The first option is to backup your Mac to iCloud (read our iCloud review here).

These use small 2.5-inch disks, and they fit happily into a coat pocket. Select it, and then tap erase at the top of the screen. One of the biggest complaints about Time Machine is the fact that it is slow. Performance is respectable enough, although the Ultra Plus wont win any awards for high-speed backups. Heavy users, like video editors and photographers, will likely need up to 2TB of storage ($9.99 per month) to have adequate storage space. Backing up your files is one of the best decisions you can make as a Mac owner.

Theres a second Thunderbolt port that will allow you to connect additional Thunderbolt and USB-C devices, and a DisplayPort 1.4 interface for an external monitor. That makes it a good option for anyone that needs a fast drive for large video, photos, and audio files. The Mobile Drive provides good performance, with write and read speeds both averaging out at 132MBps in our tests (almost identical to the Rugged Secure drives).

As with any SSD drive, T7 has no moving parts.

Time Machine will automatically backup your Mac and notify you how much time it will take to complete. This ensures that your backups are always up to date with the most recent versions of your filesTime Machine has a one-hour gap between backups. Hi, I am Al.

The best thing about My Passport for Mac is that it already preformatted for macOS. As it name suggests the drive was designed for mobile people, i.e. Drives that are 2TB or less are physically smaller, measuring 4.83.50.4 inches (121.687.810 millimeters and weigh a more modest 0.5 pounds (200 grams). Be mindful, though, that youll most likely have to pay for extra iCloud storage, as the free 5GB given to users isnt going to be enough. I intentionally infected my poor MacBook with malware, installed keyloggers, deleted parts of the operating system, and did other things that normal people usually avoid.

Open up finder, and on the left-hand side of the window you will see iCloud. You can easily drag folders, including apps, into the iCloud tab and they will automatically sync to your account. Unless you are really out to save your pennies, the smallest size of hard drive wed recommend is 1TB. When Time Machine runs for the first time, it takes the full backup of data on the disk. Shock protection is the most important kind for a hard drive, as unlike an SSD they have moving parts that can be permanently damaged following a drop. When browsing various drives on Amazon or Best Buy, you can see that some of them marked as compatible with Macs. USB-C and USB-A cables are included in the box, so itll work with older Macs that dont have USB-C without needing an adapter. I was able to run the Virtual Box image directly from Samsung T7. (If its an SSD you are after, read Best external SSD for Mac.). The read and write speed of T7 is almost double of corresponding values of older model T5: up to 1000 MB/s for both reads and writes. In the pop-up window type in the new name for the drive (or Additionally, T7 comes with fingerprint security (optional), which is very important for someone whos doing Time Machine backups. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); 2007-2022 Cloudwards.net - We are a professional review site that receives compensation from the companies whose products we review. Thankfully I never needed one, but its nice to have such a peace of mind option. Time Machine vs Arq vs Duplicati vs Cloudberry Backup. Apologies if the question seems stupid. I tried multiple external hard drives, and I believe I know a thing or two about the process and type of hardware that works best with the Time Machine. The ArmorATD is an enclosure with a 2.5-inch hard drive inside thats shock-mounted, and the rugged aluminum case is surrounded by a silicon sock for extra protection. This really means that the disk was preformatted for either PC or Mac, and you can use it right away with the corresponding computer. Any folder that is mirrored is automatically backed up and updated as soon as you make any changes to any file within that folder. It will withstand minor abuse, more when off than on and the disks are spinning, but your best bet with any hard drive is not to treat it like a hockey puck. The drive warranty is for three years. To do it manually, go to the Apple menu, select about this Mac, tap storage and then click manage.. If youre looking for a more affordable alternative option that still has a bit of gaming eye-candy then the FireCuda Gaming Hard Drive should fit the bill. I cant tell you how many times I was able to recover my Macs after experiments I run in order to write articles on my site. Having a hybrid backup option is one of the reasons we ranked iDrive as one of the best cloud storage services. These files quickly add up in size and take up unnecessary storage space. And, of course, you should always have an external drive available for making Time Machine back-ups in case anything ever goes wrong. Once the format is complete, the drive is ready to be used

It starts at $369/349.99 for a drive with 4TB storage, going up to $889/869.99 for 18TB, and its 7,200rpm IronWolf Pro hard drive provides strong performance with read and write speeds of 235MBps via its Thunderbolt 3 port. Now youre fully formatted and ready to go. And after going through the school of hard knocks, I realized how important it is to pick a write hard drive for Time Machine. Should damage or malfunction arise, its important to know how to backup a Mac to an external hard drive to ensure you can keep all your files.

