MacBook Pro is a well-designed and extremely sophisticated machine to deal with any kind of glitches. Not only does it offer excellent build quality, but also opens up a plethora of features for users. However, like any other calamity, data loss is something that does not forbid any computer based on its quality. Instead, it casts calamity wherever it finds the right place to attack. Anything can be compromised but not the data. This severity of the matter demands some anti-data-loss processes to be enacted. Since the only way out is to enact an around the clock backup system and a handy way to restore your files. So, Apple bestowed its users with the Time Machine built-in tool to let them perform data backups conveniently.
Why Backup Files via Time Machine?
In a time when there are plenty of online backup services in the market with each offering bundle of features to cater to the users’ backup needs, opting for Time Machine is also a good idea but may give rise to several questions. Nevertheless, Time Machine is rich enough to answer those questions.
First and foremost of all, Time Machine is Apple’s default backup and restore utility. So, it is built by taking into account the features and overall build of the MacBook Pro. As a user, you will enjoy a great degree of utility, operating system relevance, and compatibility. Secondly, cloud storage oriented backup solutions although effectively backups system image and personal files, but they are not free. Whereas, Time Machine is a free and system-installed backup utility that requires nothing but a few steps approach to get things on track. Time Machine is built to make things autonomous, where the backups of system files, individual files, and other data are continuously carried out behind the scene.
How to Backup Files via Time Machine?
After establishing the relevance as well as the efficacy of Time Machine, it is now time to see how you can perform image backup and other important files backups through Time Machine. In this regard, the following are some of the steps that you need to follow to backup data swiftly:
Setting up Time Machine
The first step involves to create a system to let Time Machine take over your MacBook Pro’s backup and restore preferences. To set up Time Machine, open “System Preferences” and look for “Time Machine“. Once you find that, click on Time Machine and the Time Machine window will pop up on your MacBook Pro screen.
Connecting a Storage Device
Though it is possible to prepare the backup on a separate directory over MacBook, but strictly speaking that isn’t recommended because what type of backup would it be where it vanishes if something happens to the device. So, to mitigate this risk, it is recommended to choose an external storage device such as a flash drive, NAS device setup over network location, external hard drive, Airport Time Capsule, or a Mac shared as a Time Machine backup destination. Once you find the reasonable medium to manage backups, simply connect that with the concerned MacBook Pro and proceed to the next step.
Selecting a Backup Disk
Once the appropriate storage device has been connected to the MacBook Pro, the next step involves selecting that device as the backup disk so that Time Machine backups respective data streams over that storage device. For this, click on the “Select Backup Disk“. After clicking, a window will be opened where prospective storage devices will be shown. Select the appropriate one to make that the default backup destination. In the same window, there is a checkbox on the bottom right corner asking if you want to encrypt your backups. Check this box if you want your backups to be protected from unauthorised access. For this, you need to set up a backup password so that backups would be accessed only via that backup password. After being done with this, click on the “Use Disk” button to complete the backup disk selection process.
Disk Formation
As soon as the Use Disk button is clicked, a pop-up window will appear on the screen, prompting the user to format the disk if it hasn’t been formatted. Make sure you format the disk, as Time Machine processes backups on the formatted disks. Click on the “Erase” button to initiate the disk formatting process.
Backup Schedules
After being done with backup disk settings, Time Machine automatically starts the backup process and thus begin to copy backup directories to the selected backup disk. The first backup may take longer to conclude but once it is done, subsequent backups won’t take much time. In the autonomous mode, backups are updated periodically and without user interference in the background. Therefore, it does not hinder the normal operations of the MacBook Pro. However, if you are not comfortable with automatic backups, there is an option of manual backup where you can begin the backups by just clicking the “Backup Now” button in the Time Machine menu.
Conclusion
Choice of an appropriate backup medium can be a very hectic job and may cost some premium along with some extra procedures. However, since MacBook Pro is a pure example of convenience and quality, it has provided its users with a built-in backup utility named Time Machine. Its features are reasonable enough to offer extensive backups. Furthermore, easy setup steps and compatibility make it an ideal backup utility for MacBook Pro. In a nutshell, no backup medium can work as seamlessly with MacBook Pro as Time Machine can. So, consider setting up Time Machine as the default backup and restore utility for your MacBook Pro and thus save your time, energy, and money.
