blown away. Thank you sir.

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it helped!!

[@shoptwoblooms]

Thank you, I had an old back up from another program that was 6 months ago and my computer crashed. Thankfully I was able to do target disk mode and get all my files back except applications. Never really knew how Time Machine worked so glad I found this video. I'm backing up right now.

[@HelpCloud]

Glad I could help!!!

[@1959rocker]

Agreed , getting to the info we need fast is more progressive than wasted time, very well done and accurate.

[@EmilJohansen]

Thank you so much!! ive watched a few video trying to show the same thing but i didnt learn anything. then i found your video and it was so easy to follow and i learned new stuff about time machine plus you didnt use annoying music or had a intro that lasted like 30 min. everything was just perfect! You earned a like and a sub! keep up your amazin work!

[@HelpCloud]

Hey Welcome!, Thanks for the comment and sub. Glad we could help out!

[@leecompany8437]

✌

[@lockdownt_]

Thanks for your help. I am planning to get a new Mac. Just to clarify, to do a full time machine restore, you said you have to 'power down' the laptop. What do you mean exactly by this? That the laptop has to have 0% battery? Secondly, Am I correct in assuming that the external hard drive has to be plugged in to the laptop before you do the Command + R + Power on process right?

[@HelpCloud]

Power the machine all the way off, not a sleep status. The drive DOES need to be plugged in before hand.

[@sirmacoy1519]

I like the way he explained everything, it's very clear. Now I know how to back up my files through my mcbook. Thank you!

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it was helpful!

[@bdsf1579]

This video is a lucid, brief and thorough presentation that accurately describes how to setup and use Time Machine for backups on the Mac. I recently purchased a highly rated external drive and tried to follow the instructions supplied with the product, including the owner's manual, to arrange for backups. It was a nightmare because, in fact, no explanation for how to do the setup was provided. Next, I spent several days searching the internet and KZbin videos for help. Most articles and videos were not helpful. Finally, I discovered this video. It is an outstanding presentation that will help you enormously. I highly recommend this video if you are as fortunate as I was in finding it online. Great job HelpCloud!

[@HelpCloud]

Thank you for the comment. Glad it was able to get you up and running!

[@rogerbeltz2370]

Probably the best tutorial about using Time Machine that I watched, however, this is the only tutorial that doesn't begin by explaining how to format (erase) and/or partition your backup drive using Disk Utility rather than using Time Machine. I really wish everyone would start out by stating which mac OS version they are using because I suspect different OS versions have slightly different methods of performing these procedures. Example - I am still on OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan simply because I can't afford to lose Adobe CS6 (which I would if I updated to OS 10.12 Sierra and higher).

[@HelpCloud]

Makes sense, this video was done on Catalina as you probably figured out. Any reason CS6 is needed over CC?

[@rogerbeltz2370]

@@HelpCloud Yes, as I stated before Adobe CS6 doesn't run well on any Mac OS higher than El Capitan, OS X 10.11. Fellow graphic artists tell me that Adobe Illustrator v 16.0.0, is not compatible with OS 10.12 or anything higher. Also I am not about to get "roped into" having to pay monthly subscriptions with ANYBODY. Btw- Would yoube able (or willing) to answer a couple of questions I have regarding Time Machine? Not involving the actual back-up but rather, questions about accessing applications, files and folders from the backed up data?

[@melodyman9162]

Great Vid. I was wondering how I can continue to back up on a same drive with any new files without erasing any old files.

[@alexandraharper7713]

Really helpful, thank you! Is it recommended to encrypt time machine back-ups?

[@HelpCloud]

You bet! As far as encryption, it isn't necessary.

[@ericlafleur5084]

Best crash course on the subject. I am new to IOS and that is exactly what I was looking for to understand Time Machine in a nutshell!

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it helped!

[@moviesjean23]

Thanks for this video all this time I was thinking my mac just backs up automatically without me needing to insert an external disk you have just saved me .

[@HelpCloud]

Glad I could help!!

[@julienmancilla5576]

euh best time machine video ever? You killed this subject in under 7 minutes. Thanks!

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it helped!

[@epicfootballquiz]

Hi, i keep getting 'time machine could not create a local snaphot to back up from' message.not a clue what this means or how to resolve this. any advice

[@HelpCloud]

Do you have a different drive that is EMPTY to test on? Could be drive related.