Let us know if you liked the post. In addition to allowing you to backup your Mac to an external drive, you can also back it up to the cloud. If you dont want to spend hours cleaning up your Mac, we recommend using CleanMyMac. When formatting your hard drive, youll notice several formatting options, including Mac OS Extended journaled, MS-DOS (FAT32) and exFAT.

And T7 is crazy fast. Do i need to keep each back up file or just the most recent? Through the use of Time Machine and an external hard drive, were going to break down the full process to help you keep your files safe. The lack of those extra features doesnt make Apples own backup solution a bad option. Once you have identified which files you wish to restore, tap continue. Your Mac will begin to restore the Time Machine backup you selected. Now that youre in the Time Machine window, you need to tap select backup disk. Here youll choose where you want to backup your Mac. Thunderbolt 4 also offers 40Gbps, but has a few other advantages, including a 32Gbps data rate, which will be a benefit to anyone who needs to transfer large video files to from the drive to their desktop for editing. So, whats the best size for the Time Machine backup drive? There are several ways to remove unwanted files. produce quality hard drives: The second most important factor is storage capacity. If you get anything from this article, I want to remind you that brands matter when reliability is the most important factor in choosing a backup drive. Just plug it in and start your Time Machine backups. This is not the fastest drive, but its reliable and cheap. If I rename my boot drive after the initial Time Machine backup, will I have to start over? Select your external hard drive and press use disk.. Additionally, each LaCie drive comes with a complimentary 3-year recovery service. Weve rounded up the best Mac hard drives above, but before making a buying decision you need to think about how youll be using the device.

Ive been using LaCie external hard drives for years and they always have been super reliable and crazy fast compared to other models.

Ive been using Time Machine, a built-in backup program developed by Apple since I bought my first Mac. Apple recommends connecting your hard drive directly to your Mac with a USB, Thunderbolt or FireWire port connection, rather than using an adapter (USB to Thunderbolt, for example). To start the process of backing up your Mac to your external drive, take your cursor to the top-left side of your desktop. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Some hard drives also provide additional features, such as built-in docks with lots of Thunderbolt and USB ports, or perhaps allowing you to open up the casing of the drive and insert a new drive for an instant upgrade.

The My Passport starts at just $79.99/49.99 for 1TB storage, going up to $189/119.99 for 5TB, so its a really affordable backup option if youre on a tight budget. Western Digitals My Passport drive provides plenty of portable storage at a competitive price.

It has a sturdy metal body, so it can handle drops of up to 2 meters.

Its also free to use, whereas alternative options usually come at a cost. The transfer speed of USB 3.0 is limited to 10.0 Gbit/s max. There are several alternatives out there that offer different features than Time Machine that some users may find attractive. The X5 has a special heat sink layer which keeps the outer layer below 45 C. While technically not a hard drive, NAS devices from Buffalo are better designed for Time Machine backups. So you can use the USB cable with the old MacBook, copy data on it and then plug it into a new MacBook with TouchBar and copy again. Did not mention whether Mac needs to be connected to a power adapter when backing up to an external hard drive, which was what I was looking for. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Before backing up your Mac, its a good idea to remove as many junk files as possible. Restoring your Mac files and data is a simple and relatively quick process. Copyright 2022 IDG Communications, Inc. Services like Backblaze (read our Backblaze review or check out Backblazes website here) offer automatic backups, unlimited storage space and best-in-class encryption to ensure your files remain private and secure.

As the name suggests, LaCies 1big Dock is more than just a straightforward hard drive. Now that youve prepared for the backup process, lets show you how to backup Macs to external hard drives.

