Time machine apple how it works. How to Back Up a Mac Using Time Machine
Time Machine is a feature Reserve copy files that are in any modern version macOS. By turning on Time Machine you will protect yourself from accidental deletion or loss of files. Any files and folders, as well as their intermediate versions, can be restored.
Now I will tell you how to set up and use Time Machine.
How Time Machine works
Time Machine makes a backup of the user's folder: documents, downloads, applications, etc.
Backups are created automatically every hour. All you need to do is specify the drive on which the system will make backups.
Once Time Machine is set up, you will always have access to:
- hourly backups for the last 24 hours;
- daily backups for last month;
- weekly backups for all other months of work.
Time Machine doesn't back up the macOS system itself. Therefore, if your system has completely crashed, you will first have to install macOS on a clean one. Recovery Mode, and then restore information from Time Machine using the Migration Assistant.
How to set up Time Machine
To enable Time Machine, connect an external HDD and select it in:
▸ System settings… ▸ Time Machine ▸ Select disk…
The first thing you need to do is choose external drive for Time Machine 
I formatted the disk in advance using Disk Utility and named it Time Machine The system will ask you to format the disk specifically for Time Machine, so make sure that there is no important information on it.
Be sure to enable backup encryption so that no one else can access your files.
Which drive is better to choose?
As for connecting the drive, there are two options: wired and wireless. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Wired drive
The simplest and affordable option. A 1 TB mechanical HDD will cost $60-70. It's not as fast as an SSD, but a modern drive is more than fast enough to transfer several hundred megabytes to it every hour.
🐢Western Digital My Passport USB-A 1TB: Rozetka/Citilink
Samsung SSD The T5 is fast, small, light, and can be connected directly via USB-C The downside is that wired connection not convenient and not very reliable. If you can connect a disk to an iMac and forget about it, then to a laptop you will have to constantly connect/disconnect the disk. I'm just too lazy to do this.
With time USB connectors, and especially USB-C, begin to become loose and the disk may “fall off” during the creation of a backup copy, which leads to file loss in the case of mechanical disks.
Wireless Drive
With such a disk, a backup occurs when the computer is in range home WiFi. WITH wireless connection accidental disconnection of the disk due to a fallen power cord is excluded, as happens with wired disks, which means there is less chance of damaging some files when copying.
WD My Cloud connects to the point WiFi access and MacBook sees it as network drive Typically, the disk is connected to your access point via Ethernet cable, after which it appears in macOS as a separate network drive.
A network drive can be used to backup several home computers at once.
Time Capsule
Surely you have heard about Time Capsule from Apple itself. This is an access point with a built-in network drive of several terabytes, which is designed to work with Time Machine. Alas, in 2018 Apple closed down the division responsible for the Time Capsule and AirPort access points, so it’s better to take a closer look at the two previous options.
What disk size to choose
It is better to take a disk that is two or more times larger in volume than your main one. For example, if in MacBook Pro costs a 512 GB SSD, then under backup copy Time Machine is better to allocate a 1 TB disk. In this case, you will have a history of file changes for at least the last couple of months, not weeks.
What happens when the disk becomes full?
Time Machine will begin automatically deleting your oldest weekly backups that are older than one month. So Time Machine will never stop working.
How to Limit the Time Machine Copy Size
Time Machine “captures” the entire disk that you specify to suit its needs. If your external drive is 4 terabytes in size, then TM will keep old backups until the drive is full.
The only way to “pacify” Time Machine is to create a separate smaller logical partition for it and make backups for it. This can be done through Disk Utility macOS.
If you have big disk, then it makes sense to create a separate smaller partition for Time Machine. To do this, the disk will have to be formatted and partitioned.
How to exclude folders from backup
Sometimes it is useful to exclude certain directories from backups, for example the folder Downloads or Movies, in which files frequently appear and are deleted.
In order to exclude the desired folder, go to ▸ System Settings▸ Time Machine ▸ Settings and add it to the list by pressing the + key.
Add folders that you do not want to back up. For example Downloads and Videos How to recover files from Tim Machine
If you need to restore a file, launch Time Machine from the folder Applications:
Finder ▸ Applications ▸ Time Machine
You will see a Finder window in the form of a carousel. Let's say you need to restore a file from your Desktop that was there last week. Go to desktop in Finder window and then use the on-screen arrows ⬆︎ ⬇︎ to move between backups until you see that file.
