Apple Mac tips: How to back up a Mac

Apple Mac is one of the best computers you can buy right now on the market. Apple has been improving its Mac lineup for years in an attempt to offer a better user experience. In reality, Apple Mac receives major hardware upgrades on an annual basis. This year, Apple announced a refresh to its Mac family with the addition of Intel’s 8^th gen Coffee Lake processors and improved design. Specifically, Apple announced the new MacBook Pro in July following months of anticipation. However, the new model failed to live up to expectations as it has seen a slow sales performance and carries a high price tag. In October, the highly-awaited MacBook Air took the center stage at a launch event. The new Air 2018 is a huge upgrade over its predecessors.

The new MacBook Air is the first in the series to feature a Retina display. Apple says that the screen on the new Air sports a resolution of 2560×1600 pixels, offering a much-improved picture quality and more details. The new laptop is also thinner than the previous model despite having the same screen size. If you are planning to grab the new MacBook Air this year, then we recommend you back up your data. In reality, Apple is making backing up a Mac much easier than before thanks to its built-in tools. Indeed, macOS includes a number of handy tools that help you back up your data, which eliminates the need for any additional software or programs.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to back up your Mac. Before we proceed, make sure you now have a modern software update on your Mac. To update a Mac, open System Preferences, then click Software Update and hit the Update Now button. Now just simply install any available updates.

1. Time Machine

Time Machine is the safest and quickest way to back up a Mac. Backing up helps users protect their data from the prying eyes or in case something wrong comes up. In reality, Time Machine has been part of macOS for years, offering the best backup solution for your Mac. Time Machine not only backs up your Mac but also keeps your daily backups so you can recover anything in the blink of an eye.

While Time Machine is pretty useful, one major drawback is that it won’t back up unless you have an external storage device by your side. Time Machine works best with all hard drives or SSDs on the market. If you are now in the market for an external hard drive, then we recommend you get the Western Digital My Passport 4TB, a brilliant hard drive for Mac.

Assuming that you have met the above requirements, let’s proceed with our step-by-step guide. You can follow our steps below:

Step one: First off, plug an external hard drive into your Mac using the cable, and then click Use as Backup Disk from the pop-up menu

Step two: If you don’t see the pop-up menu, then open System Preferences and click Time Machine

Step three: Click Select Backup Disk, then select your external hard drive from the list of options (make sure you enable Encrypt Backup option) and click Use Disk to complete the task.

2. iCloud

If you are looking for a Time Machine alternative, then iCloud backup should be a better choice. In reality, iCloud is one of the highlights of Apple products, offering the perfect tool for storing your personal data. In this case, you can use iCloud to back up your Mac. The process is pretty simple and you can follow our guide below.

For some background, iCloud Storage offers 5GB of free storage for all users. You can purchase additional storage for up to 2TB ($9.99 per month). We recommend you upgrade your storage plan as the 5GB limit is not enough for most users.

Step one: Click on Apple icon at the top of the display and then click System Preferences from the drop-down menu

Step two: Next up, sign into iCloud and then check the box next to iCloud

Step three: Click on the Options box and check off all kinds of data you wish to back up to iCloud

Step four: Once you are done, trigger the Finder and you should see an iCloud Drive folder on the left side. Click on it and move anything that’s not in Cloud onto the folder.

Keep in mind that iCloud won’t back up everything on your Mac like Time Machine as it only moves files to the cloud. However, the best part is that you access your data on any Mac.

3. Dropbox or OneDrive

There are multiple storage services out there you can pick from. One such service is Dropbox. In reality, Dropbox is one of the most popular storage services on the market. With Dropbox, you can move anything to the cloud and access your data across all devices.

There are several Dropbox storage plans to help you protect your data from the prying eyes. A Dropbox Basis account includes 2GB of free storage, while the Plus subscription offers 1 TB of space and additional features.

These are the best ways to back up a Mac. If you have got a favorite, then feel free to let us know in the comments below.