In this article, we will cover the different ways you can back up a Mac, including locally, using Time Machine, and with an external hard drive. We will also go over what to do before backing a Mac up.
Apple's Time Machine is the de facto standard for OS X Server. It's included in all modern versions of OS X Server and functions as a service by which all of your networked nodes. I’d like to take this opportunity to say I’ve been extremely happy with Carbon Copy Cloner and Bombich Software over the four years I’ve been a customer. CCC is a truly outstanding piece of crafted software with top-notch support (I love the integrated help and support features) offered by a reliable and professionally-run company.
- You can start creating your own backup strategy with these five free backup applications for macOS. MacOS, like all major operating systems, comes with a built-in backup utility. Unlike other built-in backup offerings, Time Machine is actually extremely useful. Plug in a hard drive, set Time Machine to go, and everything else.
- Acronis True Image 2020. Get Backup Pro (V3) Backblaze. This is macOS’ built-in back software. Being designed primarily for Mac, it’s easy to use and copies everything on your Mac, including applications, accounts, email, messages, documents, photos, music, videos, system files, and preferences.
- SuperDuper is the most advanced, yet easy to use disk copying program available for macOS. It can, of course, make a full backup, or 'clone' — in moments, you can completely duplicate your boot drive to another drive, partition, or image file. In even less time, you can update an existing clone with the latest data: use Smart Update.
Never lose your data on Mac. Grab top-rated tools that will create bootable backups of your disk in a click.
Free on SetappHow to prepare your Mac for a backup
Hard drives have finite space, and that space can run out quickly if you’re continually backing up items that you don’t need.
To ensure that your hard drive has enough room for all of the important stuff, you should use CleanMyMac X routinely to detect and instantly remove system files and folders, hogging up space.
CleanMyMac X’s Smart Scan feature scans your Mac for outdated cache files, incomplete downloads, trashed items, and other unneeded junk files to find the things that are safe to get rid off. And using it couldn’t be easier.
1. Download CleanMyMac X (for free).
2. Launch the app and select Smart Cleanup.
3. Hit Scan and wait while CleanMyMac readies items for cleaning.
4. Hit Clean and watch in awe as your hard drive suddenly gains free space that you never thought was possible.
How to back up your Mac locally
A local backup is the fastest way to backup your data. It involves moving your files over to an external hard drive. HDDs and SSDs have dropped greatly in price in recent years, so you should be able to pick one up relatively cheaply with a decent capacity. Local backup is a safe and reliable way to safeguard all of your important files, and it’s really easy to do.
How to back up your Mac to an external hard drive using the Time Machine
Mac’s built-in Time Machine feature is the easiest way to perform local backups. If you’re using an iMac, you can keep your hard drive connected to your computer and set Time Machine to perform scheduled automated backups. Of course, this isn’t always practical for MacBook users who often work on the go.
Best Mac Backup App
Here's how to back up your Mac with Time Machine:
- Go to System Preferences > Time Machine.
- Click Select Disk and choose your hard drive.
- Click Use Disk.
If the hard drive you've chosen isn't formatted as Time Machine requires, you will see a prompt asking you to erase the disk. This will remove everything from your backup disk, so you might want to transfer any files over to a different device.
If you've made big changes on your Mac and want Time Machine to back it up immediately, go to System Preferences > Time Machine. Check the box next to 'Show Time Machine in the menu bar.' Now click the menu bar icon and select Back Up Now to back up your Mac.
How to back up your Mac files manually
If you only want to backup certain files, you can do this manually using drag-and-drop.
- Open the Finder and select your hard drive.
- Open the window that includes the folders that you want to move.
- Drag-and-drop the folders into the hard drive window.
Cloning your Mac backup hard drive
Cloning lets you create a bootable copy of your hard drive for an extra layer of protection that you can fall back on if your Mac is out of action.
With a tool like Get Backup Pro, you can clone your hard drive and be sure you’ll be able to boot the backup anytime — be it APFS or HFS+.
How to back up your Mac with iCloud
Local backups are quick and easy, but, like your Mac, physical hard drives are susceptible to failure and catastrophes like flood, fire, or burglary. Storing data in the cloud removes these risks, and it too is very straightforward, particularly in the case of iCloud.
