The Practical Guide To Mac Security: Part 12, Back Up With Time Machine
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
- For a list of all the videos in this course, see • Mac Security Course
Every computer user should back up their data. Time Machine is the Mac's built-in backup software and can be used by just getting a simple external drive.
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Brilliant update, always learning something from your new course. Thank you Gary.
This is completely new to me. Very informative video tutorial today. Thanks for showing us how. Thank you, Gary! 👏👍🏻❤️
Your vids are amazing. I am learning so much. Thank you!!!
All useful information as usual. Great job
Thanks again Gary. Yesterday I replaced the (failed) 2 TB WD green HDD in my 2010 Apple Time Capsule with a 8 TB Seagate Barracuda (also green, although irrelevant) HDD. I bought it thinking I could Partition the drive and use some of it for other storage, but It turns out this is too complicated to pull off. I have a RAID 1 (2 x 6 TB WD elements) for my M1 MAC mini so will use the Time Capsule for backing up my Partner's MAC Air and 5 TB external drive (so far only 1 TB full). I thought (given the above) maybe it was overkill, but after watching your video, I realize it's just right. I also got a great price on this SRM drive = $20Ca. / TB!
Very helpful. Thank you 🙏
Very helpful thank you!
excellent video thank you
Thank you
Great video, as always! One question: is there a way to use Time Machine to back up data that is stored on an external drive, in other words a drive that is not your Mac's normal internal hard drive? Thanks for all the great tips!
Yes. That's how it normally works, unless you exclude the external drive.
I volunteer at our local library in their public computer lab. One problem that is common people who have either deleted a file and want to retrieve it or their drive has died and want help. All too often they don't have any backups. The worse case was a person who wanted to retrieve a deleted file that had been deleted 2 years prior. If it had been a day ago we might have been able to do something, but after two years, no way. Time Machine is so easy. There's no reason not to use it.
Thanks for all of this information. I’m loving the series and it’s been extremely helpful for me. Question: I use an external drive to store my iTunes library because I don’t use it often, along with other school data that I don’t need on my actual hard drive. can I use this 1 drive as a time machine as well as a storage drive?
No, you should get a separate drive for Time Machine. It should back up your internal drive as well as this external one.
@@macmost Hey can you partition a big hard drive in parts to use for time machine with 2 macbooks, macs, etc? or does it have to one external hard drive for every machine? Because it says to erase the drive when you use it the first time. Is it possible to do this for time machine with 2 macs, mackbooks, etc.?
I am a MacOS newbie - trying to evaluate whether to switch from Windows (using a late 2013 MacBook given me by brother).
So please understand if I use inaccurate terms or labels - I am not fully integrated into this new ecosystem.
The MacOS ecosystem is very very different and I am watching lots of videos but see that it is only via practice that habits will be ingrained. It is almost like I need a manual outside of the MacBook - that I can use as reference as I practice on MacBook. But that is another discussion for another day.....
Questions:
Does Time Machine back up iCloud files too? Photos Library on iCloud included?
Can Time Machine back up to a network connected hard drive (i.e. connected to wireless router)?
Thanks for all your vids - while they present a piece meal view, they are indeed very helpful.
Thank you for such a useful video! I have two questions: 1) Do I always need to connect my hard-drive to my computer to see older versions of files? Or my computer saves some part of history? 2) Is it true that using Time Machine takes a big piece of computer’s memory? If so, how we can prevent it or deal with it?
for (1) Yes!
Hi Gary, I very recently got a new 2021 iMac with the M1 chip and I took your advice to buy an external portable hard drive to use for time machine back up. I didn’t do anything apart from set my iMac up and check out some of the stuff on it, until my hard drive came. When it came and I plugged it in all went smoothly apart from one thing and that was while setting up time machine a message appeared and it said :
“Back up not encrypted.
Time machine is backing up an encrypted disk to an unencrypted disk.”
Is this ok ? Or will it not work properly ?
I am new to using an iMac so hopefully you can let me know. I have watched many of your videos to help me get started with the computer and so far they have been a great help with things.
