Worried about losing all of your precious and critical files on your Mac? I drove myself crazy thinking about all of the possible ways my iMac hard drive could break down and delete all of my photos, contacts, portfolio files, etc. Now that would ruin your day – Probably your year.
“It’s time to get smart and start backing up my stuff” I thought. The safe, secure and stress free feeling of knowing ALL my data is safe is worth the price of a new hard drive… So I got a new hard drive, set up Time Machine and thought people like you should protect your Mac too.
This is How To Setup Time Machine (and reduce stress!)
What’s Required For Time Machine To Work?
If you want to run Time Machine, you’ll need two things:
1. The latest version of OSX – Leopard.
2. An external hard drive.
Got both? Sweet! Continue reading…
If you don’t have Leopard or haven’t found an external hard drive yet, I’ll show you where to find Leopard and the hard drive I use – at the end of this Time Machine Tutorial. (Skip to the bottom if you’ve gotta have it now)
Plug In Your Hard Drive
Plug the hard drive into your Mac. I recommend using the Fire Wire cable – NOT the USB cable.
Give Your Hard Drive A Name (Optional)
Sorry, but VERBATIM isn’t very sexy. So I’m changing the name of my Hard Drive to Felix AppleSlut.
To change the name:
1. Click on the drive
2. Click File in the top left corner of your screen
3. Click Get Info
4. Type a new name in the Name & Extension field
5. Close the window
Open Time Machine
The Time Machine icon should be in your Dock. Click it!
Set Up Time Machine Storage Location
Time Machine needs to know which drive you’re using for the backup and then you gotta set some options too. Click Set Up Time Machine
Choose Your Backup Disk
Now you need to select the hard drive you’ll use as the back up for Time Machine. Click on Choose Backup Disk…
Select Your Hard Drive
If you have more than one hard drive connected to your Mac, you’ll see them all here.
1. Click on the drive that you’ll use with Time Machine.
2. Click Use for Backup to continue
Time Machine Settings
Time Machine has found your hard drive and is ready to start the magic!
1. The Time Machine On / Off slider is now set to ON.
2. The counter has started for your Next Backup. When the counter reaches zero, Time Machine will begin copying files from your Mac to your new, external hard drive.
NOTE: You can move the slider to OFF and shut down Time Machine before the backup starts. Also, if you let the counter reach zero, the backup will begin – make sure you don’t need to use your Mac for a while…
Backup Started
The Next Backup counter reached zero and the Time Machine Backup started automatically.
1. The Backup progress bar is shown in a small pop up window
2. The Backup progress is also shown in the main Time Machine preferences window
NOTE: This process will take some time. As you can see in the image above, I had 61.85 GB of data to transfer to my external hard drive. It took a couple of hours to finish. If you’ve got more data on your Mac, it could take much longer. You’ll also find that your Mac will run much slower while the backup is in progress. So watch a movie or some TV… Maybe go outside fore a while and come back when the transfer is finished. You can KILL the backup by clicking the X above the #3 in the image above.
Time Machine Green
You might have noticed that your backup hard drive has turned Time Machine Green (sweet!) and sports the rockin Time Machine Logo (double sweet!)
Optional Time Machine Settings
1. (Optional) Click the check box next to “Click the lock to prevent further changes” to make sure nobody can edit the Time Machine Preferences. After it’s locked, you’ll need a password to unlock it and make changes. Make sure you know the password before locking the settings!
2. (Optional) Click the check box next to Show Time Machine Status in the menu bar and guess what it does? It shows the Time Machine status in the menu bar!
3. Click the Question Mark to open up the Time Machine help files.
Time Machine Is Ready And Rockin!
When the first Time Machine backup is finished, you can relax because all of your data is safe (finally!) Anytime you need to see your backup files, just click the Time Machine Logo in your Dock. And to change the Time Machine Settings, you’ll have to go into the System Preferences – also in your Dock.
And that, my friends, is how you set up Time Machine.
Requirements For Time Machine
1. Leopard. If you don’t already have Leopard, you can get it at any Apple Store or you can grab it online, with free shipping, from the Apple Store.
2. External Hard Drive. Time Machine must have an external hard drive to work so you’ll have to get one. I got the Verbatim 160GB SmartDisk hard drive from the Apple Store. Why the Verbatim 160GB SmartDisk?
- It’s very small and can sit behind my iMac, out of the way.
- The 4 reviews at the Apple Store said it was a great hard drive
- Given 4 stars by Macworld Magazine
- It’s extremely quiet. It’s only 2 feet away and I don’t ever hear it. And it doesn’t vibrate like older hard drives
- Gets power from the USB or FireWire cord. No 2nd power cord required – Awesome if you’re short on plugs in your surge protector
- The drive is already formatted for Mac OS X Leopard and Time Machine
- It’s cheap! The 160GB is only $129.00 (US) at the Apple Store – free shipping too!
- Here’s the link to the customer reviews on the Verbatim 160GB Hard Drive I use
I went with the cheapest option, but if you’ve got a few extra bucks, you’ll love Apple’s New Time Capsule. It’s an automatic, wireless backup hard drive for your Mac and Time Machine. Huge 500GB or insane 1TB models available.