Click on the file and click Restore.
Recovering files via Time Machine If Time Machine was not turned on, but you need to restore files, then .
How to disable internal backups
If you set up Time Machine, but stopped connecting a disk for backups, then after a couple of weeks you will notice a drawback free space on the main disk.
This happens because while the external drive is not connected, Time Machine creates temporary backups on the system drive.
To clear local backups, simply connect the drive that you configured to work with Time Machine. The system itself will transfer all local backups to this drive.
If you are unable to connect the drive to your computer, then delete the /.MobileBackups folder, in which local backups are stored.
If you want to completely disable local backups, then run Terminal command:
sudo tmutil disablelocal
Enable local backups back:
sudo tmutil enablelocal
If you disable local backups, Time Machine will only work when an external drive is connected to the computer.
🌿 Remember
- To enable Time Machine you will definitely need an external drive. This function does not work with the system disk or the cloud;
- I recommend buying an SSD. These disks are more reliable and faster than mechanical ones. And they are not afraid of falls;
- Be sure to enable disk encryption so that no one can access your backup files;
- Backups occur automatically and every hour if the computer is connected to a power source;
- It is advisable that the disk size be twice the size of your MacBook or iMac disk. This way you can have backups of your files from the last few months.
Still don't know how to create hard backup disk regular means Mac OS X? No problem, today we will look at a very convenient, built-in OS X utility for creating Time Machine backups. The Time Machine utility allows you to make backup copies like hard drive entirely, as well as individual sections and folders.
Standard OS X backup utility
None of the popular operating systems, perhaps, can boast of such convenient regular program to create backups. But Time Machine appeared far from latest versions OS X. The utility was first introduced to users in Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” and has since become very popular among users Apple computers and the OS X operating system.
Any user can use it Mac systems OS X, regardless of whether it is on the computer made by Apple or using third party bootloader Hackintosh. When using Mac OS X on any of these types of PCs, the program remains fully functional.
Analogue, but rather something like Time Machine, Windows users became available only in the Windows 8 version, but it only allowed backup to external hard disk, the availability of using a separate partition for backups came only in Windows 10.
Advantages of Time Machine
- Hourly backup;
- Create a backup on demand;
- Ability to create copies of the entire hard drive or individual partitions or folders;
- Possibility of using an external drive for storage, as well as a separate partition of the used HDD;
- Low consumption of computer resources when creating a backup;
- Easy navigation when choosing a backup date;
- Convenient navigation when restoring files and folders;
- Ability to restore the OS X operating system from a backup copy;
- Ability to transfer and install OS X to another computer.
Enabling and setting up Time Machine
Enabling and using the program will help protect you from various unpleasant situations associated with accidental deletion necessary files. It helps to recover not only files and folders, partitions, but also deleted contacts.
Indispensable Time Machine in the event of an OS X failure, by restoring the operating system from a backup copy, you will save a huge amount of time on installing programs, restoring lost files and software licenses.
Inclusion
There are several ways to start Time Machine.
Through system settings:
Via Launchpad:
To enable it, simply launch the program. After which Time Machine settings will become available to us.
To enable the program and start using it for backup, you need to run:
- Select disk. The disk can be either an external drive or a partition of an already used hard drive;
- Move the slider to enable.
Checking the “Show Time Machine in the menu bar” checkbox will make control and access faster and more convenient.
Through the menu panel you will receive fast access to backups, settings. You can start creating a backup on demand or, on the contrary, skip a scheduled backup.
After which the program will begin to create hourly copies, when files and folders are changed, daily and weekly backups. It is worth noting that the creation of such huge amount backups, as it may seem, do not require a huge amount of space on external storage or disk partition. For backup system disk 50GB may be sufficient, but we still recommend using at least 100GB in order to save as many copies as possible before overwriting.
The oldest backups are overwritten if the partition or drive is full.
Backups can be encrypted to increase the privacy and security of stored data. But enabling this function may slow down the program, since encryption will require Extra time, and therefore more consumed computer resources.