[@epicfootballquiz]

@@HelpCloud I have actually worked it out but thank you for your response

[@cutiepiedancer1]

@@epicfootballquiz how did you fix this issue??

[@TruffleForager]

Clear video. Unfortunatley, I still am experiening an issue in the process. I've just connected up a brand new WD 6T Drive to my mac pro... followed your steps and clicked Back Up Now... it then did not get past the preparing to back up stage... and I've tried restarting my laptop, chaning the connection ports... and nothing seeming to change this atm. Any ideas? The time machine backup just seems to not want to start. Thanks

[@HelpCloud]

Are you getting any errors?

[@meroinheroin]

Also, if you have a really big drive you can use the Disk utility to split it into partitions so you could use half of the drive for backups and the other half as normal storage.

[@HelpCloud]

Yes you can. Do this before setting up the time machine.

[@RachelHardy]

Great tutorial -- to the point and precise! Thanks for the step by step guide :)

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it was helpful!!

[@annaowens5424]

Great job! And I know this is 3 years old, but I'm reaching out in case you still check messages on this video! In time machine, the "little" lines (before "today" or "right now" are not available to click on unless I click and hold down "Today," but once I let "today" go, I am unable to click on the little lines I see that are for yesterday. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!

[@samantha1562]

An apple store employee recommended I move all my files off my laptop, reset my devices to factory settings every now and then to clear off old data that is acquired automatically and then set it up as a new computer and manually move my files back on. Do you recommend this or the time machine back up? Will the time machine back up carry over old caches & what not? this seems like less work if I restore my laptop

[@HelpCloud]

The time machine is a full backup system including system files. What is the goal you are trying to achieve?

[@tkhaskin]

I'm on MAC OS Catalina 10.15.1 I keep getting an error message saying "Time Machine could not create a local snapshot to back up from." How do I fix this?

[@HelpCloud]

Make sure there aren't any updates for Catalina.

[@cassiemoralie5731]

This has been extremely clear and helpful THANK YOU!!!

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it was helpful!

[@MS-sv1tr]

The lighting in your room is cool

[@HelpCloud]

Thank you!

[@luminouscoal]

Hi thanks for the video! May I know how long it took for the initial time machine backup to T5? Mine was very slow, 75GB in 40 min. Does that sound right?

[@HelpCloud]

That is fairly large backup. Sounds correct.

[@SouthpawAutoworks]

Wow, this video is very informative and to-the-point. Well done. Thank you for your contribution to the YT platform. Much appreciated.

[@HelpCloud]

Much appreciated!

[@michaelthompson342]

Thank-a-million! I'm new to computering. Will it shorten the life of the external drive keeping it plugged in all the time?

[@HelpCloud]

Not unless you have something that is reading/writing to the drive constantly. I have used a 4TB external for almost a decade that has been plugged in. Health of the drive is great.

[@michaelthompson342]

@@HelpCloud Thanks for taking the time to answer! Appreciated!

[@HelpCloud]

@@michaelthompson342 You bet!

[@ojordayy7677]

Hey man great video, I’m just trying to set up my time machine on an external hard drive but unfortunately won’t show up as an available device for me to save it to. Do you know a fix for it (btw it shows up fine on my desktop)

[@HelpCloud]

You may need to open up your disk utility and look to see if the disc is being detected.

[@securityrobot]

Thank you for your help, it was very clearly explained and I was able to get the task done successfully.

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it helped!

[@KresBeatzEnt]

Does the external drive have to be as big as ur computer hard drive?

[@lifewithlarue3149]

EXCELLENT TIME MACHINE VIDEO TUTORIAL!!! Thank you!!!!!

[@HelpCloud]

You're welcome!!

[@icandyk]

I don't want to keep the eternal drive plugged in all the time. I want to just back up weekly. How do I do this? and when it is doing incremental backups, how do you know if it is ever done backing up?

[@roccod1018]

I've tried a few times now to backup my 2012 MacBook Pro running Catalina 10.15.4. I only have less than 40GB to back up and I have not gotten past 5GB. And that took over 8 hours. I've tried 2 different flash drives of 128GB. I formatted to macOS Extended Journal. Don" know what is going wrong. Any suggestions would be welcome.