Once iCloud is up and running, you no longer have to worry about losing any of your photos, music, mail, contacts, calendars, reminders, notes, or Safari data. iCloud gives you 5GB of free storage to get you started, with options to upgrade to as much as 2TB of storage space.
Before setting up iCloud to automatically backup your data, make sure you’re running the latest macOS version. You can find this out by choosing About This Mac from the Apple menu and checking if an update is available.
- Go to System Preferences and click Apple ID.
- Select iCloud.
- Sign in with your Apple ID if you're prompted.
- Choose iCloud Drive.
If you want to back up your Desktop and Documents folders to iCloud Drive, click Options next to iCloud Drive. Select Desktop & Documents Folders. These two folders will now appear in the iCloud section of your sidebar in Finder.
Make sure to check the boxes next to anything else you want to be stored in iCloud.
Save Mac data with live cloud backups
Daily backups are great, but what happens if you’re in the middle of an important assignment and your Mac suddenly crashes? You lose everything you’ve been working on for the past hour.
To prevent this, it’s worth knowing how to backup your MacBook Pro or iMac using live backups. Live backups save everything you’re working on as you go in the same way that iCloud instantly saves your photos to the cloud.
There are dozens of tools out there to help you back up and sync data in real-time, but the big players are the best: Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, and Amazon AWS. For encryption and expanded storage space, use CloudMounter to connect your cloud storage accounts to Mac’s Finder.
Don’t risk losing your important files
Backup your Mac now! Don’t put it off. System failure can happen at any time and for any number of reasons. We really don’t want it to happen to you. Use a combination of local and cloud backups so that you’re protected against every eventuality, and make the most of a tool like CleanMyMac X to ensure your hard drives never run out of space.
CleanMyMac X is the easiest way to rid your Mac of system junk, ensuring your hard drives always have space for important things. Download it for free today.
08 September 2021
Mac users, like any computer owners, should make a habit of backing up the data on their computers. Yet many people don’t bother. According to Backblaze in a 2021 poll conducted in the US, one out of five Americans who own a computer have never performed a backup of their data. That’s 20% of the computer-owning population.
Just 11% of people back up their data once a day or more, which is shocking if you consider how much personal information people tend to store on their devices. This is up from last year, but the message is clear: people aren’t backing up often enough.
It should go without saying, but it’s incredibly important to back up your valuable files so you can restore them in the event of theft, data corruption or damage to your Mac. But what's the best way to do that and keep your data safe?
Free Backup Software For Mac Os X Os
We looked at five of the best backup tools for Mac to find out.
The best backup software for Mac
- SuperDuper! for best all-round backups
- Carbon Copy Cloner for bootable recovery
- ChronoSync for ease of use
- Smart Backup for greatest value
- Disk Drill for recovering lost files
SuperDuper!In a world where the slightest mistake can lead to data loss, SuperDuper! is an essential app. It's easy enough for anybody with any level of computer skills to use. You just pick your source and destination drives and watch as it clones them flawlessly. No more lost photos or documents because of accidental deletions or formatting issues.
SuperDuper! includes a Smart Wake feature, which allows you to back up your Mac without turning on the screen. It does this by detecting when backups start and turns off displays so that no changes happen after initial backups are complete.
You can even choose what type of files you want backed up – for example, just music or certain applications.
The best part about it, though, is there are no monthly charges or subscriptions. You can back up and clone drives for free. And you only need to pay if you want to use advanced features like scheduling, Smart Update, sandboxes and scripting.
Pros: Packed full of features
Cons: Basic-looking user interface
Trial: None
Price: $27.95
Download: available here
Carbon Copy Cloner
No stranger to backing up data is Carbon Copy Cloner. The company immediately sets your mind at ease with its motto 'Casually Confront Catastrophe'. Carbon Copy Cloner is a simple cloning tool that backs up your internal hard drive at the bit level.
You can boot off the backup disk or clone and install a new drive with this application, which allows you to choose whichever files and folders you want to back up. This is great if you don’t want to waste too much time with your backups, allowing you to focus instead on the most important information on your Mac.
It features smart updates, backing up only what's changed since last time it checked. You can also schedule your backups and even pause a backup that’s in progress if you need to do something on your Mac while it’s busy.
