Backup and Recovery Options on Mac?

I need to take this mac in for service so I think it's a good idea to back it up first. I've spent most of the morning trying to figure out how to do this.

I have a seagate drive that I used to back up my PC. It still has about a TByte of free space. So I'd like to use that rather than go out and buy another.

It looks like Time Machine is the preferred backup app. But it doesn't seem to like the Seagate. The Seagate installer provided an NTFS driver, and that seems to be working.

Rather than manually copying a bunch of files over by hand... are there options?

Also, I know Time Machine failed to back up because there was a popup message. But I don't know how to find that popup again or if there's some equivalent of and event viewer thingy on the mac.

Okie Dokes... I found out that I have a corporate backup/recovery plan... so I'm all set.

@DThompson55 Glad you have a backup plan. Before you send the machine in you might want to check one or two of the files to make sure the backup is OK. Some online backup services don't handle Mac files well -- at least for system files. I don't think things have changed much in that regard since the last time I checked.

For the benefit of others reading this thread who may want to use a PC?Windows drive with Time Machine there are a few things to remember:

1. Drives used with Windows machines are most often formatted as NTFS. Your Mac can read this format with no trouble but cannot write to such a drive without either reformatting the drive as HFS+ or using third-party software.
2. Time Machine is a good general purpose backup program but it cannot write to a drive unless it is formatted as HFS+ (Network drives/shares are a different situation). If you plan to use a drive for Time machine, format it as HFS+ first.

Any time you are going to format a drive for any reason be sure to remove important files first. Formatting erases anything that was on the drive.

Great info Sly. Might be something to add to your Sunday evening video chats.

The best thing for Sunday chats would be abandoning TM altogether, right Jake?

Time Machine has its uses. It's probably the easiest way to migrate data to a new Mac (if done right). And for versioning, it works well. Having said that, I still rely on Carbon Copy Cloner for my backups, however, I would not recommend abandoning Time Machine. And since it's free and comes with every version of OS X since Leopard, why not use it? And especially for new Mac owners it's better than not making backups. ;D

Thanks Charlie. If you were having trouble finding me a larger hat I'd "settle" for an iPhone 7 or iPad Pro. Christmas is coming after all.

I might have mentioned it before but I think I will include it again since this seems to be a recurring question. Not to hijack the thread but I'm thinking it might be time for a Time Machine primer so to speak.

Like you I also use Time Machine in conjunction with something else which produces a "bootable" backup (currently using CCC).

That reminds me... I priced out an iPhone 7+ (they finally have them in our local Apple Store). The sim free version 128GB model is $849.00 and add to that the 8.5% sales tax and Apple Care and.... Never mind. LOL. Santa is not going to be getting me one this year. I guess I haven't been that good. ;D

Neither have I. Verizon keeps telling me that I am due for an upgrade. If I were going to go that route I'd upgrade the iPad. its only got 16 GB.

If I were going to go that route I'd upgrade the iPad. its only got 16 GB.

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As does my iPad 2, but it can't make cellphone calls, but at least my old eyes can read its screen with my reading assist glasses,





- Patrick
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harryb2448 said:

The best thing for Sunday chats would be abandoning TM altogether, right Jake?

Click to expand...

Nah, the Sunday chats are supposed to be amicable, not adversarial. So you and I can't discuss TM. (At least without a referee.) ;D