With the news that Apple has officially discontinued its AirPort lineup, many users will look to backing up their Macs with something other than Apple’s Time Capsule or AirPort Extreme with a connected external drive. Follow along for how to back up a Mac to Time Machine with any hard drive.
Apple’s AirPort products go all the way back to 1999, with its first gen Time Capsule launching almost a decade later in 2008. The most recent AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule models were released back in 2013. Now, all remaining AirPort products will be sold while supplies last. For more on Apple’s discontinuation and some great alternatives, check out our coverage here.
If you’ve been using a Time Capsule or just want to back up your Mac on a fresh drive, read on.
How to backup a Mac to Time Machine with any hard drive
Troubleshooting Time Machine. If Time Machine has trouble locating your backup disk, confirm the drive is connected to your Mac and turned on. If the drive is connected to a different computer on the same network, make sure the other computer hasn't fallen asleep or been turned off. 6 Best Time Machine Alternatives for Windows. 6 Best Time Machine Alternatives for Windows. Last Updated. Things can be restored to their exact state (hence the name “Time Machine”) at the time of restoring the backup. In practice, Time Machine is one of the most reliable and secure backup solutions out there. Beebom is a new media.
- Plug in your external hard drive to your Mac
- When you see the Time Machine prompt, click Use as Backup Disk
- Your backup will begin automatically
- Alternately, you can click the Time Machine icon in the menu bar and choose Back Up Now
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How Time Machine works and detailed walkthrough
Once Time Machine is configured properly, your Mac will backup hourly for the past 24 hours, daily for the past month and will save a weekly backup for all previous months to an external hard drive or external SSD (solid state drive). You can use most external hard drives, but it will need to be formatted for macOS if it didn’t come that way from the manufacturer.
If you don’t have an external hard drive or want to get another one, this 1TB (1,000GB) option by Seagate is great for $55. It’s plug and play ready, doesn’t need an external power source, and has a large enough capacity for most people (check how much storage you’re using by clicking in the top left → About This Mac → Storage). Seagate also offers 2 and 4TB options.
The only reasons your Time Machine automatic backups will stop is if you turn the feature off manually, eject/unplug your external hard drive, or turn off your computer. If you turn your machine off regularly or use a MacBook, your backups will continue automatically when you plug your external drive back in and your Mac is on.
The beautiful part about Time Machine is that it will keep backing up your new information even if your drive fills up, in which case it will delete the oldest backups.
Here’s how to set up an automatic backup with Time Machine on your Mac with an external hard drive:
When you plug your external hard drive in for the first time, this dialog box will appear (external drives that don’t need a power source will power on automatically when plugged in, hard drives that use an external power source may have an on/off switch). Click Use as Backup Disk.
You’ll notice in the middle area of the Time Machine window that your backup will start automatically. The Back Up Automatically box will be checked by default.
You can also check the Show Time Machine in menu bar at the bottom of the Time Machine window to have quick access and control to Time Machines settings and info. You can choose to Back Up Now if you don’t want to wait for the next scheduled one to occur.
You may also notice if you are using a MacBook that the automatic backup may not start until you plug in your power adapter.
Once your backup has started you’ll see the details of your backup and a time estimate (take the estimate with a big grain of salt. This backup estimated 14-19 minutes, but it ended up actually taking two hours).
When your backup is complete you’ll see it in the Time Machine window as well in the menu bar. If you ever need to get back to Time Machine preferences and don’t have the menu bar option turned on you can find it by clicking top left of your Mac → System Preferences → Time Machine.
For more help getting the most out of your Apple devices, check out our how to guide as well as the following articles:
Time Machine is the built-in backup utility of Macs. Aside from being free, it offers a simple way to back up all your files and programs and move them to another Mac as needed. However, as the contents of your Mac increases, they also require bigger backup space. When there is not sufficient storage for the backup file, Time Machine backup process may be interrupted or worse, corrupted. Of course, for every tech problem, there’s a solution. In this article, we will walk you through the measures to take when Time Machine for Mac fails due to lack of space. We’ll also show you how to reduce the size of your Time Machine backup file.
