If you used Time Machine to create a backup of your Mac, you can restore your files from that backup or a local snapshot on your startup disk. You might want to restore your files after the originals were deleted from your Mac, or the hard disk (or SSD) in your Mac was erased or replaced, such as during a repair.
Restore from a Time Machine backup
When you restore from a Time Machine backup, you can choose to restore all your files, or restore both the Mac operating system (macOS) and all your files.
Restore all your files
- Make sure that your Time Machine backup disk is connected to your Mac and turned on. Then turn on your Mac.
- Open Migration Assistant, which in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
- If your Mac starts up to a setup assistant, which asks for details like your country, keyboard, and network, just continue to the next step. The setup assistant includes a migration assistant.
- If your Mac doesn't start up all the way, or you also want to restore the macOS you were using when you created the backup, follow the steps to restore both macOS and your files.
- When you're asked how you want to transfer your information, select the option to transfer from a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk. Then click Continue.
- Select your Time Machine backup, then click Continue.
- If you're asked to choose from a list of backups organized by date and time, choose a backup and click Continue.
- Select the information to transfer, then click Continue to start the transfer. This screen might look different on your Mac:
- If you have a lot of content, the transfer might take several hours to finish. When the transfer is complete, restart your Mac and log in to the migrated account to see its files.
Restore both macOS and your files
These steps erase your hard disk, then use your backup to restore both your files and the specific version of macOS you were using when you created the backup.
To see the size of a specific file or folder, click it once and then press Command-I. To see storage information about your Mac, click the Apple menu in the top-left of your screen. Choose About This Mac and click the Storage tab. For Time Machine backups, it's good to use a drive that has at least twice the storage capacity of your Mac.
- If you get a new Mac, and want to restore your back up, you may use Migration Assistant transfer the data back to your Mac. Making backups of your files is important. Before losing anything, back up now. You may want to use the OS X Time Machine feature to easily create back up files. That is the easiest way to back up your Mac.
- Ok, so I have this external hard drive that I reformatted to MS-DOS (FAT) to make it compatible with both Mac/PC computers. Every time I go on time machine, it reformats my disc so I won't be able to use it for Windows. If there are any backup softwares that don't format my hard drive, that would be great.
- Select the first one, which reads From a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk and click Continue. In the next screen choose the drive that holds your backup and then click Continue.
- What is the BEST way to backup your Mac? The best solution for you 5 years ago may not be the best method today! The BEST backup solution must be able to wit.
![Backup Backup](https://i0.wp.com/techposts.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Recover-deleted-data-from-mac-without-Time-machine-backup.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1)
- Make sure that your Time Machine backup disk is connected and turned on.
If your backup disk isn't available, keep going: You might be able to restore from a local snapshot on your startup disk. - Turn on your Mac, then immediately press and hold Command (⌘)-R to start up from macOS Recovery. Release the keys when you see the Apple logo or spinning globe.
- When you see the macOS Utilities window, choose the option to restore from a Time Machine Backup.
- Click Continue until you're asked to select a restore source, then select your Time Machine backup disk. Or select your startup disk (Macintosh HD), which might have a local snapshot you can restore from.
- Click Continue. If your disk is encrypted, you're asked to unlock the disk: Enter the administrator password you used when setting up Time Machine, then click Continue again.
- Select a backup, if available, then click Continue.
- Select a destination disk, which will receive the contents of your backup. If restoring from a local snapshot, you aren't asked to select a destination.
- Click Restore or Continue. If your Mac has FileVault turned on, you're asked to enter your administrator password to unlock the disk.
- When done, restart your Mac.
Restore specific files
Learn how to use Time Machine to restore specific files, including older versions of your files.
Time Machine Macbook Backup
Learn more
- What to do if you can't restore with Time Machine. If you need help, contact Apple Support.
This guide presents you the ways to backup MacBook Air/Pro or iMac to external hard drive with or without Time Machine. There is no such thing as the best way to backup Mac as everyone has their own tastes. You can go through this page and find out a method that fits you most.