[@davidwood815]

Thanks for the insights, you have made the process a lot less intimidating than I expected

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it was helpful!

[@klaske1]

This was very helpful. I just wanted to double check that clicking "erase" would indeed erase the external drive, and not my mac itself. So this gave me some peace of mind.

[@HelpCloud]

Good deal!

[@VenetaDimitrova]

Hello, thank you for the video, but I didn't understand - after we transfer the data to the external drive, should we keep the drive connected to the computer all the time or connected to something else, because how actually the external drive automatically updates the information if it is offline?

[@HelpCloud]

You can leave it plugged in, the Mac will periodically do backups when it detects changes.

[@VenetaDimitrova]

@@HelpCloud ok, but when it is not plugged in what happens actually? It actualise every time is plugged in?

[@ceedollaCLIPS]

Let's say i do this and reset my computer can i still have my old files on the drive or no?

[@HelpCloud]

The setup will format the drive, this mean it will erase the files.

[@bryan_ferrer]

Does time machine also include backup files stored from another external hdd such as photos library and itunes folder?

[@KevinAxtMedia]

I had the old Time Machine tower that backed up devices via wifi. Do you have a preferred method of cloud based backup? I've finally figured out that iCloud isn't backup, it just provides access across your mac and ios devices. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[@HelpCloud]

There are tons out there. Here is an article to point you in that direction www.cloudwards.net/cloud-backup-for-mac/

[@SebastianGonzalez-cf1jl]

What are the pros and cons of checking automatic time machine backups?

[@HelpCloud]

In what context?

[@iavids2079]

Hi what does it mean when it says “Time machine is backing up an encrypted disk to an unencrypted disk “ Thanks

[@HelpCloud]

support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/choose-a-backup-disk-set-encryption-options-mh11421/mac

[@ambigus7]

Which external drive do you recomend me? I would like some "vertical" position of the external harddrive.

[@HelpCloud]

I have used the Western Digital My book for almost 10 years without any hiccup!

[@danielohyeah]

Can I use a regular USB as long as the memory space is enough or does it have to be a hard drive?

[@HelpCloud]

That is up to you. Should be fine as long as the backup suffices what you need!

[@Chesbay53]

Excellent video! Answered all my questions and ready to back up. Thanks.

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it helped!

[@lillil6490]

why does everyone else make it so complicated & say you have to reformat your drive EXFAT first etc? All I did was plug in open Time machine and follow the prompts. Hope it still works.

[@lee-traister]

Thank you for the video. I am now doing my first backup and I have a question... you said that when you connect the disk in the future and back up it will look for changes instead of backing up the whole thing. What if I deleted something (let’s say a photos file) from the Mac, will it erase it from the disk as well? Can I save space on the Mac by erasing stuff if I know that they are on the disk or will time machine erase them too the next time I plug the disk since it’s a change? I hope this makes sense...

[@HelpCloud]

This article appears it has the answers you are looking for! www.macworld.com/article/3241026/when-does-time-machine-delete-files-that-you-ve-deleted-from-your-mac.html

[@ak47domination1]

If I haven't set up time machine yet, will it have backups for stuff prior to it's set up, or only stuff after it has been set up?

[@HelpCloud]

For full backup it has to be setup. Time Machi e does have a default 24 hour backup, so if you delete a file by accident you can recover it.

[@jaffaorange3809]

So for the first time ever, I’ve connected an external hard drive from a third party (WD) instead of a Time Capsule as a back-up disk. As soon as my Mac recognized this hard drive, it created an icon on my desktop. If you plug in a usb drive, the same would happen. But... after using your usb, you should safely disconnect it. Should I do the same with the external hard disk every time i shut down my computer?

[@HelpCloud]

Doesn't hurt, disconnecting a backup drive is more secure.

[@jennyd1201]

Not sure if this is a dumb question, but do you need to keep your laptop open while doing this??

[@HelpCloud]

Yes, otherwise unless you have changed the sleep settings, the laptop will go to sleep.

[@gamingsandbox5483]

I didn't even know about migrate assistant. Thank you so much, very informative.

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it was helpful!!