What to Do When Time Machine Backup Fails
As your Mac’s content grows in number and size, you are likely to see the following messages more often when Time Machine tries to back up your computer:
This backup is too large for the backup disk
Time Machine could not complete the backup
Back up requires _ GB but only _ GB are available
Time Machine could not complete the backup
Back up requires _ GB but only _ GB are available
All of these messages mean that there is not enough space for Time Machine to perform its function. To the uninformed, the first solution that may come to mind is to get a new hard drive. However, that’s not entirely necessary. There are two workarounds you can try:
- Delete older backup files
- Change some information on the current backup so it will require less space
By the way, before you back up your Mac, take note of these reminders:
- Do not copy data, files, and information that you can practically do without to your backup drive as they will only consume storage space.
- Do not copy data, files, and information to your backup drive that will automatically be backed up by Time Machine anyway.
- Check if more than one Mac is using the drive you intend to use for backup. It is particularly necessary if you’re using a shared network attached storage (NAS) drive.
Deleting Old Time Machine Backups to Free Up Space
By default, Time Machine automatically deletes the oldest backup files whenever it creates a new one or when it detects that the disk assigned to it is already full. However, there will be times when you will have to do it manually yourself, especially when you are trying to back up a lot of information. Usually, when a user hasn’t made a Time Machine backup for a while, the resulting backup file will be huge. Moreover, even if Time Machine automatically deletes some of the older backups, the more recent ones might be left behind.
If you have a spare drive to use for the backup, you can use that. But if you don’t, then the easiest way to free up some space is to delete old backup files that Time Machine was unable to delete automatically. Here’s how to do it:
- Connect the drive to your Mac. Typically, it will mount on the Desktop.
- Open the drive to view the contents in Finder.
- Click on the folder with the name Backups.backups.
- The folders of the backed up files will be listed from oldest to newest.
- Select a folder/s you want to delete. It’s best to delete the oldest ones since you probably don’t need them any longer.
- Right-click or control-click on the folder. Click on Move to Trash.
- A warning that reads “You can’t undo this action. Do you want to move the backup to the Trash anyway?” will pop up. Click on Continue.
- Type in your password if asked.
- To make sure that the folder is completely deleted from the drive, go to the Trash. If you still see the folder/s there, right-click on it, then click Delete Immediately.
- Confirm that you want to delete the folder/s. Type in your password again when asked.
- Warnings that say it cannot be deleted because it or the drive is in use may pop up. Just click on skip and continue deleting.
Here’s another way to delete old Time Machine backup files:
- Click on your drive’s icon on the Desktop to see its contents in Finder.
- In the menu bar, click on Time Machine, then Enter Time Machine.
- Locate the backup you want to delete. Click on it.
- Click on the gear icon, then click on Delete All Backups of (folder name).
- A pop-up warning will show, asking if you’re sure you want to delete all backups of the selected folder permanently. Confirm the action by clicking OK.
- Enter your password when asked.
Deleting a Large File From a Backup
If you’re not comfortable with deleting an entire backup, but you believe that there is a huge file or folder that you don’t necessarily need yet was backed up by Time Machine, you can delete that instead of getting rid of the entire backup folder. Here’s how to do that:
![Program Time Machine For Mac Program Time Machine For Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126444896/168070453.jpg)
- While the drive is connected to your Mac, open it in Finder.
- Find the item you want to delete from the backup folders.
- Click on Time Machine in the menu bar, then Enter Time Machine.
- Navigate to the time of backup that you want to delete, then click on the gear icon.
- Click Delete Backup.
- Type in your password when asked.
Excluding Items From Your Backup to Reduce Backup Size
If you want to keep the size of your Time Machine backup in check, you may specify which items to back up and which ones to ignore. To exclude items from being backed up by Time Machine, do these steps:
- Click Time Machine in the Finder menu.
- Click on Open Time Machine Preferences, then click on Options.
- You should see a list of items that are automatically excluded when you create a Time Machine backup.
- Click on the (+) icon to add more items to exclude from Time Machine backup.
Other Tips to Keep Time Machine Backup Size Small
To make sure that you don’t encounter any more problems during Time Machine back up related to lack of sufficient storage space, consider these tips:
- Do not back up your entire music library. Instead, sign up for iTunes Match. This way, your music library will be backed up in iCloud, allowing you to access your music anywhere.
- Instead of backing up photos in Time Machine, sign up for iCloud Photo Library.
- Make it a habit to clear your Mac of junk so that they won’t be included in your Time Machine backup. Apps such as Tweakbit MacRepair can help you get rid of junk in just one click.