Thank you for any help you can give me.
I get the concept of time machine. Great video. But for example i have loads of space on OneDrive and keep my important documents there and edit them live on my mac, they save to the cloud. Is that not a good alternative?
The problem with only saving to cloud storage like OneDrive (or iCloud) is that first you don't get a history. So if you delete some text from a file or alter an image, then save it, then want to revert to the old one, you can't. You've got the current one only. Second, if you delete the file by accident then it is gone. iCloud will wait 30 days, not sure about OneDrive. But with Time Machine you can go back much later than that. Using the cloud is good, but make sure it is also backing up those files with Time Machine too.
I've used Time Machine with a 2TB external drive for many years. If I upgrade to a larger external drive, is there a way to copy my 2TB info to the new drive, or do I have to just store the 2TB drive and start over with the empty new drive?
It is best to just start a new backup. Keep the old one around for a few weeks in case you need something from it. Then reuse or recycle it.
Another story. I used to work at a university library. The University Librarian was getting a PhD in anthropology at a nearby university. (You might think that doesn't make sense, but actually it does.) I was the head of IT for the library and I could not get him to make regular backups. I was scared to death that something would happen and he'd lose his research and the drafts of the dissertation.
Great advice! When the hard drive on my old iMac crashed I was able to restore everything easily from my time machine drive. Now that SSD are so cheap I’m about to replace my old time machine with one three times the size
No need really. Three time the size. No. If your data fits on the earlier size drive it deletes the oldest files first. It keeps one day, one week and one month . Incremental backups each hour.
Upgrading to a larger Time Machine drive will allow you to store more file history. I use a 14TB drive myself. But don't waste money on an SSD. A regular HDD is fine for backups. You don't need the speed of an SSD for this task.
@@Total-Solutions the current drive is old and small so the backups don’t go back very far. It seems prudent to replace it before it fails. Memory is cheap these days at under $100 but memories are priceless
Hi Gary- I have a MacBook Pro and take it to work and back home daily. It is not often used at home. Where should I keep my external drive and is it ok that it is not connected at home?
Either place, as long as it is connected often. Since you make the most changes at work, I would think work is better. You and also have one in both places if you like.
Very Cool Tutorial Thanks
However I have a question for you Gary. Somehow I missed a point. I guess my silly question is:
Do I have to have my external hard-drive always connected to my MacBook Pro, or connect it some other time and if yes when?
sorry to bother you.
regards
You can connect it only some of the time. Obviously with a MacBook you can't have it connected all of the time (travel, bus, plane, cafe, hotel, etc). Just connect it when it is on your desk or wherever you most frequently use it plugged in.
@@macmost thanks
Helpful and informative. But you didn't say a word about formatting.
I looked up the mentioned hard drives on Amazon. Lots of people have problems with failures. So what do you do then?
I did a search and found out that you can have more than one time machine backup drive. I think that's also worth mentioning.
When you set it up, Time Machine will format it for you.
If I have an individually encrypted file on my unencrypted mac. And I use TimeMachine (unencrypted) to back up my computer on a hard drive. If the hard drive is stolen, is the file encrypted on the hard drive? Thank you.
How about backing up external SSDs or HDDs. I have to use external drives, cause my MBP just came with very small internal SSD
Time Machine should back up all external drives. Check Time Machine options to make sure you have excluded it though.
You said forgot to mention FireWire HD can also connect. But I’m not sure which USB cable is required.
I wouldn't use a Firewire drive in 2023. It would have to be pretty old at this point so it would be worth starting with a new one with much more space than what would have existed back then.
Gary I have a question for you, will time machine back up while my Mac is sleeping?
Strongly believe it does. My first back up took three days 😣
Time machine good but failed for me to restore system. I use carbon copy clone as well which was recommended to me by apple
Hello Gary, I'm confused about something and want to ask you a question. So I encrypted my external hard drive format, however when trying to do a computer backup Time machine is asking me to create a password if I want my backup to be encrypted. What's the point of encrypting Time Machine if my external hard drive already has an encryption set-up? Should I encrypt both the time machine and the external hard drive to have my data safe?