Thunderbolt 3 offers up to 40Gbps. On the other hand, if you have a pre 2016 MacBook, then this is a good storage for Time Machine backups. specifically for people with laptops. From here, well show you everything you need to do to create and save a backup of all your files, starting with tips on what you should do before you begin your backup. The G-Drive is neatly designed with a smart, sturdy aluminum casing, and it starts with a minimum of 4TB storage, going right up to 18TB, which should be enough even for professional users working with 8K video. However, exFAT will extract a 5 percent max penalty, so Mac users will want to reformat the drive.Jon L. Jacobi. While it does not have SSDs inside, it contains fast enterprise-grade hard disks (7200 rpm). Be aware that reformatting an external drive often means deleting all of its content if you still have files you dont want to lose, you will need to backup your hard drive to another computer. Here, you can choose all of the files, or just the files you prefer. Modern solid-state drives (SSD) are the best option as theyre really fast, reliable and compact. And finally, the drive is already preformatted to work both with Macs and PCs (if you need to). Samsung T7 is backed by a 3-year limited warranty.

On the left-hand side of the storage window, your files are broken down into different categories, including documents, music, photos, messages and mail. So far, weve been discussing 2 to 5 TB drives. Buffalo LinkStation 220 is a good compromise between functionality, storage capacity and price. Once the computer has been backed-up and the info is safe on the hard drive, how often should I reconnect the hard drive to update any changes? With that said, lets get into our step-by-step guide on backing up your Mac to an external drive with Time Machine. There are certain qualities that I look for when considering hard drives for any backup.

And, with its competitive pricing and handy ToolKit app, the Gaming Drive deserves to attract a wider audience than just the gaming market.Cliff Joseph. Thank you for going through each step clearly. At this point you dont need to do anything. How to Backup a Mac to an External Hard Drive in 2022.

During my experiments, I wasnt afraid to cause any damage The Armor ATD arrives formatted to exFAT so youre good to go out of the box under both Windows and macOS. The Time Machine will be. To reformat the disk in a new format, click on the Erase icon at the top. My Mac only has 250 GB of flash storage but I have a larger iCloud capacity. If you dont have time to read the entire post you can check my top 2 picks. (excluding physical) to my Macs because, after each test, I restored the last The minimum size for a Time Machine backup drive should be at least twice the size of the Mac primary storage. On the right hand side, under external, youll be able to see your hard drive. Unfortunately, with such configuration data transfer speed suffers because the adapter becomes a bottleneck. Which makes it the best choice for someone who travels a lot or even someone who carries the laptop and its accessories to school or work daily.

It recorded write and read speeds of 125MBps and 130MBps respectively in our tests, and took 110 seconds to back up a 5GB batch of iTunes music files. Theyll need to be plugged in for power; thats fine if it stay home all of the time, or moves from office to office. The amount of time it takes to backup your Mac depends on how many files you have. iDrive is one of the more popular backup solutions (read our iDrive review or check out the website here). The Ultra Touch measures 4.53.10.5 inches (115x78x12 millimeters) and weighs 0.3 pounds (151 grams), so you can easily slip it into a jacket pocket or a bag when youre traveling.

This is like a wireless jukebox you can fill with videos, photos and music. Tap encrypt disk and youre ready to move on to the next step. When you select it, you will move to the next window.

The size of the external hard drive you need all depends on how much information you need to backup. We want to keep a balance between capacity and the price, if possible. The software identifies which files are not used and recommends removing them. It provides the best disk performance required for backing up data: up to 1000 MB/s for both reads and writes. One of the most known brands for NAS is Buffalo. So, you can store up to 500,000 high resolution photos or up to 165 hours of video footage. Backing up your Mac on a regular basis is one of the best things you can do. If the backup disk gets full, the Time Machine starts deleting the oldest snapshots. If you need a faster drive go with the USB-C SSD option.

