Having a copy of your data never hurts. If you work on or save valuable information with your computer then having a backup always available in case of need is simply essential.
In this article I want to show you how to use TimeMachine to safeguard the data of your Macbook, iMac or MacMini at 360 ° and how to restore everything easily with a few clicks!
Stop! Before continuing read here:
If your operating system is not MacOS then I advise you to read this article in case you are using Windows or to click here if you are using Ubuntu instead .
Useful Links:
Apple Support for Time Machine
What is Time Machine?
Time Machine is a software utility created for Mac OSX Leopard developed by Apple and introduced in 2006 with the aim of facilitating the creation, management of computer backups and the related recovery of the information they contain.
Specifically, Time Machine creates snapshots (which in jargon is called Snapshot) of our files allowing us not only to cancel a single risky operation (a deletion or a move for example) but also to recover any version of the file in question.
How do you make a backup with Time Machine?
Requirements
To backup with Time Machine we need at least one of the following devices:
- an external harddisk
- a harddisk connected to an AirPort device (Extreme or TimeCapsule)
- another Mac compatible with TimeMachine
- a NAS that supports TimeMachine via SAMBA protocol
In addition, the computer must be a Mac upgradeable to Mac OSX Leopard, that is, it must pass all the following technical specifications:
- computer dated of PowerPC G4 and G5 processors at least 867 MHz (G3 processors are not supported) alternatively Macs equipped with Intel processors are fine.
- computer dated at least 512MB of RAM
- computer with at least 9GB of free internal disk space
How you do it?
Video of the official channel “Apple Support” explaining “How to perform a Backup with Time Machine”
To start using Time Machine we have to choose a hard disk to be used with at least (it is not a real requirement, see it as a suggestion) the same storage space as your Mac.
In the tutorial in this article we will see how to perform a backup via an external storage hard disk to be connected to the Mac via a simple data cable.
As soon as you connect the backup disk to the Mac a pop-up window may appear asking you to format the device to prepare to run TimeMachine. By clicking on “Use as Backup Disk” you consent to irreversibly delete all the data contained on the disk allowing the computer to use it for the aforementioned purpose. If the pop-up does not appear, don’t worry, you can go to the Time Machine preference menu by clicking on the Apple menu, clicking on System Preferences and then selecting the Time Machine icon (green clock, fourth row from above, third icon from the right).
To proceed with the backup, click on “Select Backup Disk” and choose the disk to use and how to perform the operation. For example, you can choose to backup the encryptions with a password or leave it “free”. Click on “Use Disk”. If you have chosen to enter the password, other configuration wizard screens may appear.
At this point the computer is ready and the disk is also ready. After a few moments, the process should begin, which for the first time could take up a lot of space and time. From the second time on, everything will be simpler and faster since only the files that have been modified since the last time will be saved again.
The versions that will be saved will be the local hourly snapshots for the last 24 hours, daily backups for the last month and weekly backups for all the previous months. When the disk selected for backup no longer has enough space for new revisions, the oldest backups will simply be deleted.
Also remember that from the Time Machine window you can choose to display the relative icon in the Apple menu and that you can start a new backup at any time by clicking on the “Run Backup Now” item in the various spaces (Menu Bar and Window). It is also possible to skip a backup in the exact same way.
Restore a backup with Time Machine
Recover Backup when Mac starts
You can start the Mac by restoring its state at a given time on startup.
To do this, at the moment of switching on, just hold down the combination of “command” + “R” keys, choose the item “Restore from Time Machine Backup” and then click “Continue”, choose the backup disk and at the end wait the conclusion of the recovery process.
Retrieve a single modification of a file
You can restore the status of a file by taking advantage of one of the many snapshots that Time Machine creates for you on a scheduled basis.
To do this you can use the “Enter Time Machine” item from the relevant Apple menu icon or from the Time Machine settings window