You should start with an unencrypted drive, then use the encryption option in TimeMachine.
Great video, thanks. Question: I have all files stored locally (for safety, I don't totally trust cloud storage, plus our internet is iffy), and I use Time Machine to make monthly backups of my laptop. Suppose that it dies between backups and I replace it with a new laptop. What happens if I restore from backup using Time Machine, and then connect to iCloud drive? Would it restore my files to their current state? (The data is after all in the cloud. But I fear not.) Thanks!
First, why monthly? Time Machine is designed to be hourly. Are you OK with losing everything you have done for up to a month? I think if a the iCloud Drive file is newer, then you get that newer file and can still revert to an older one like before.
@@macmost Thanks for your reply.
Why monthly? Two reasons: first, because it's a laptop that gets moved around, so keeping an external hard drive connected all the time would be a pain, and second, because I want to keep the backup in a physically separate location, so that for example if there's a fire, I can still get my data back.
No, I'm definitely not OK with losing everything I've done for up to a month, and that's why I signed up for iCloud. I have no problem keeping files up to date on iCloud because it doesn't have the two limitations I mentioned above. But I want to be sure I can recover my files if I need to, and am concerned that iCloud does not seem to be designed to backup a laptop, even though you can back up your other devices to it. So I'm hoping for an iCloud / Time Machine hybrid solution.
By the way, I'm a recent iCloud adopter. I'm moving from Dropbox because the latter doesn't backup up Logic projects in a usable form, as far as I can tell, and also doesn't back up photo libraries. But Dropbox did have some advantages - you can share files with anyone (iCloud requires an Apple ID), and it does have an incremental backup system.
So, I really hope your assertion re. getting the newer file is correct!
Thanks again.
@@champnessjack1154 Note you can have two separate backups (or more). Time Machine handles this well. So you can have A and B and backup daily to the one with you, then swap it with the remote one. Or, just use an online backup. iCloud Drive (or Dropbox) is not a backup though. See th-cam.com/video/yM-hbmpTfgI/w-d-xo.html
@@macmost Many thanks, Gary. I'm following your advice - two backup disks - plus I'm dropping Dropbox, because it can't handle Logic Pro X or Final Cut Pro libraries, but keeping my new iCloud subscription, since iCloud can at least backup iPhones (plus give access to files). Here's a fourth reason not to use iCloud for MacBook backups, btw (beyond the three you mention): bandwidth. For those of us with satellite connections, uploads are very slow.
Hi Gary, I have been a Mac user for many years and still find your videos teach me news things every time. One question I have is how to back up the Photo library on a Mac. Mine is 2-300GB so I don’t want Time Machine to back it up every time I add a new photo to the library as I would surely run out of disk space and it would be constantly copying this massive file.. what do you suggest?
Use Time Machine. Why wouldn't you want it to back up "every time?' The whole point of Time Machine is to have a good up-to-date backup. Your Photos library is not a "massive file" but a library containing many files inside it. Time Machine will just back up what has changed, not the whole thing.
Hey can you partition a big hard drive in parts to use for time machine with 2 macbooks, macs, etc? or does it have to one external hard drive for every machine? Because it says to erase the drive when you use it the first time. Is it possible to do this for time machine with 2 macs, mackbooks, etc.?
For a network drive? Don't overthink it. Just erase the drive and select it to use with each machine at Time Machine. It will backup both to it. You shouldn't partition it or anything like that.
@@macmost ok thank, so I can use 1 hard drive for 2 or more macs for time machine back ups correct?
How do I get back some completely deleted photos?
Hi Gary, why does Mac create a lot of Time Machine data locally? I’ve stopped using Time Machine because of this reason and can’t understand why Time Machine does that. I have a dedicated apple time capsule but when Time Machine is running it still creates and store files on the local machine…. Would dearly love to hear your thoughts
Do you mean local snapshots? Are you always connected to your Time Machine drive? I'm not sure what you are looking at to see this, but keep in mind the way APFS works it isn't actually creating anything. But a third-party app may report it as such.