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
THanks for the tut. I’ll have to get me a harddrive.
You’re welcome Andy. Thanks for visiting.
Thanks for the tutorial…
But I still think the hardest part of this is how to get the hard drive, lol.
Hi Manel – The hard drive is the easy part. You can order it online with free shipping from your favorite online store. You don’t even have to leave the house!
Just got back from getting my new hard drive so I can finally back up with TIme Machine. This post is very timely for me.
thx
How about some help setting up a HDD attached to my AEBS?
If i want to use a new HD for my backups but don’t want to lose the ones i have already made, how will I go about doing this?
In other words, I want to use New HD 2 instead of OLD HD 1. OLD HD 1 has my Backs up, but i want those back ups on NEW HD 2.
Any help, PLEASE e-mail ASAP. Thank you!
Hello
I just started to use the time machine, will it make a new backup every time i connect the external hard to the laptop???
I think so. It automatically creates the backup when I plug in my external hard drive. I’ve looked for a setting to change it to manual, but I can’t find anything.
Your tutorial was great — thanks! Is there any easy way to set up TimeMachine so that only 3 folders get backed-up? Most of my files are stored on a server with its own back-up system, but I need my email to be protected. I’ve been struggling with this (arg — why does Apple only allow us to EXCLUDE files???) If there is no hope, I’ll go back to manually copying the folders.
Hi Ardis – I don’t know if you can exclude files. I’ve never tried doing that.
Thanks, Tony, but Time Machine only allows you to exclude files. Excluding every file/folder on your computer except the few that you want backed up is very time consuming and also confusing. What I want to know is if Time Machine allows you to choose (include) the files you want to be backed up. (I was riled up when I wrote my question. It wasn’t very articulate, sorry).
Ardis – Unfortunately, I’m going to give you the exact same answer. I’ve never tried excluding and / or including files from Time Machine backup – I just plug it in and forget about it.
I’m new to Mac, just got my first.. I have an external HD but I seem to remember Time Machine wanted to format it? I have other backups on that drive and I don’t want to format, I just want to do a new backup. I have Windows files backed up on the external HD.
Hi Cynthia – My guess is that formatting the disk will delete your old Windows files, so don’t do that. The safest solution is to burn the Windows files to CD or DVD. Then use the external harddrive for your Mac. However… You could plug in the hard drive, pull the Windows files ON TO YOUR MAC, then backup your Mac using Time Machine. (that way the Windows files will always be on your Mac and on the external drive. But, you’ll need another Mac to access the files.) Hope that make sense!
Is there anyway to customize the back up? I would only like it to back up once a day. I can’t stand the constant noise of my back up drive every hour.
Hi Liz – I know exactly how you feel. Not only is the external hard drive noisy, but the backup slows my iMac down. I couldn’t find any information on setting the time between backups. That’s why I unplug my backup drive for most of the day. Whenever I’m away from the computer, I’ll plug it in and let the backup run – it starts automatically when the drive is connected.
I have 2 internal hard drives. HD1 contains all my software and HD2 contains all my data. Will Time Machine backup both drives?
Thank you
Hi Diane – Great question. Yes, you can backup 2 internal hard drives with Time Machine. I haven’t done it, but I found this forum thread at apple.com: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10284724�
A couple of Time Machine questions:
1) Does time machine allow backup to more than one HD — my 1TB is full and I want to direct the overflow to a second HD. Can’t see any way of doing this — changing the drive does not maintain a link to the initial drive, the link to the initial drive is no longer dynamic, although I can still get back to the initial drive.
2) Can I use TM to back up critical files to my iDisk, while also backing up the lot to the external HD — I need to have critical files backed up offsite.
3) Can TM handle Tape Drives — I have a 72GB HP DAT unit?
Cheers
Peter
Hi Peter – Great questions…
1. I don’t think Time Machine will allow backups to 2 hard drives. I don’t know for sure, but using 2 drives would complicate the process for most users – and Time Machine is definitely made to be simple so most people will use it. Sure, there could / should be an “advanced” setup to allow multiple drives, but I don’t think that option exists with the current version of Time Machine.
2. If you need ANY info backed up offsite – why not back up ALL your info offsite? That’s what I’d do to keep it simple and keep everything in one spot.
3. Again, I don’t know if Time Machine will work with tape drives. It seems like it would work with any drive you can plug into your Mac, but I’ve never tried it. Give it a shot and let me know what happens
I am using a 500gb Seagate Free Agent external hd to backup my mac book pro, but when I try to restore files, I get the following message:
“You can’t open the application iCal.app because it is in a Time Machine backup”.
Can you help? I am using the snow leopard OS.
NAS Backup with Time Machine –
Does anyone know if you can use a NAS with Time Machine? Would I simply create a volume for MacBooks and then format using Disk Utility after mounting the volume?
I’m thinking that I’d get a little better performance for the backups, and with a RAID array setup, the physical data would be more protected.
