How to Set up Time Machine for a Mac

Many things might happen to your Mac computer, so nothing is more important than having a regular file backups of all your content. What if you have accidentally deleted something important on your Mac? Or you want the files back that you have deleted? To prevent this situation from happening, you must always backup your important data.

So, you must be wondering how we can take regular backups of our important data and files. The answer is simple, with the help of a Time Machine.

Time Machine allows you to keep your personal documents and files safe with them in the form of backup. Backing up on the Mac might be confusing to some people who are new to using Mac computers. But, backing up using a time machine is an easy process. Anyone can do this and can keep their important stuff backed up every time.

If you want to know how you can backup your personal data too with the help of Time Machine then you are at the right place. In this article, we are going to show you how to set up Time Machine for Mac.

How Does Time Machine Works?

I know some of you might be still confused that what Time Machine actually is what the use of Time Machine, right? A Time Machine is a built-in backup software that comes pre-installed on all Mac computers. Time Machine allows you to create hourly backups and makes things easy and convenient for us. As you can revert back anything if something happens to your Mac or you have deleted something.

Time Machine backups your entire drive completely so, you can recreate everything on your computer by restoring from a Time Machine Backup. This means it will keep your daily backup including all the files on your computer maybe its apps, music, documents, photos, and whatnot. When time Machine is enabled, it will automatically back up your Mac data. And it will start performing hourly, daily, and weekly backups of your each and every content. So, now that you have understood what a time machine does. Let’s see how you can set up your Time Machine for your Mac.

What you need to set up the Time Machine?

These are the following backup methods that you can use to set up your Mac’s Time Machine.

You will need a large external storage drive connected to your Mac, such as a USB, Firewire, or Thunderbolt hard drive.
NAS drive Network-attached storage which supports Time Machine, which your Mac connects through a Wi-Fi network.
An Airport Time Capsule or external drive that is connected to an AirPort Time capsule.

How to Enable Time Machine for automatic backups:

Select the Apple logo on the top-left side of your Mac’s menu bar.
Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
Choose the Time Machine option.
Select Automatic Backups on the left side of the Time Machine window.
Choose a drive you want to use to store your backups.

How to Set Up Time Machine on a Mac Using External Drive:

To set up your time machine you will need an external drive plugged into your Mac, make sure that you have large storage drive to fit your data. Follow these steps so you can start using Time Machine on Mac, shall we?

The first thing you have to do is to connect an external hard drive to your Mac.
Click on the Apple icon which is given on the top left side of your Mac screen.
When the dropdown appears, you have to select System Preferences.
Then click Time Machine.
Next, you have select the Backup Disk option.
Then select a drive you want to and click Use Disk.
At last, check the box next to Back up Automatically. This will allows you to start backing up your Mac immediately.

Maybe if your Mac does not start to back up immediately, then you can start the process manually. To do this, click the box next to Show Time Machine in the menu bar. Then click the Time Machine icon in your menu bar and select the option Back Up Now.

How to restore backup files from a Time Machine:

As you can store your backups on the Time Machine, you can also get back the items you have once stored on your Time Machine. Follow these steps to understand how to restore files from a Time Machine.

On your Mac’s menu bar, select the Apple logo on the top-left side of the screen.
Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
Choose the Time Machine option.
Check the box next to Show Time Machine in the menu bar.
Select Enter Time Machine after clicking the Time Machine icon in the Menu bar.
Find the file or folder you want to restore back and click on restore.
Wait for a while as your data is transferring.

Conclusion:

Time Machine is one of the best useful Backup features for every Mac user. By reading the above-given instructions in this article, you can set up your Time Machine on your Mac and also learned how to restore files from a Time Machine. Backing up your Mac is important, and everyone should do it once in a while. Now, you understand how to set up your Time Machine on your Mac without any problems. Hopefully, now you can keep backups of your Mac.