A reader wrote this week thanking me for a recent article about how to back up a Windows 10 computer. She wants the same advice for her iMac.
The most important thing is to find an easy backup strategy you like and stick with it.
For Mac users, Apple tries to make it as easy as possible by building it into the operating system.
Apple introduced a feature in Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) called Time Machine that’s the easiest way to back up a Mac.
First, you need to buy an external hard drive (or flash drive) at least as big as the drive inside your Mac — preferably bigger.
If you buy a new drive, look for one that’s formatted for Apple Macintosh computers.
The drive will likely connect to your Mac via USB. When you plug the drive in for the first time, the computer should present you a dialog box asking whether you’d like to use this new drive as a Time Machine backup destination.
You’ll want to say yes.
Boom. You’re done. That’s all there is to it.
The Mac will take a few hours to copy all the data from your iMac’s drive to the new disk, and then once an hour, Time Machine will scan your drive for files it needs to back up.
You can use this backup disk to restore your entire drive to a different Mac if yours dies. You can also use the disk to retrieve individual files or folders after they’ve been deleted.
If you had a PDF on your desktop last week and now it’s gone, you can launch Time Machine from your dock or Application folder and use the timeline on the right side of the screen to move back a few days in time to a point where the file still existed.
Click on the file and click the “restore” button to bring it back with you to the current desktop.
For many people, using this method to set up a single Time Machine backup drive is enough, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t warn you of the risks.
If your house burns down or your computer is stolen, chances are the backup drive will be gone, too.
To be even safer, you can use more than one backup drive or even an offsite or online backup.
You can have as many Time Machine backup drives as you like. You could plug in a second drive, let the Mac back up the files for a few days, then unplug it and store it somewhere safe.
I have friends who keep a copy of each other’s backup drives at their houses.
Of course, an offsite backup won’t be up to date with all your files, but if your computer is stolen, that month-old backup will be a lifesaver.
Finally, an online backup service like CrashPlan or Carbonite can back up your files over your internet connection.
You’ll pay for the service, but you’ll never have to worry about keeping the backup safe.
Here's a chart comparing backup services from PC Magazine: bit.ly/1eiWR68.
This isn’t supposed to be a comprehensive guide to backing up, but hopefully it’ll nudge some people into protecting their files for the first time.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Jim Rossman writes for The Dallas Morning News. He may be reached at jrossman@dallasnews.com.
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