When working in programs that require a lot of PC resources (video editors, 3D rendering, etc.), it is recommended to skip the copy or disable it time Time Machine, since its creation can slow down editors and processing. If you use an SSD or external drive to store backups, then you will not notice a significant impact on performance when programs are running simultaneously.
Backup failed. There is not enough space on TimeMashine
If you have a terabyte hard drive with a lot of various information, and you have allocated 100GB to use Time Machine, then with a 99.9% probability you will see this message.
Don't be alarmed - this message does not indicate a failure or anything like that. It simply warns us that the size of the backup being created will exceed the amount of space allocated to the program. And for it to work properly, you need to make adjustments to the utility settings.
Setting up the Time Machine utility
In fact, the program does not require any user intervention or any serious settings that could affect the operation of the utility.
Maybe that's why it works without glitches and is so popular.
The only thing available to us is the choice of directories and partitions that will be included in the backup copies of Time Machine.
Through the standard interface we can add or exclude separate sections or folders from backup, which can significantly affect the size of backups and the required space for storing copies.
“+” — add a section or folder to exceptions. That is, the specified directory will not be included in the backup.
“-”—remove from exceptions. Which adds the folder or partition to the next scheduled backup.
Interface and data recovery in Time Machine
The program interface is very convenient and even a child can use the utility.
By clicking on the program icon in top menu and by selecting “Enter Time Machine” we find ourselves in the program’s workspace. It is from here that, using the standard and familiar Finder, we can restore files and folders.
To restore, you just need to know where exactly the file or folder was located before the changes were made. You can move between backups using the pointers (arrows) or by selecting the date of the changes, if you know it, on the right side of the screen.
Then select the file we need -> Click right click mouse on the folder or file (which needs to be restored) -> Select the desired action.
We can restore a file or folder, delete one or all backup copies of this file or folder as unnecessary.
I admit, the Time Machine interface in El Capitan is not at all what it was in the recent Mavericks.
The interface of Time Machine Mavericks and older versions of OS X seems to me much more convenient and contrasting than the existing one on this moment. When you install light desktop wallpaper, the side menu becomes almost indistinguishable from the background, which can significantly affect the time it takes to search for the required files and folders.
System Restore using Time Machine
If you have a backup created using the Time Machine utility, you can perform a system restore. During this recovery, the hard drive or specified section is cleared and all its contents are replaced with fresh information from the Time Machine backup.
For Mac recovery OS X via Time Machine do the following:
Step 1.Produce Mac startup OS in recovery mode, for which, when turning on or restarting the computer, hold down the keys Command (⌘) + R or Option (⎇) + Command (⌘) + R(if booting from the recovery partition fails, this keyboard shortcut will launch ) until Apple logo on display.
Step 2. Once the download is complete, the utilities window will appear (Utilities macOS programs/ Uliliths OS X). From the utilities window, select Restore from Time Machine backup and press the button Continue. Next, follow the instructions of the utility.
In some cases it may be necessary
From this article you will learn:
How to make a backup Mac OS X?
How to restore a backup using Time Machine?
It is important to understand that without backup copies your life can become much more difficult, exactly from the moment when the device fails or an accident occurs. system failure. In OS Windows there is an integrated tool for creating backup copies (which does not always work reliably, and it is better to do this manually, on a separate storage medium). IN Ubuntu has Deja, and Mac OS X have their own time machine ( Time Machine). Time Machine , carries out data backup starting from system files and ending with yours personal information. Therefore, if your system crashes, the data can always be restored to the state in which it was at the time the backup was created Mac OS X.
Time Machine can create images of the system and carry out maintenance exactly according to the schedule assigned to it by the user (every hour, day, month).
How to perform a system restore using Time Machine?
The first thing we need is removable hard disk (you can make copies onto it, disconnect it when not needed, and store it in safe place). By connecting a removable storage device and logging into Time Machine , you will be asked if you want to create from the mapped drive Time Machine system recovery tool. It's worth noting that your Mac will not force you to create an information store if you don't need it.
At the same time, creating a disk that will be used for recovery is very simple. You agree that Time Machine will create a copy, and the system will do everything for you. However, the copy can be encrypted to create a more secure recovery tool.
It's worth remembering that Time Machine does not work with the OS file system Windows, NTFS or FAT 32. Such a disk will be reformatted to Mac HFS +, and all data on it will be erased. Therefore, before you start creating a recovery disk, make sure that it does not contain the information you need.