[@systemanaturae105]

Partly helpful. Does Time machine back up: 1) iMac Internal Drive to External Drive number 1 in enclosure A with direct connection via Thunderbolt. 2) External Drive 2 to a Backup Drive 3 in same External enclosure B with direct connection via Thunderbolt. 3) External Drives operating on Raid 5 system in External enclosure C operating on a Network connection to iMac and connected to External enclosure D with USB connection to External enclosure C. All at the same time and if so how is this done ????

[@HelpCloud]

I don't believe it does, here is Apple's support page regarding Time Machine that may have an answer for you. support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250

[@princelyOfficiel]

I wanna know how can take out my external idrive from my Time Machine please to use my disk again?

[@salpatalano2306]

Will this only backup the internal hard drive or will it also backup an External hard drive if I have one....for example I have 2tb internal drive, 5tb external drive used for time machine and 2tb external SSD.....I want to backup internal HD and external SSD also....thank you

[@HelpCloud]

You will need to go into the advanced and make sure the external drive is selected. www.macworld.com/article/3153995/how-to-make-sure-time-machine-backs-up-external-drives.html

[@rahulp911]

This was a FANTASTIC tutorial, simple straight forward absolutely usefull. Thx alot , cheers.

[@HelpCloud]

You bet, thanks for the comment!

[@cheyennenuelle6711]

I've been backing up my old macbook with time machine. I am getting a new macbook sometime this year. What happens when I plug my external drive to the new macbook? Will I be able to use it for time machine on the new macbook without the drive being erased? Thanks

[@HelpCloud]

It should work just fine, it will prompt if it will erase anything.

[@I_Realism_]

Hello thanks for the video ☺️🎉 I want to clarify something when I restore the backup will it restore my OS as well?... Like i want to install a new OS but something went wrong so can I get back to my old OS when I restore it?

[@HelpCloud]

Time Machine will back up the OS, but that backup needs to be restored before the computer can be booted from it. Those programs can create backups which are directly bootable. discussions.apple.com/thread/4505163

[@jasonmathew7433]

This is such a great video.... Can we backup certain big applications too ?

[@HelpCloud]

It includes everything.

[@CortneyWarren2050]

Great video! Gotta question: I connected my new external hd for a time machine backup, but I can't drag any files into the new external HD now that it's connected to time machine. How can I allow file to drag in to the drive and receive time machine backups?

[@HelpCloud]

You will need to create 2 partitions. One for time machine, 1 for those additional files. support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/partition-a-physical-disk-dskutl14027/mac

[@CortneyWarren2050]

@@HelpCloud Thank you so much!

[@HelpCloud]

Welcome!

[@Cali_Camaro]

Will a hard backup (Command + R at startup) revert MacOS 10.14: Mojave- 2018 to MacOS 10.13: High Sierra- 2017, or earlier versions of Mac OS? TIA

[@HelpCloud]

You can choose of the backup methods to install what originally came with the Mac. apple.stackexchange.com/questions/366988/how-do-i-restore-a-mac-to-its-original-macos-version

[@luisajesse9538]

Hi! I have a problem. When I try to do a backup with a brand new external drive (after erasing everything as you showed in the video), when I click "back up now," I get an error " Time Machine could not create a local snapshot to back up from" what do I do then? Do you have a video or something I can check to do the backup? Please help! I'm not the best at these things

[@HelpCloud]

Reboot the machine and try again.

[@suzimartel8211]

Thanks.I just stared using Time Marcine and all my backups take forever! What seems to take so long is the encryption. It take 1-2 hours to encrypt 1%. What am I doing wrong please? Another question, I've asked Apple twice and got 2 different answers. Do I leave my external drive plugged in all the time? I didn't find where I set up how often backups are done (daily, weekly etc.) Thanks for your help!

[@HelpCloud]

Depending on the size of backup and with encryption it is normal for it to take awhile. It is user preference if you want to leave the drive plugged in all the time or not.

[@suzimartel8211]

@@HelpCloud I appreciate your quick reply, thanks! Is encryption really necessary? It's just me, no one else has access to my computer or hard drive. If not, I'm not sure how to turn it off. If I look at the preferences the encryption box is not checked. But, when a back up is running, it automatically encrypts and the box is checked and it won't let me uncheck it. ?