Pros: Fast backups that can be booted if needed
Cons: There’s no free version available
Trial: Free 30-day trial.
Mac Backup Tool
Price: $39.99 for all computers within a household
Download:available here
ChronoSync
Rather than only being a backup tool, ChronoSync includes both backup and synchronization capabilities. It allows you to back up — including bootable backups — to almost any external device or service, including iPads, iPhones, Windows PCs, and some cloud services.
This means any changes that are made to certain files can be backed up as they’re detected. This has the positive effect of freeing up system resources, because your Mac isn’t left backing up files that haven't changed.
You can set up rules, manual exclusions, filters and much more, making this one of the most customizable backup tools available.
There’s also an entry-level version called ChronoSync Express. It doesn’t have the power of its more expensive sibling, but it’s still an excellent option for creating bootable backups.
ChronoSync is still under active development, and it’s been updated over 70 times since 2002. That’s good news, because it means the developer is likely to support the latest updates from Apple.
Pros: Mature product under active development, free updates for life
Cons: Not all users need this many features, pricing might be a little high for home users
Trial: 15-day free trial
Price: $49.99
Best Backup System For Mac
Download: available here
SmartBackup
SmartBackup is a handy utility for macOS, which will help you sync and back up folders, files or volumes. SmartBackup features different configurations for multiple destinations as well as the ability to exclude some items from being backed up.
The software has built-in automation so it can operate on its own without your input. This feature also ensures safe backups in case of power loss at an unsociable time!
SmartBackup will optionally archive changed or deleted files in time-stamped folders. This feature includes a built-in search panel that'll show you multiple versions of the file, neatly organized into results for easy retrieval by date and time grouping. You can sync between internal and external hard drives, RAIDs (and other similar platforms), Xsan volumes, NAS devices — really anything macOS supports!
On macOS installations using HFS, it has an option to create bootable clones of startup disks as well. So if there’s ever any sort of catastrophe with your system disk's integrity, Smart Backup will come in handy.
The pricing is also very appealing: it’s completely free.
Pros: A good backup tool that costs nothing
Cons: Lacks some advanced features found elsewhere
Trial: Free
Backup Utility Mac
Price: Free
Download:available here
Disk Drill is different to the other tools we’ve looked at here. It’s not a backup utility. Instead, it’s a multi-platform recovery tool that gives you the ability to recover lost files, whether they’ve been removed from your system deliberately or accidentally.
Disk Drill is one of the most powerful data recovery tools on the market. The free version lets you scan your Mac or connected devices for deleted files that can be recovered, and then it uses its preview feature to show you which items are recoverable. But if you want them back, you’ll need to purchase a license.
Free Backup Software For Mac Os X Latest
Disk Drill also supports iOS and Android file recovery too, so even your mobile devices can be recovered in the event of an emergency.
Pros: Great for recovering lost files
Cons: This is not a backup tool, it’s for recoveries only
Trial: Free version available, for scanning only
Price: $89 for Pro, $499 for Enterprise
Best Free Backup Software For Mac Os X
Download: available here
What makes a good Mac backup app?
Looking at some of the best backups for Mac, here’s what we think are the most important features to look out for.
- Full disk cloning. If your backup software can clone your entire system disk to a bootable copy, then it could save your bacon one day.
- Scheduling features. Although you might want to do manual backups as well, scheduled, automatic backups will save you a lot of time and effort.
- Custom backups. Instead of full disk backups, sometimes you want to back up just the files and folders that are most important to you. Having custom backup features will enable you to do this.
The bottom line
The best backup software for macOS depends on your needs. SuperDuper! is great if you need a simple, easy-to-use solution to make an exact copy of your hard drive every time it's plugged in. ChronoSync has the ability to automate backups from multiple sources, so you never have to worry about forgetting to back up again.
Carbon Copy Cloner is a more powerful app with tons of options for scheduling and even making encrypted copies of your hard drive. That’s great if you need something flexible enough to be run on a schedule but still need to customize what you back up. For a free option, SmartBackup has a lot to offer too, so it’s well worth considering.
But if you just want to recover lost files, then Disk Drill could help you – particularly if you’re one of the many people who forget to back up.