How to Backup Mac to External Hard Drive – New Methods

Have you lost your personal data during the macOS update or any reason can be? However, Apple computer is one of the best overall. But, it doesn’t mean you will not lose your data or you won’t face any issues with your Mac computer. There are many reasons that users are looking for How to Backup Mac to External Hard Drive. Even Windows users prefer to back up their PC to an external drive.

In case, you don’t know how to backup Mac to an external hard drive and which back up app is the best option to go. Then, in this article, I will walk you through the best back up application called Time Machine. Though, there are many third-party apps that help you to create a back up of your Mac but the time machine is the best method to go.

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Having a back up of your content will give you the chance to restore your all data in case you lose your files. If you make your mind to update your operating system to the latest version and before that, you want to create a backup of your Mac to an external hard drive. Or you want to get a full idea of how to backup Mac to an external hard drive. Then, this article is the best one to go with.

That’s not the reason only you should create a backup of your file cause of updating your OS. Without that task, always do a backup of your Mac because anytime anywhere your computer can be crush and you might lose your data. So, how you can do it, I will teach you in this article.

Moreover, you are looking for a backup solution that will protect your data. Your current backup solution is not reliable enough. Use continuity software to create a local backup of your important files, and then restore them in case of a disaster.

Why you need to Back up your Mac?

A simple question but very important for all Mac users that why we need to back up our Mac computer?. There are many reasons why you are looking for the methods to guide you on how to back up your Mac to External drive. Well, doing a backup of your data won’t take too much of your time but it will be good for you in case you lose your computer. No one can guarantee your computer, anytime anyone can steal your Mac and at that time you will lose your all data plus your Mac computer.

Therefore, creating a backup of your content is one of the important parts of your PC. Because sometime you or someone else might spill a drink on your Mac or because your drive might fail. That’s why read this article carefully and regularly back up your Mac to not lose your data.

If you create a backup of your data and in case you lose your Mac then no matter you can restore your files on the new Mac computer. Or you can connect your external drive to someone else PC and you can take your files from there. So, this is the easiest way to restore your all data from the external drive.

The best free BackUp Software for Mac in 2020

In case, you are curious to know more about best and free back up software for your Mac. Then, the below 5 best software is for you and they are the best to go with. However, in today’s life personal data becomes the important of your life and it might be lost in a second. Therefore, have a back up of your file and check the below 5 software.

1: Disk Drill

The first and best software is disk drill and it will allow you to back up your whole computer data. Even it can create a back up of your current files. Besides that, it also stores all available material on the drive like deleted files.

Disk Drill is the best application that provides these features. Though it is in stock for free but you can upgrade it to a pro version to recover deleted files.

2: Time Machine

The time machine application is a part of Mac OS X software and this application creates incremental backups in the very easy way to the external drive. You can set the app to create hourly backups, daily backups, monthly backups, and weekly backups. If you backups your files with a time machine then you can restore it to any Mac computer.

3: Archive Utility

By the name you might understand how this app creates backups of your files. So, it means the software will backups your all data in a zip file with a smaller size. This way is the best one to save your files because it won’t store lots of size. Therefore, if you want to create a back up of your files in a zip format then this application is the best.

4: iCloud Backup

You might know about the iCloud method and how you can backups your files. This application is provided by Apple Inc. However, this application has the ability to backup your data and provide a file hosting service. As a result, this is the best cloud backup for Mac in 2020.

iCloud app has legions of users and the report says 782 million users are using iCloud for backups services. This app is not only for Mac or Macintosh computers, But also it can be used for iOS and Windows devices.

5: DropBox

The last application which is DropBox that provide you free file hosting of 2GB services. But, you can backup your data with DropBox in an easy way. Somehow, it is like Google Drive that gives you free storage for freemium but you can get more storage space in a pro version.

What is the best way to Backup a Mac?

Now, you have the idea of which software is best for backup your Mac computer, and the above 5 applications are the best. But what is the best way to back up a Mac?. Well, the time machine application is the best way to go with and you can back up your files easily. This application is free and only you need to purchase an external drive to back up your files there. Purchasing an external drive is not a big deal, you can purchase the WD 2TB Elements under $65.

So, it means in this article, we will back up a Mac data with time Machine application. Therefore, pay attention and follow all the instructions.

How to Back up Mac to External Hard Drive using Time Machine?

Step 1: Connect your external hard drive to your computer. make sure, your hard drive is empty and it won’t have any data. Because time machine will erase all the internal data of the hard drive. Moreover, the more storage your external drive have the more data you can backup.

Step 2: Once you connect your external hard drive to your Mac then a new menu will pop-up and will ask you “Do you want to use (Drive Name) to back up with time machine?”. Hands down, you are using the drive to back up your files. Therefore, click the Use as Backup Disk.

While you connect an external drive to your computer and you didn’t get the automatic time machine pop-up box as shown above. Then, you can access by doing, go to spotlight and search for time machine then open the time machine application. Once you access the time machine then you will get the same screenshot on your Mac screen.

Step 3: Once you use the external hard drive as back up disk then the time machine will ask you to erase the external hard drive. As before, I said make sure your external drive doesn’t have any files because the time machine will erase all the data in order to start the process.

So, After you select the drive as a backup disk then click the Erase button to format the external hard drive and erase all the data.

After clicking the erase button then the time machine will erase the external hard drive. It will take a few seconds to erase the drive.

Step 4: In this step, make sure you have checkbox the back up automatically option and checkbox the show time machine in the menu bar. In this case, you can easily use the time machine in the menu bar and you can back up your data from the menu bar.

Step 5: Once you checkbox the show time machine in menu bar. Then, you can see time machine icon in the menu bar at the top-right side of the screen. So, click the time machine icon and click the Back Up Now option.

Step 6: The time machine starts the Backup process. Wait for a while to finish the backup process. Once the process is done then you can see your whole data in external hard drive. After that, you can restore the data on the other Mac computer by connecting your external hard drive.

Once the backup process is done then don’t hesitate to disconnect the drive. However, the drive can cause a potential disk problem. Therefore, go to the volume that your external hard drive represents and right-click and select eject. Then, you can easily unplug the drive and put it safe.

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Conclusion

Always create a backup of your machine whether you are updating your operating system, selling your computer, or any other reasons. But, having a backup of your files can make you free of tension. Therefore, I hope this article helps you and you find out all the information you were looking for. Moreover, if you have any questions regarding how to backup Mac to an external hard drive then leave your comment below in the comment section.