[@Alel90]

Hi, very clear and easy to find everything. In my case i want to recover some apps and documents from the Time machine back up I did with High Sierra. I click to decide later if I want to use it as a back up disk. By clicking "Enter time machine" I see the dates of the previous backups but i can't enter and restore. Somewhere I read that by holding the Option Key get to "see other Back Up disk's" (translated from Italian sorry). What am I doing wrong? Thanks

[@HelpCloud]

This may help you out! support.apple.com/en-us/HT203981

[@Mr_A_Mia]

Thank you so much for this. Im wanting to upgrade my 2014 macbook pro on Mojave 10.14 to BIG SUR and i dont have enough space to do it. Im gonna try this out to clean it up and install it.

[@HelpCloud]

You are welcome!

[@ghostie7790]

So the hard drive has to be connected at all times for the Mac to keep saving per hour? Or is there a way for the Mac to automatically save your info on an online cloud every hour (Just to have two options, in case the external hard drive breaks). I just got a Mac for the first time after my PC died. I had it backed up on an external hard drive but I only did so when I remembered to. Thus I lost a month's work. I'm looking for a way to back up my files automatically without me having to plug anything in. I have iCloud but I'm not sure if that's doing what I want it to? Thanks!

[@HelpCloud]

Full backups require the drive to be plugged in at all times. Or if it is unplugged, it will backup when it detects that it was plugged in.

[@happydudeyoga7652]

Hey Man! Thanks for the video. Once a external hard drive has been formatted for Time Machine can we add files from another drive to it, do it have to be used exclusively as a time machine backup for that single computer?

[@HelpCloud]

Yes, you can. It should create a separate folder for the backups.

[@shashankkirtania9827]

can I use a drive for time machine and still use it to store other stuff in it

[@LuciouzJust]

Same question

[@sudheer7595]

I have 1.5 TB harddrive I created 2 petition one I use for daily need and other 350gb for backup it working fine

[@Mike20878]

@@sudheer7595 Can you partition an external drive?

[@ArvinTv1]

Can i use Flash Drive for backup?

[@HelpCloud]

You can, although it may not have room for multiple backups.

[@southernbella8503]

Do you have to keep the hard drive plugged in to do the back ups? I have a macbook, and keeping a hard drive plugged in the whole time is not really practical.

[@HelpCloud]

It does need to be plugged into for the backups.

[@andm4866]

Will this help me if I’m trying to update my MacBook Pro mid 2012 from a OS X Yosemite to a MacOS Catalina? I’m kinda scared I’m gonna loose all my files

[@HelpCloud]

This can be used to make a complete backup.

[@iraongjoco7223]

im having trouble with my apple id, would you reccomend resetting my macbook pro?

[@HelpCloud]

What are you trying to do with the Apple ID?

[@GoldenAeroCreations]

How do you do this with an AirPort Extreme? My parents don’t want to go out to buy an external hard drive so they handed me our old AirPort we no longer use, and I’ve been scouring the Internet for hours, and it’s giving me a headache. Could I have some help?

[@HelpCloud]

This one may help out! support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250

[@josemedel58]

This is the only helpful video over all over KZbin is so annoying watching a bunch of ppl just talking about even they’re damn pets and put you and like WTH did you just said? 👀 I really appreciated dude keep on YouTubing we need more ppl like u 👍🏽

[@HelpCloud]

Appreciate the feedback, glad I could help!

[@kiranmarrapu]

Hi, To use the Time Machine feature to backup my computer, should I have a SSD or even an external hard drive also works? Please confirm.

[@HelpCloud]

HDD will give you more space for less $$ but an SSD will give you better speed. It is a matter of preference.

[@kiranmarrapu]

Thanks @@HelpCloud. So, it's a matter of speed and cost. Both works for the same purpose.

[@tonimagery]

Thanks for the tutorial! I chose my external hard drive as the back up disk. After it backs up, I cannot find the backup file on my external hard drive? Where does it put the back up file?

[@HelpCloud]

It should be structured under date, followed by the drive name. See this article for examples. apple.stackexchange.com/questions/168813/time-machine-file-structure

[@tylerpeterson3546]

Question: I just got a brand new 2020 macbook air. when I backed up my storage from my old MacBook Pro last night, it said it was raking 355 GB from my comp into the Time Machine/Samsung SSD T5. But i went to my "About This Mac" and it showed that I had 368 GB of usage. Now, before I put my SSD into my new comp, I'm worried about what is not on it...any idea what happened??

