OS X Mavericks allows you to manually back up your Mac. If you’re too cheap to buy a second hard drive, the most rudimentary way to back up is to do it manually. You accomplish this by dragging said files a. Terminal provides a command line interface to control the UNIX-based operating system that lurks below macOS (or Mac OS X). Here's everything you need to know about Terminal, and what it can do. For the Mac OS X bundled rsync 2.6.9 you can use the following line to achieve the same, but with the extra speed of delta copy. I do use aRsync for another task, but that was also a voyage of fear.) # How to use.
Are you looking for a way to backup your Mac data without setting up Time Machine? Although Time Machine automatically backs up data, many users still look for a simple way to back up their data. Well then, here you go. This article explains how you can back up Mac OS data without Time Machine.
External storage device:
This is one of the most common methods to backup Mac data without setting up Time Machine. You have to manually back up data to an external hard drive or USB drive. Connect the external hard drive or USB disk to the Mac computer. Follow the steps mentioned below to backup data.
- Click on Finder – Preference – then check the Hard Disks box under Show these items on the desktop
- Now open backup disk, create a file folder and give it a name – for e.g: Backup
- Next open Mac disk, click on Users file folder and then select all files, including folders that you wish to backup
- Now drag all these selected files and folders to the Backup file folder that you created
- Wait for the copying process to complete
You need to wait for quite some time if you have a lot of big files to be copied to the external storage device.
Additional Information: If you have to recover deleted files from Mac Terminal, then follow this link to know how it can be done easily.
iCloud:
Here, you can back up Mac data to iCloud.
- Click on Apple menu in the upper left corner of your screen
- Click on System Preferences from the drop-down menu
- Now click on the iCloud icon
- If you are not logged in automatically, then enter your Apple ID and password
- To know how much storage is there in your plan, or to upgrade, click on Manage option and click Change Storage Plan…
- Check the box next to iCloud Drive (You can now store files on iCloud. Choose iCloud Drive in any Save dialog box, or drag files to iCloud Drive. Also, you can select which apps have permission to access iCloud Drive by clicking on Options button next to iCloud Drive.)
- Finally, you can select the types of files to be stored on iCloud. You can check the required boxes below iCloud Drive. For instance, Photos, Mail, Calendars, Notes, Contacts, etc.
So here are 2 methods by which you can backup Mac data without Time Machine.
Psst: If your archive file has been accidentally deleted, then you can use this software to quickly recover deleted archive file on Mac OS.
Use Time Machine, the built-in backup feature of your Mac, to automatically back up your personal data, including apps, music, photos, email, and documents. Having a backup allows you to recover files that were deleted, or that were lost because the hard disk (or SSD) in your Mac needed to be erased or replaced. Learn how to restore your Mac from a backup.
Create a Time Machine backup
To create backups with Time Machine, all you need is an external storage device. After you connect the storage device and select it as your backup disk, Time Machine automatically makes hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all previous months. The oldest backups are deleted when your backup disk is full.
Connect an external storage device
Connect one of the following external storage devices, sold separately. Learn more about backup disks that you can use with Time Machine.
- External drive connected to your Mac, such as a USB or Thunderbolt drive
- Network-attached storage (NAS) device that supports Time Machine over SMB
- Mac shared as a Time Machine backup destination
- AirPort Time Capsule, or external drive connected to an AirPort Time capsule or AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac)
Select your storage device as the backup disk
- Open Time Machine preferences from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. Or choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Time Machine.
- Click Select Backup Disk.
- Select your backup disk from the list of available disks. To make your backup accessible only to users who have the backup password, you can select “Encrypt backups”. Then click Use Disk:
If the disk you selected isn't formatted as required by Time Machine, you're prompted to erase the disk first. Click Erase to proceed. This erases all information on the backup disk.
Enjoy the convenience of automatic backups
After you select a backup disk, Time Machine immediately begins making periodic backups—automatically and without further action by you. The first backup may take a long time, but you can continue using your Mac while a backup is underway. Time Machine backs up only the files that changed since the previous backup, so future backups will be faster.
To start a backup manually, choose Back Up Now from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. Use the same menu to check the status of a backup or skip a backup in progress.
Learn more
How To Do A Manual Backup Using Terminal In Macbook Pro
- Learn about other ways to back up and restore files
- If you back up to multiple disks, you can press and hold the Option key, then choose Browse Other Backup Disks from the Time Machine menu.
- To exclude items from your backup, open Time Machine preferences, click Options, then click the add (+) button to add an item to be excluded. To stop excluding an item, such as an external hard drive, select the item and click the remove (–) button.
- If using Time Machine to back up to a network disk, you can verify those backups to make sure they're in good condition. Press and hold Option, then choose Verify Backups from the Time Machine menu.