I'm confused again. My normal state. I thought Time Machine was used to recovery files. You can go back in time to find a file that may have been lost or whatever. I did not think TM was used to back up a drive. Does it archive my files? If I back up my hard drive to my external drive, are changes to files on my hard drive changed in the back up files on my external drive? I think I have two desires with back up: 1. back up work as I'm working and keeping tabs of what I had done up to a point in time in history of that document; and 2. archive my important documents so that I can restore my documents if I lose my hard drive and external drive. Is TM doing both of those chores?
Time Machine is a backup. A backup is NOT an archive. If you want to store old documents (archive) you do not use a backup for that. Get another external drive (or online storage or storage media) and archive old files to that.
Hi Gary, have you ever changed time machine from normal disk to ssd? Is it possible?
If you are switching disks, no matter what they are, that's a good time to start a fresh new Time Machine backup. Keep the old one around for a while in case you need something from this. As for SSDs, I don't recommend that. You need size, not speed, for a backup. SSDs are smaller and more expensive. Get a big HDD, not a small SSD.
@@macmost Thank you very much for your opinion. You convinced me. I now have a 2Tb SSD drive and 6TB HDD NAS drive, which is very durable. Hence my question. Yes, it is very tempting to use a SSD, because backups are fast, but as you said, it's all about capacity. I plan to buy a Synology 64TB NAS in the near future, so the problem will be completely resolved. Like you, I am a fan of apple hardware. I've been using it for 30 years to produce sound. I currently have a large box of disks. So it's time for a change. Now I use a very fast external SSD for quick backups of important Pro Tools sessions. This is essential, as is the NAS server.
I just got a new iMac and bought an external SSD. I erased it and formatted it to Mac Journaled and partitioned it into 2 partitions. Now it shows up in Finder but not as a choice for Time Machine…not listed. Any ideas?
First, don't partition it. Use the whole drive for Time Machine. An SSD is overkill, a larger and cheaper HDD would have been a better choice.Maybe if you erase it and only have 1 partition it will show up again? You'll need to experiment.
does the Time Machine drive need to be always plugged into the Mac?
No, it simply won't be able to back up if not. But if you have, say, a MacBook and it is only plugged in while on your desk then that is fine. Just don't forget to plug it in as often as possible.
Have a MacBook Pro running extremely slow possibly corrupt OS. I would like to do a full-time machine backup, wipe the drive, and do a fresh Mac OS install. Just curious if this is the recommended solution, as I am more familiar in the windows environment?
In some cases this is a good solution. Hard to judge if this is best for you. Have you thought about just taking it to the Genius Bar for a look?
@@macmost I do IT in the windows world. I'm thinking if I wipe the drive and start with a fresh OS would fix the issue if not hardware related. I'm just not sure if the time machine restore would then corrupt the OS bringing it back over or leaves the OS alone just handles data?
@@DJ_Driven I can't say as I don't know what you mean by "corrupt." I would never go the "nuclear" route by wiping the drive, but instead try to figure out the problem. Maybe a system extension or app running in the background. Try starting in Safe Mode, etc.
@@macmost In the windows world when we have a computer slow, locking up with a possible corrupted operating system from power outages and or malicious infections, we wipe the SSD and do a fresh re-image current version of Windows OS. Then patch any updates, reinstall software and transfer user data. As complicated as it sounds it can be accomplished in one hour or less. My deal with Mac OS is I don't want to restore time machine backup and transfer the problem right back to the computer with a fresh OS install. Just looking for some clarification from some Mac pros.
@@DJ_Driven That same sort of thing can be done, of course, but it could be too little or too much, depending on the real problem. You can use Migration Assistant to simply restore the user account after installing macOS fresh. But if you are just going to reinstall the same apps and system extensions, and one of those apps or system extensions is the problem, then nothing would be any better.
Does Time Machine backup files in the iCloud Drive as well?