[@HelpCloud]

It could depend on what files/folders it has chosen to backup. It also could be the OS files. macOS is about 12.5GB for the OS itself.

[@jillholland9788]

If using a MacBook, can Time Machine still be used manually once a week so a drive doesn’t have to always be connected? (Or is there an easy better way for backup?)

[@HelpCloud]

It will only backup when the drive is connected. You can always force the backup when the drive is plugged in.

[@GFSwinger1693]

Newbie to Mac OS here. I assume the external drive stays permanently connected to the computer 24/7? If the extrernal drive is PW protected is the backup going to not occur because of this or does the drive stay mounted all the time? What if I turn the machine off and then back on at a later time, will the backups commence again from that point on or does the user need to allow the system access with the PW again?

[@HelpCloud]

You do want to leave the drive connected. Time machine should store the password for when it needs to make the backups.

[@GFSwinger1693]

@@HelpCloud I see, Thank you for reply.

[@ihabkhairy]

I just want to know, the hard drive I used as a time machine backup can be used as a normal hard drive? I am a little bit confused about that. Thank you!

[@HelpCloud]

If there are files on it prior to setup, it will format that drive. After the setup, you can use the hard drive to store files on it once again outside Time Machine.

[@ihabkhairy]

@@HelpCloud Thank you for clearing my doubt, I appreciate it

[@ignaciomongillo]

My external SSD is 1 tb and my mac is 500 gb. Can I store other things besides the time machine on the external drive? This is because I want to store all my heavy videos on my external drive, not on my computer. Thanks!

[@HelpCloud]

You can split the drive into a few different partitions.

[@Monarchys-]

Do you must have an empty hard drive in order to use the time machine or can you use a used one but it's been used already but not a lot of files in there?

[@HelpCloud]

It can be a used one however it will erase whatever files are on it to prepare for the backup. Once that is complete, you can place those files back on it.

[@hxjj111]

If i partitioned the disk before hand and the backup section that i partitioned is absolutely devoid of any files, does the time machine still need to perform some kind of erasing to prepare the backup? Also my backup is less GB than the GB used on computer SSD, does that mean im missing somthing or is it due to compression?

[@HelpCloud]

Yes, it may still want to format. The size may vary for apps and files.

[@sameerpatankar]

Is it necessary to plug my portable all the time in order to keep my backup updated?

[@HelpCloud]

I would recommend it yes.

[@mele2259]

Hello. I just switched over to an orbi mesh system after using time capsule for years as a router . How do I reset the time capsule to use as only a time machine back up for my macs and not as a router ? Thanks v much

[@HelpCloud]

I have never used either one, it would be best find the manual for the time capsule.

[@thearts7702]

Can time machine go back and back up things before the date that the drive was installed? ex if i had my mac since 2016 but I bought my drive today will it go back in time and pull up my old files?

[@jasooma6869]

Hey bro I got a new SSD installed but I have a question... I made a time machine backup on Catalina but now I installed El Capitan on my Mac mini, do you know if I can use that same backup even though the OS is different?

[@HelpCloud]

Unless you upgrade the El Capitan to Catalina, probably not.

[@prinecash]

Question: At the 1:59 point when you select your disc my options show up as 'Cancel' or 'REMOVE DISK"--can you explain why it says REMOVE? Thanks.

[@HelpCloud]

That would indicate that drive has been used for Time Machine before. Maybe it was setup when you first purchased the drive and or the computer.

[@luigiprovencher]

What if your starting with a unformatted disk? Time Machine doesn't pop-up or send a notification so then how would you format it manually? Disk Utility I know but does it have to be the same file system and scheme at the MacOS's hard drive?

[@HelpCloud]

Correct, you will need to create a partition for Time machine to use.

[@courtneygirllllll]

this might be a dumb question but i got a new macbook air and i'm confused about how time capsule works in the regards of whether or not i need to enable it in some way or if it works automatically, so that if i use it at some point in the future it'll be ready. I am unsure how time capsule is any different from simply downloading your files onto an external hard drive. how is it any different than that?

[@HelpCloud]

Time Capsule is being deprecated by Apple, you will want to find another solution such as Synology or Western Digital By Book Cloud drives.