This means you just need to plug them into your desktop or laptop, no separate power supply is required. G-Drive is made by Western Digital and comes with a very sturdy aluminum body. In the Time Machine window, select options. Tap the + sign, and from here you can choose which files you wish to exclude from the backup. This means if you dont have enough space, your ability to go back will be limited. The tool gets to many of the files you cant see such as cache files, language files and system log files. Instead, Time Machine can make hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, or weekly backups for all previous months. However, there are no automated backups with disk utility, and many users believe its not as reliable as Time Machine. Buy a larger drive, though, and youre more likely to get other features. To begin formatting, ensure your external drive is connected to your Mac. You even have the option of popping open the front panel to swap out the standard hard drive and insert a new drive to provide an instant upgrade. The device is available in a number of storage sizes: By default, LinkStation 12TB is shipped configured as RAID 1 (Disk mirroring). Read our best NAS drivesfeature for more. After opening system preferences, you will notice a range of options available.Time Machine is located in the bottom row. To find the best hard drive for your needs, you need to answer a few questions. The drives high capacity means that it requires an external power supply, but the USB-C port on the back of the drive also provides 45W pass-through power, so you can use it to charge a laptop without needing a separate power supply for the laptop as well. Its equipped with only an old USB A interface (even though it is USB 3.2) perhaps to provide compatibility with older games consoles, so youll need an adapter if your Mac only has USB-C. Its 7,200-rpm drive provides very good performance, reaching read and write speeds of 245MBps and 240MBps, respectively. Very frustrating. Online Storage or Online Backup: What's The Difference? Well, if you someone like me, who has 6 MacBooks at home and you dont want to buy separate hard drives to back each one (and you have to back up regularly), you may buy one huge hard drive and create multiple volumes (for each Mac). The primary Thunderbolt port also provides power for charging a MacBook laptop as well.

In other words, this device will not be a bottleneck when backing up. Below are the reviews weve got along with general buying advice that explains what you should be looking for. Writes are important when taking backups, and reads are significant when restoring. Ideally, you want as much storage as you can get. There are plenty of choices, too, with compact, portable hard drives designed for use with laptops, and desktop drives with very larger capacities if you really need a lot of storage. Cloudwards updated this article to include the Time Machine recovery process, how to back up without an external drive, and how to remove junk files. Its not just for gaming, of course, and its available with 1TB, 2TB or 5TB of storage, so it provides plenty of room for all your music, photos, videos, and work files. The connection is USB-C with a speed rating of 5Gbps (USB 3.1/Gen 1)plenty fast enough for any hard drive. The 4TB drive is still small enough to slip into jacket pocket with no trouble at all. If only an ultra-high capacity hard drive will do, consider a desktop unit. If Amazon is your choice when it comes to purchasing anything online, be aware that not all user reviews are real.

USB-C is based on USB 3.1 and offers up to 10Gbps.

It will save both time and space when doing manual or automatic backups, as well as when you restore your Mac files. Although Time Machine is the default option for backing up your Mac, it doesnt mean its the best. Its a good idea to do this, as restoring your Mac may take several hours, depending on the size of your backup. Upgrades to 2TB, 3TB, and even 4TB are also cost-effectivethe price per megabyte goes down the higher the capacity, so making the bump up to the next model is a good idea. Is there anything we didnt cover that you wish we did? Cloudwards.net may earn a small commission from some purchases made through our site. Walked me through very simply and now I am using Time Machine for my back-ups. We test each product thoroughly and give high marks to only the very best. But a fast drive will also appeal to anyone that has a lot of photo, video, and audio files that they want to store on their Mac, and the D10 has other features that can come in handy too. G-Tech has always focused on providing high-performance storage devices for creative users who work with lots of photos, video, and audio files, and the G-Drive USB-C is an affordable desktop drive that provides good performance and bucket-loads of storage space. This means that this drive can transfer a 20GB 4K UHD video from your Mac in just 12 seconds. Ever since Apple discontinued the AirPort Time Capsule, users were forced to use bulky external drives connecting with multiple cables. If you want to know how to speed up the backup process, check my article here. Also, note that this external device is pretty big and it is not strictly portable. deal. Backing up a 5GB batch of iTunes songs took exactly one minute.Cliff Joseph. Theres also a version of the G-Drive that has both USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 ports, but thats a lot more expensive, so this USB-C model is the best option if you simply want lots of hard drive storage at an affordable price.Cliff Joseph. Time Machine only recognizes the drives formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), also known as HFS+.

Select it and press continue., If you have made several backups, choose which one you want to restore and press continue..

A few also have water resistance.

Good stuff.

It even allows you to customize the lighting and colors emitted from the drives front panel. This means you are unable to duplicate your hard drive and easily use it to boot up your system and all its contents, without going through the full process of restoring your files. Every Mac sold by Apple in the past few years features a USB-C style connector, although some Mac desktops still offer the older USB standard as well. computers as long as they have proper connectors. If you need a larger drive than T7, then check out Western Digital My Passport for Mac Portable External Hard Drive.