See th-cam.com/video/6WvwfapIYxE/w-d-xo.html
I used Time Capsule, but need a new external drive. Unfortunately, finding a WIFI external drive that can connect to a M1 MacBook is next to impossible.
The processor type has little to do with it. What makes you think the network storage solutions you are looking at won't work?
How do you restore apps or iTunes music? Thanks!
Rarely would you restore an app. You would just install it again from the source. You can also re-download iTunes purchases in the Music app too. Otherwise, you can restore your iTunes Media folder if you deleted it or a file in it.
My external drive on my Mac in Time Machine keeps going to fire vault encrypting 13 hours
Does Time Machine back up iPhone or iPad backups?
Technically, yes. It backs up everything on your drive that you haven't excluded.
Dues TM backup just data and not apps?
It backs up everything. But apps aren't that important to backup as you can easily restore them.
Every time when I boot up my Mac (or wake up from sleep) i get the Time machine popup, is it possible to hide this? I find it so irritating i unplugged my hdd and backup manually.
What popup? What does it say?
@@macmost it's a window of 'AirPort configuration' and it shows a ball (i guess its the earth) with the text 'internet' and below that my Airport time capsule.
EDIT: i think i found the problem, there was an error i needed to 'ignore'.
Is it possible to back up stuff that I typed in Calendar, Notes, and Stickies?
Time Machine backs up everything. Calendar and Notes are synced over iCloud too (unless you aren't using it).
Thank you Gary. I want to move everything in my Calendar, Notes, and Stickies from an old MacBook Pro to a new one.
@@VWHYZ If you are backing up to Time Machine and use Migration Assistant to set up your new Mac from Time Machine, then all of these things will come with it. However, if you are simply using iCloud then Calendar and Notes will be on your new Mac (and all devices) regardless. Stickies, however, doesn't use iCloud.
how to prevent it from filling up your entire external hard drive?
Dedicated drive and really old, the earliest get overwritten. Never fills up.
He forgot one very important thing and that is to have a second backup besides your time machine backup. This is in case the external hard drive that you are using for your time machine gets corrupted. This way you will not lose your files thanks to having a second backup.
The mantra is three backups.
as happened to me
Gary hi, few questions please. I tried time machine several times, never went smoothly. Hope you can help tks. I use(d) a 4tb external back up drive, set it to automatic back up, only to find it only backs up stuff in your mac. so having stuff which I saved to the external over time, means it's not in time machine. I also found it very slow, even with no encryption. Which data are you using it for. You have a 16tb external so moving stuff into external backup drives out of the mac to save space, takes it out of time machine reach. So maybe I am missing something, but I can't see much use for it if you are backing up to externals, to keep the data in the down to keep the speed up. Oh and the last one, my 3 mth old new 4tb western digital froze so all the time machine data was basically gone anyway. Backing up is a headache Gary, any more tips would be well received. thank you
It should back up all drives, not sure why it wasn't for you. It will take a long time to back up everything at first, but whether it is slow or not doesn't matter as it runs in the background. Just let it run. Also, make sure you have a USB3 drive, not a USB2 drive as 3 is 10x faster. Sounds like that drive you had was not working well. Maybe a bad one.
@@macmost hi Gary Tks. Confused now, I was told it only backs up on the Mac not external drives ? You are saying it’ll back up connected external drives as well ? I definitely wasn’t told that. That would help . If that’s the case is it possible th back up only certain parts of an external drive or will it always back up all of it ? Tku
@@GetReferralsEveryTime Yes, it will back up externals. Make sure you haven't excluded the external by going to System Preferences, Time Machine, Options. You can add folders there to exclude if you have things you don't want to back ip.
You should understand that "Backup" is a broad term.
1. Time Machine in it's default state is to make sure that your Mac can be restored in case it fails or shall be replaced. So, it runs in parallel and holds a copy of anything on the Mac in case *the Mac* goes kaput or you accidentally have deleted files in the recent past, you wanna restore and that are not still in the recycle bin. - On the other hand: If the Time Machine hard drive fails, you are warned and can replace it, while your Mac is still in working condition. After another initial backup, both hold the same data again. That's the default purpose of Time Machine.