At the same time, Time Machine itself can be turned off on your computer, and all settings can be made from a special menu item in the status bar at the top of the screen. As you can see from the picture, the drop-down menu Time Machine V top corner makes it possible to make a backup immediately, enter the program itself or change settings Time Machine.
In Mac OS X, the Time Machine backup tool can write not only to external drives (although this is recommended), but also to local hard disks, network devices, and via AirPort Time Capsule via Wi-fi. The Time Capsule is Apple's recommended device for creating and storing system backups over Wi-Fi. Very comfortable, stylish, but not for every pocket, but if you look a little more closely, average price devices 10 thousand rubles, provided that it Wi-fi router+ 2 TB hard drive, that’s it. That being said, you can always back up your Macs to different locations for greater safety.
On a Macbook, it is possible to create copies of the system locally and store them for a short time. This is done in order to provide access to early version files even if there is no disk with a copy of your system nearby. However, it is worth remembering that the option to create backups on your computer is only good if you have installed regular hard disk. If you are working on a device with an SSD, it is better to use removable storage media. This will significantly increase the lifespan of your drive.
While Time Machine works great with the default settings. You can easily change them and customize them for yourself. For example, it is absolutely not necessary to create a backup copy of your applications, this will save space for copies of your documents.
What should you choose, automatic or manual mode?
You need to be prepared for the fact that your first backup will take a long time to create. This is due to the fact that all the data on your hard drive is archived, so the amount of time it takes to create a copy will increase depending on how loaded your hard drive is with information. Subsequent copies will be created quite quickly, since only new or changed files will be entered into them.
Usually Time Machine configured in such a way that it functions automatically. A computer user should not constantly keep in his head the thought of the need to create a backup copy. It's simple: you connect a pre-created hard drive to your computer, and your Mac will create a copy of the system on it.
However, you can set up manual backups. To do this, you need to set the checkbox in the program itself to the “Off” position, and, as necessary, make copies by clicking on the icon Time Machine in the control line ( top part screen).
There is no significant difference in how your system will be backed up. You choose the method that is most convenient for you to work with.
Restoring individual files from a backup
By clicking on the Time Machine icon in the menu bar, you can go to the “Enter Time Machine” program itself. In this menu you can view the history deleted files or their previous versions, and restore them if necessary.
All you have to do is select the date and time in the bottom right corner. A menu will open where you can return to files and folders previously changed on the computer. If the dates for which navigation is carried out are displayed in pink color, this means that the backup copy is saved on removable media, while white lettering indicates that T ime Machine made a copy on your Mac.
If you find the file you were looking for and want to restore it, the program will do it in the same directory from which it was deleted. Moreover, if the folder contains more than a new version file, or a file with the same name, you will definitely be warned about this by asking if you really want to replace this file?
It’s also easy to view a found file without restoring it: press the spacebar in the Time Machine window, and the file will open as if in preview.
By the way, Time Machine provides the ability to search for files. There is a search bar for this. Enter the name of the object you are looking for and get all possible options.
Restoring the entire system
Of course, one of the important features of Time Machine is the ability to create copies with which you can restore the entire system. However, you will not be able to restore the copy on another Mac, only on the machine on which the backup was created.
To enter the recovery menu, hold down the cmd + R key combination while your Mac boots up, thereby bringing up the system recovery menu. This window has an option to restore the system from Time Machine backups.
There is another option for system recovery, when at boot time you hold down the "Option" key, and in boot menu select the disk on which Time Machine was copied, and restore from it.
Restoring Time Machine on Another Mac
In a situation where you have a backup copy of your system created in Time Machine , and there is another worker Mac , it is possible to restore all your files and tools using a migration program. To do this, you must go to Programs/Utilities and open the migration assistant.
Migration Assistant allows you to transfer all your data from one Mac to another, so that you don't feel the difference when you switch to a new device. After all, all your files, folders and applications will be in the same places.
No one is immune from data loss. All users understand this, and everyone is trying to find own version to save important files that cannot be lost. Since 2006, Apple has been lending a helping hand to users in this matter. It's about, as you probably guessed, oh Time Machine. A simple and truly elegant solution for backing up data from your computer running OS X. Key Feature Time Machine is that it really works and has saved many users from data loss, especially during times hard drives, when carrier failure for no apparent reason was practically the norm.