Backing up smartphone is no more than a platitude. But how about Mac backup? Of course it is very necessary for the task. Once you lose the data on computer, you are able to restore or get them back from the backup copies easily. Now, just scroll down on the screen to see how to backup Mac to external hard drive.
See also:
How to Backup Mac to External Hard Drive with Time Machine
Best Time Machine Backup Drive
Time Machine is a built-in backup app for macOS. You can backup Mac to external hard drive with Time Machine and then restore them easily for later use. Some people may ask what does Time Machine backup. Actually, it can automatically back up everything on your Mac including music, photos, movies, documents, system files, applications, accounts, preferences, and email messages, etc. It is totally free to use this backup application but an external storage solution is required.
To perform a backup on you Mac with Time Machine, what you need would be:
- A large external storage device
- A Mac running Mac OS X Leopard or later
Now, you can follow the steps to backup Mac to external hard drive with Time Machine in details:
Step 1. Before you can do anything to backup MacBook Air/ Pro or iMac, you need to format the external storage device for Mac.
Tips: Time Machine support the Mac OS Extended (Journaled), Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled), Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted), and Xsan formats. When you format your device, you should choose one of them from the drop-down box.
Step 2. Connect your storage drive to Mac and you may be prompted to use the drive with Time Machine. You need to click on the 'Use as Backup Disk' button.
Tips: If there is no such a pop-up window, you may ask 'where is Time Machine on Mac?'. You can go to 'Apple menu > System Preferences Time Machine' and open it manually. Then you should click 'Select Backup Disk > Disk' and select the disk you want. Then just click 'Use Disk'.
A window will pop up when you connect an exteranl hard drive to Mac
Step 3. Check the 'Back Up Automatically' box in order to automatically back up your Mac
You can select your hard disk on this interface and check to automatically back up Mac
Step 4. After that, it makes hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all previous months automatically. Of course, it will only do so if your Mac is connected to the storage device. But what if we don't have it connected a lot? To fix it, you can just click on the Time Machine icon in the menu bar and select 'Back Up Now'.
Your first backup with Time Machine may take a long time. But the future backups can be faster as it only backs up the changes you have made since the last backup.
Windows Time Machine Backup
To selectively restore files from the Time Machine Backup, you should:
Step 1. Go to Apple menu and choose 'System Preferences > Time Machine'.
Step 2. Is macbook an instrument. Check the box next to Show 'Time Machine in menu bar'.
Step 3. Click Time Machine icon in the Menu bar and choose 'Enter Time Machine'.
![With With](https://how-to-reset.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/How-to-reset-MacBook-air.jpg)
Step 4. Find out the items you want to get back and then click on the 'Restore' button.
Choose the backup copies to restore
If you want to restore everything to a new Mac with the Time Machine backup, you should:
Step 1. Enter the macOS Recovery Partition by holding down the Command and R keys. Then you should now be in a macOS Utilities screen.
Step 2. Rumpus pro 8 2 11 8. Select 'Restore from Time Machine Backup' and click on the 'Continue' button.
Step 3. Go through the info on the page and click on the 'Continue' button.
Step 4. Choose the Time Machine backup you want and click on the 'Continue' button.
Step 5. Select the most recent backup of your hard disk and click on the 'Continue' button.
Step 6. Wait for the restoring process and it will reboot your Mac once it completes.
How to Backup Mac to External Hard Drive without Time Machine
Another way to backup MacBook Air, for example, is to move the important files to an external storage device that is large enough to store data. But this can be time-consuming as you need to go to the Finder or use the Spotlight to discover the files one by one. Generally speaking, it's totally fine to use this method if there are countable files to backup.
But when you need to backup many different files or even the entire Mac, you are recommended to use a Mac backup software such as SuperDuper!, Carbon Copy Cloner and so on, which allow users to create a bootable clone easily.
Becides, you may also want to learn how to backup Mac without external hard drive. You can do so by moving your important files to a cloud platform. For instance, it's considerable to backup Mac to iCloud.
You are recommended to check out this guide: Top 5 Backup Software for Your Mac and learn more Mac backup solutions instead of merely using Time Machine.
Backup Mac to iCloud
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