2. If you want a real long term archival backup, you just unplug the Time Machine drive and store it at a friend's or another safe place. And instead of it you plug another external hard drive in and let it run in parallel with your Mac as described above. You may even change them from time to time to have one up to date (one hour back in time) and the other with a monthly or weekly state.
3. If you have more than one Mac, you can use the same external hard drive to back them both up: Just plug it into the Mac you use at that time to have the actual state from one hour back in time - or come up with your own scheme of changing them. But as cheap as external hard drives have become, it is probably the best idea to have one Time Machine for each Mac and let it plugged in all the time.
See, Time Machine is meant to plug in and forget. Don't fiddle around with it unless either itself or the Mac has gone kaput.
@@macmost Tks I’ll try it
If your Mac is sleeping, does Time Machine still backup every hour?
Yes, but since no files are changing there's not much for it to do.
@@macmostThanks for the advice. Question, when I tried to do my 1st time machine backup as soon as my mac-mini went to sleep it stopped backing up. I had to run caffeine in terminal to run the time machine through to the end. It would be great if it would back up while it required a password so I wouldn’t be concerned about someone accessing the computer while it is doing the backup. Do you have a method for doing that?
@@bliberg You don't need to keep your Mac awake. Time Machine is part of macOS so it will work with your sleep mode. To help, make sure you have Power Nap enabled. support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/what-is-power-nap-mh40773/mac
@@macmost Thanks for responding, but I have a Mac mini M1. Power nap only applies to the intel machines. I turn off “put hard disks to sleep when possible” and leave on “wake for network access”. Time Machine has to restart its progress the next time the Mac is awake.
@@bliberg right, if you have an M1 Mac it basically behaves like this all the time. It should finish the backup. You don’t need to do anything special. In fact it should start and complete backups while the display is asleep. Are you sure it isn’t doing it for you? If not, call Apple Support as it should behave this way.
Gary can recover my data from an ecrypted drive ?
You mean you forgot the password? Then no. The encryption wouldn't be worth anything if you could simply get around it.
@@macmost no I mean if the drive failed , any chances for data recovery
@@deadbydead You could try taking it to a data recovery pro. They may be able to take a media out and put it in another device.
@@macmost only with a key ?
@@deadbydead Not sure what you mean by that.
First
I use an app called Hazel. You should check it out.
☠BLACK BARON☠3:57 ... Short said ... Encrypt [ x ] Backup iPhone, Encrypt [ x ] Backup iPad, Encrypt [ x ] Backup Mac ... IT ' s triple encrypted so to speak. iMean ... this must be really absolute 150% hacker safe ... right?
I used Time Machine 3 times, and 3 times I lost data. Never again.
One might be tempted to think you did something wrong in the recovery process, personally have never had issues in the two times I needed it.
I'm 99% sure it was your fault. How can one even use Time Machine "3 times"? It is connected to the iMac permanently and it makes incremental backups every hour. So the maximum you could lose is the last hour of work you've done before your iMac died. When on the other hand Time Machine dies, you just connect a new hard drive and save your (still living) iMac. Either or. When you fear to lose all your technical devices in a fire or a natural disaster, you give one Time Machine to a friend in a remote location. It is really very hard to lose data with a Time Machine. So, I would be interested in how you managed it.
Recovered about 3Gb last week. Worked first time access . Just worked. Cannot say the same for MS efforts. That’s a joke.
Colin regardless of what these other replies you got say, i had the same happen to me, now I have several hard external drives and ssd, time machine was just a complete bust for me.
I have fully recovered twice from Time Machine and my Apple Time Capsule. Only lost a couple of files when the HDD failed because I was (wrongly) instructed to re-install the OS.
If my mac is unencrypted and I am using keychain manager for passwords. If I use TimeMachine (unencrypted) to back up my computer onto a hard drive. If the hard drive is stolen, are the passwords from the hard drive encrypted? Thank you.
Keychain is encrypted.
@@macmost Thank you. Sorry, I didn't know you had replied. Thank you for replying!!