Time Machine is built into operating rooms Apple systems, beginning with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The program creates a copy of your entire computer drive, but also supports recovery separate files, is fully automated and has flexible settings. We will get acquainted with all the stages of setting up and launching Time Machine for a specific computer running OS X Mavericks in this material.
First, let's talk about what we need to get started with Time Machine. And you will need a computer with Mac control OS X 10.5 or higher, preferably with all possible installed updates, as well as an external hard drive. It could be external HDD, connected via USB, Thunderbolt or FireWire, network drive (Ethernet or Wi-Fi), or other similar Apple devices. There's not much to comment here. In any case, it is better to use a drive with high speed connection and operation - this will allow Time Machine to work faster and more inconspicuously.
Now about the requirements for free disk space. When creating the first backup, Time Machine will take up exactly as much space on the external drive as is occupied on the user's computer. For example, you have MacBook Air with a 128 GB SSD drive, but only 70 GB of it is occupied. This means that the first backup will take exactly 70 GB. But since Time Machine stores several versions of files and several snapshots of the system, it is advisable to allocate space not back to back, but with a reserve. It is best that the volume of the drive or logical partition for storing backup copies is 2 times larger than the amount of non-volatile memory on your computer.
In general, Time Machine will back up the following data:
– Hourly copies for the last 24 hours;
– Daily copies for the last month;
– Weekly copies for all previous months.
You need to understand this in the most direct way. If you allocate a 2 TB drive for Time Machine, the backup system will eat it without any hesitation. However, do you need copies from six months or a year ago? Probably not. Therefore, by limiting the space for Time Machine to two volumes of the computer drive, we will force the program to independently delete backup copies that are no longer relevant when free space will run out.
– Go to System Preferences – Time Machine. Click the “Options...” button;
– In the menu that appears, you can add files and folders that should be excluded from the backup. This could be TV series, movies, music and other data that is easy to recover and that is of no value to you;
– There are two options below. The first allows the creation of backup copies when powered by a battery, and the second is for informational purposes only. We decide whether this is necessary, and then click “Save”;
– In Time Machine settings, click “Select backup disk…»;
– From the listed list of available drives, including those connected by wire and network, select the one to which the backup will be made. If necessary, you can activate the backup encryption option (File Vault 2 is used). This will have virtually no impact on performance. Click “Use disk”;
– The system will automatically activate Time Machine and use a timer to notify you how much time is left until the first backup. Please note that this will take quite a long time because absolutely all the data included in the backup is copied.
Now a few details. By default, if encryption is turned off, the files in the backup are not protected in any way and can be accessed by anyone with access to the drive. If encryption is activated, you will need to set a password that will protect the backup copy. It is better, of course, to choose the second option. In this case, the entire partition with the backup on the external drive will be encrypted.
It is worth noting that you cannot interrupt the backup process only for the first time, otherwise the whole process will start all over again. In other cases, interrupting the process will have no effect.
Now about the process of restoring files from a backup:
– Launch the Time Machine application from Launchpad;
– All changes registered on the external storage device will be shown to you. Dates will be located on the right side of the screen, and in the center you can switch between windows containing different versions files;
– Having decided on the objects necessary for recovery, click “Restore” in the lower right corner.
Using Time Machine is also convenient for moving from one Mac to another. When setting new system Just select the option to restore from a Time Machine backup in the Migration Assistant.
Time Machine can also be used in manual mode and create backups only when necessary. To do this, you need to activate the Time Machine icon in the tray, then click on it and select “Back up now.” You can avoid automatic backups by turning them off in Time Machine settings.
Time Machine may not be the most advanced backup tool, but it's already on everyone by default. Mac computer, quite easy to set up and use. In other words, Time Machine is ideal for the needs of the average user who values his data.
IN modern world There are very few people who have never encountered the problem of data loss and there are a huge number of reasons for this: an incorrectly removed flash drive, a sudden loss of electricity, an operating system failure, or even theft of a device (I personally know users who grieved more about lost information than about a laptop on where it was stored). In connection with these and many others Apple reasons developed a long time ago and made it standard special utility called Time Machine whose task is to backup all user files, as well as your Mac system settings.