My butt was just saved because I had Time Machine installed. I had gotten myself into a non-bootable state with Snow Leopard after messing up trying to run Boot Camp to install XP. (I think I found a bug in that program.)
After about an hour on the phone talking with Apple Tech Support, we finally got my OS installed. After the install, a pop-up asked if I’d like restore my data from a backup drive. Of course I said Yes. An hour or so later and almost everything was restored and back to normal.
It’s nice to be a happy camper!
Recently started using Time Machine …. great for my purposes. QUESTION: Can I work on a file that is located in the documents section of my internal hard drive at the same time that Time Machine is backing up that internal hard drive ? Thanks for feedback. Carl Thomas, Knoxville, TN
Hi Carl – Typically, I stop working when TimeMachine is saving all the files to the external hard drive. I suppose you could work on a file during backup, but it will probably only backup from the last time you saved the file… that’s just a guess.
I keep trying to back up, but then it fails and when I click on “i” I get this message:
The backup volume could not be found.
with the system preferences icon next to it.
what should I do ?
I’m using an external hard drive that has other files saved to it and when I connect to time machine it gives me an error message saying it can not be done because the hard drive needs to be cleared (which will delete all my files). Can you only use time machine with a blank external drive, even if you have plenty of room for the back up?
Hi Zoe. Sounds like TimeMachine can’t find your external hard drive. Make sure your hard drive has power and is plugged into your Mac. Now see if the icon for your hard drive appears on your desktop. Let me know what happens!
Hi Milly. Yes, TimeMachine can only be used with a blank drive. However, you may be able to create 2 partitions on the external hard drive. 1 for TimeMachine and the other for your saved files. That might work – I’ve never tried. The problem with this solution is, you’ll need to format the drive to create the extra partition. That would also erase your data. You’d have to save your files to another computer, format the drive, then move the files to the new partition. If you’ve never created partitions on a hard drive, don’t. Ask a friend or someone with experience so you don’t accidentally delete all your saved files.
Great Tutorial. I still have a problem retriving data. Got Time machine working well already. Recently had my mac Mail lose all Sent mail (never figure out why) and I have tried to retrieve it. When I clck on the time machine icon in the dock and it goes into it’s Star Wars view of showing by date, going backwards and I choose the day that I lost the mail, then choose applications then Mail, it only gives me the mail statistics, not the actual mail. Any suggestions?
Hi Patricia – Try this: To restore information using Time Machine:
1. Make sure Mail is the current application.
2. Click the Time Machine icon in the Dock. Time Machine displays the current state, indicated as Today (Now), of the selected mailbox in the foreground, with available backups in the background.
3. Use the arrows or the timeline along the right side of the screen to browse through the available backups.
4. Select a mailbox, or one or more messages, to restore, and then click Restore. Restored mailboxes and messages are organized in a Time Machine mailbox in On My Mac in the sidebar.
If that doesn’t work, try the TimeMachine Help at apple.com
I enjoyed reading your instructions for setting up Time Machine–great sense of humor.
I installed my Western Digital “BigGal” prior to applying my Time Machine. I ran into trouble when I went to verify my Time m/c was doing its job. I totally assumed Time m/c was backing up my BigGal. It wasn’t. So where do I go from here? Do you have an answer?
Thanks.
Shelley
Hi Shelley – I’d make sure Time Machine is turned on first. Click System Preferences, then Time Machine. Make sure the switch is set to ON. If it is ON, and Time Machine can’t find your hard drive – sorry, BigGal – then click on “Select Disk.” Now select BigGal from the list, then click “Use for backup”. Hopefully, that will fix the problem. If not, let me know what happens.
Very detailed and informative. Steps are easy to follow with great sense of humor. You made my job so easy…
Thank you so much.
Hi Eugene – It’s that kind of reply that inspires me to keep on blogging and trying to help fellow Mac users. Thanks for the kind words.
I am a new to the computer world and I LOVE my mac book pro!!! I have one external hard drive that I am using for time machine back up and another hard drive for my media files. I am getting an error that says the back up was not performed because while copying files to back up disk an error occurred. Now, when I do not have my media hard drive plugged in, time machine backs up fine. I only get the error when I have my media hard drive plugged in. Does time machine not have the capability to back up a this additional hard drive?
Help!!!
Hi Jerry – Time Machine can backup 2 hard drives. I only have 1 external drive, but I found this forum thread at apple.com: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10284724�. The fact that you say it’s a “media” drive makes me think it’s filled with music & video – which could be a huge amount of data. Are you sure your Time Machine hard drive has enough free space to back up everything?
I bought a MAC book-pro in March to upgrade from my MAC book I bought in 2008. I can’t get the time machine hard drive I used with my old MAC to work on my new MAC. What can I do?
Hi Dan – If you DON’T need the data on the external hard drive, you can reformat it. Then it should work on the new computer with Time Machine. *But be careful – reformatting will erase everything!* Of course, if you need to save all the data from the old computer, you may need a bigger external hard drive. The external drive must be big enough to fit all of the Time Machine files for both Macs. If your MacBooks each have an 80GB hard drive, then you’ll need an external drive with at least 160GB.