[@melaniecalderon5311]

dumb question I'm sure, but does Time Machine also back up my Bookmarks?

[@HelpCloud]

It may, however you won't be able to restore just those because they are contained within the browser files.

[@IsaiahManning-jw5uu]

How Do I Use The Time Machine Should I Use It On My Laptop 💻 Or Desktop 🖥️

[@itzmillertyme]

Do you have a tutorial on how to move current backups to a new (bigger) external drive? is super duper the best way (clone)?

[@HelpCloud]

Prepare the larger drive in time machine. Once that is complete, you can plug the smaller drive in as well. From there you can copy/paste the main folder with the previous backups. If you copy them over first and then prepare the larger drive with time machine, it will erase it.

[@bibilove4174]

I just want to ask cause I bought a new hard disk and it is about 1TB. After using it to back up my mac, can I still use it as a storage to save some of my files? I hope to hear from you. By the way I am using Macbook Pro 13" 2019

[@HelpCloud]

This may help you out! www.howtogeek.com/212445/how-to-use-a-time-machine-drive-for-both-file-storage-and-backups/

[@bibilove4174]

@@HelpCloud thank you ^_^

[@paulai7135]

Thanks. I thought I had to do a full back up each time. I have a few other things on the external drive that has my back up. If the drive gets full from backups, will Time Machine delete those things as well? I'd like to keep them on there for now . . .just too much going on to migrate those to another computer and then move them again to a new external hard drive. Thanks in advance!

[@HelpCloud]

Time machine will remove old backups when it gets full. It does not touch other files.

[@paulai7135]

@@HelpCloud Thought so. Just wanted to confirm! Thanks much.

[@paulai7135]

@@HelpCloud Also, I went in and also manually deleted a very old back up, so it looks like you can do that fairly straightforwardly too.

[@HelpCloud]

You can! You are welcome!

[@montexic5201]

Thanks, do you know if this frees up the "other" storage on your mac?

[@HelpCloud]

Not that I know of!

[@montexic5201]

@@HelpCloud got it, thanksyou!

[@LexaSmithh]

what do i do if a few days ago I got my hard drive and moved all my photos their off my macbook, however not my "other storage" is massive so i want to move everything onto my harddrive for a backup with time machine, But I cannot do that without erasing my photos which I cant do because they are my only copy

[@HelpCloud]

Do you have a second place to move the photos to?

[@shinie0sunny]

Does that mean I'll need a hard drive exclusively for using Time Machine?

[@HelpCloud]

It does.

[@amskillissue6610]

My high sierra does not have my disc there, it just says something about an air capsule, and i was using bootcamp there. Those were the only 2 that popped up, do you know how to fix this?

[@HelpCloud]

Did you have an air capsule anywhere?

[@andersonrobertux]

Do we need to eject the drive or just unplug it and it’s fine… usually I get erro message asking to force eject the drive that contains the backup

[@HelpCloud]

On Mac, always eject the drive.

[@andersonrobertux]

@@HelpCloud Totally agree man... but I set it all up yesterday and the drive just doesn't complete the unmount process! The harddrive is a Seagate 4tb expansion desktop with Three partition. 500 Gb For Time Machine | 300 GB for a second time machine (My wife MacBook) | 3.Something for random documents... The first two partition is aways running something in background and always ask for force ejecting... The solution I'm doing right now is to shutdown and remove the drive when it's "Cold" Lets see if it is somethin cmd+e is not resulting bc some initial settings or something

[@RobertsonDMcI]

My external drive is partitioned, one is reserved for "Backups" the other partitions hold documents, photos, video etc. My question if I format the partition reserved for Time MACHINE, is there a risk that the "other" partitions might be formatted therefor losing all the files?

[@HelpCloud]

There is always a risk, I would make a backup of the other partitions that hold the photos, videos etc. Format the time machine backup and if you see everything else is save, you can delete that extra backup.

[@jerzboybeats]

If my hard drive crashes will time machine have the boot files along with the back up??

[@HelpCloud]

It does include system files by default.

[@richmond833]

maybe this is a dumb question but can you copy files from the time machine hard drive to a different (not mac) computer?

[@HelpCloud]

You can, not sure they will work.

[@issorden]

is it possible to use time machine with an internal SSD instead of an external disk ?

[@HelpCloud]

Should be able to.