Even the fact that OS Macintosh families are famous for their functionality and reliability, which does not detract from the importance of data backup, which is also recommended to be done every time Mac update OS, or, for example, when using . Despite the fact that the utility is extremely easy to use, there are still several points that I would like to talk about, but first I propose to consider the program settings step by step.
Setting up Time Machine
So, you finally realized the scale of the tragedy that threatens if you lose all the information on your Mac, you were horrified and immediately rushed to make a backup. But don’t rush to open the program; first, I recommend setting up an external hard drive: first, you need it to be formatted in native Mac OS file system, since the program’s operation with the same NTFS is simply not supported; secondly, it is desirable to limit maximum size backup copy so that it does not grow to unimaginable volumes, for example, if the total volume of your Mac’s hard drive is 128 GB, then for a backup on external media it will be enough to allocate about 300 GB. here, however, it all depends on the intensity of your work.
To configure, go to disk utility(programs > others), in the left window of the program, select an already connected external drive and, if you plan to use it entirely for backup needs, click erase. Next, in the format field, specify Mac OS Extended (Journaled), enter a new disk name, for example MybackUp and click erase(by the way, a similar setting is done with) .
If you need to use only a certain part of the backup disk for backup, then after the manipulations described above, select the tab disk partition, then click + (at the bottom, under the partition map), then determine the size of the partition, give it a name and click apply.
Now that our drive is ready for use, open Time Machine , (located in the same place as disk utility), The program will immediately complain with this message.
Click Set up Time Machine and now an easy and relaxed program interface opens before us.
Now you need to “tell” the program which disk will be used for backup, click select backup disk and mark the one you need. Don’t forget, if you configured the hard drive using the second method, then you need to select the partition of the disk reserved for data backup. Once the drive is selected you will see the switch move to the ON position.
Now you will always have:
- hourly copies for the last 24 hours;
- daily copies for the last month;
- weekly copies for all months.
If for some reason a long period(for example, vacation) you will not need a data backup, then simply turn the switch to the “OFF” position, or simply remove the disk.
The time it takes to create the first backup will be quite long, since the utility will back up absolutely all the data on your Mac, but in the future this process will completely depend on the number of changes made to the system. It’s very important not to interrupt the first backup, so it’s best to postpone it overnight (just make sure your Mac doesn’t fall asleep in advance :)). When creating further backups, interrupting the process will not be so critical; it will automatically resume the next time you connect the drive to the Mac.
You can always find out that the backup process is running thanks to the tray icon:
Backup in progress
That's all I would like to say about preparation external media and programs to work, and now let's move on to the second part of our short review.
What happens when the disk becomes full?
The first reasonable question that a user may have is “What will happen when the space allocated for backup runs out?” There will be nothing wrong 🙂 the utility will overwrite old backups with new ones.
A few words about AirPort Time Capsule
The program can also perfectly backup via wi-fi to the Time Capsule, if you are the happy owner of this magnificent device (I, unfortunately, am not one), then choose it as backup device and close the backup problem forever.
Battery backup
I almost forgot about one important feature. By default, Time Machine makes backups only when the computer is powered from the network; this is done for reasons of energy saving, but if this option does not suit you, then in the same parameters Check the “battery backup” box.
A little about security and encryption
Perhaps when choosing a backup disk, you noticed a small inscription at the bottom “encrypt copies”, the fact is that by default the backup data is not protected in any way and anyone who takes possession of your disk will be able to access it. But to prevent this, you need to check the box next to this inscription, click “use disk” and enter the data.
Restoring a specific file from a backup copy
Finally, let's see how great it is to have a backup copy. So, you need to restore some specific file, go to Time Machine (the external drive is already connected) and immediately see the “battle-ready” Finder window, all that remains is to use the timeline (on the right) to find the time when this file was on your computer and restore it from Finder by clicking restore in the lower right corner.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I want to say that Time Machine is another great Apple solution designed to easily and simply protect users from information loss. The program does not just copy data, but remembers an image of the entire system at given points in time, that is, if you have to completely restore from a backup disk, then everything will remain the same, right down to the picture on your desktop. Although I have little faith in the crash of my MacBook Air, I always have an up-to-date backup copy. You never know :)