HOW TO Set up Time Machine

Choose a drive

Pick a drive to use as a backup destination. You can use any volume on a locally connected drive. But if there is data on it, Time Machine will wipe it before it starts the first backup. You may also be able to use NAS.

Select the disk

Connect the drive to your Mac and wait for it to mount. From the Apple menu, choose System Settings. Click General, then Time Machine. Click Add Backup Disk, choose the volume you want to use, then click Set Up Disk.

Finish setting up

If you want to encrypt your backups, leave Encrypt Backup set to On and type in a password, re–enter the password, and type a Hint. To set a disk usage limit, select Custom and set a limit. Click Done to finish setup.

Choose options

Time Machine schedules backups automatically. You can change that. Click Options and make a selection from Backup Frequency. If you want to back up a MacBook even when running on just battery power, turn that on.

Exclude folders

You can choose to exclude folders, like the Applications folder, from backups. To choose what to exclude, click the “+” in Options, navigate to the folder and select it, or drag a folder onto the window. Click Done to finish.

Manually start backup

If you set Time Machine to only back up manually, or if it hasn’t backed up for a while and you want to start a manual backup, click the Time Machine icon in the menu bar and choose Back Up Now.

Stop a backup

If you need to stop a backup for any reason, click the Time Machine menu bar item and choose Stop This Backup. You can restart a backup when you’re ready by clicking the menu bar item again and choosing Start Backup.

Remove a backup drive

If you no longer want to use a drive, go to System Settings > General > Time Machine. Click “X” next to the progress bar if a backup is running. Click “–” and confirm to remove the drive.

Fix a problem

Backups sometimes fail to complete, for a number of reasons. If this happens, click Time Machine in the menu bar, choose “Open Time Machine Settings” and click the red “i” to find out what caused the failure and resolve it.