We have a stepbystep guide to backing up with time machine here, but essentially you just need to do the following plug in hard drive or ssd. The included hub will give you much easier access to usb ports. You would need to change the hard disk and folders name according to those inside your imac and external drive. By default, all these files are selected but you can always customize your choices. Here then are the best external hard drives for mac of 2020 in order of ranking. External drive connected to your mac, such as a usb, thunderbolt, or firewire. Its 5 gbps data transfer rate enables fast copying of files, and its automatic backup software can be set to fit any schedule. Since yesterday my mac will boot and then shut down. In order to release the disk space the backup files occupy, you can backup iphone to external hard drive instead.
Select files for recovery and choose macbook pro hard drive. When you need lots of onthego space for an evergrowing collection of files, you can trust our highperformance portable hard drives to get the job done. When you decide to backup your mac, its important to choose the right way to do it. Two methods to change seagate external hard drives from readonly back to readwrite, so that you can edit, delete, and rename files on this seagate external hard drive. You can also use icloud and icloud drive to store files, such as your photos, documents, and music. Backup to external in recovery mode terminal or time. Due to the security cause your backup file does not show up viewable to no one or you. Because you have to enter recovery mode on your mac, i suggest printing out these instructions or switching to another device to read them. Local backups to an external hard drive or another computer on your network. Having the best external hard drive or ssd for your mac or pc is.
Most of the time, when you connect an external hard drive to your macs usb port, you soon see it mount on the desktop. To use time machine to make a backup of your mac, you need any of these types of storage devices. When you see the startup manager screen, choose efi boot as the startup disk. You can offload your data from your macbooks ssd or your imacs fusion drive when it fills up, or keep one plugged in 247 as a store for any nonperformancecritical data. This reduced power draw helps preserve the battery life of the mac you plug the drive into. If you have a time machine backup already, you should be good to go. When you plug the hard drive into your computer, a popup box should appear that will ask you if youd like to backup your computer using apples builtin backup program, time machine.
The best external hard drives are fast, dependable and easy to use. Also, if a seagate external hard drive is readonly or files are locked on mac due to ntfs format, you can use iboysoft ntfs for mac to mount it in readwrite mode on mac. How to backup an iphone to external hard drive with mac os x. After you have connected the mac book pro hard drive to another mac and been recognized, launch the program fonedog data recovery and onset, select the types of files you wish to retrieve. It is the software layout of the external hard drive that allows the mac to see and understand. Its an official way to find the hidden backup folder from mac without any thirdparty software or bypass in storage drive. How to backup macbook pro to an external hard drive guide. Just make sure that disk has sufficient storage space for. If youre looking to get speeds youre going to need an ssd as an external since hard drives can only readwrite so fast. Its ready formatted for use on mac, time machine ready and small enough to fit in your coat pocket. Time machine is the builtin backup feature of your mac. A time capsule with a hard drive thats on the same network as your macbook. Once time machine is configured properly, your mac will backup hourly for the past 24 hours, daily for the past month and will save a weekly backup. The best external hard drives will come in handy for plenty of people working in the creative industries, who often have to store lots of large files, and will soon fill up the hard drive that comes with their mac or pc.
Its fast 540 mbs read and write speeds are more than enough to transfer any file. Seagate backup plus slim 1tb external hard drive portable hdd black usb 3. If your mac has high sierra or an older version, differences may exist, but the process should look similar to whats displayed below. The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc users in. Using disk utility to backup your mac switching to mac. How to backup mac to an external hard drive 5 steps. Make sure this drive has enough spare disk space to store your backup files. Seagate backup plus slim 2tb external hard drive portable hdd red usb 3. How to backup macbook pro to external hard drive, pro magic. Backup disks you can use with time machine apple support. How to use seagate backup plus on mac, 15 mins and start. Time machine can back up to an external storage device connected to your mac or supported airport base station. Earlier os x versions have slightly different interface.
Here is how to backup your macs most important data to an external hard. Apple likes to ensure these are easy to find, so they also appear in the finder in the lefthand column under devices, since macs treat them the same way as. You can offload your data from your macbooks ssd or your imacs fusion drive when it fills up, or keep one plugged in 247 as a store for any. Even in 2018, macbooks still have tiny hard drives that fill up quickly. Then i wanted to get a fresh copy of yosemite and it is asking me to choose a disk, there is no disk to choose. Because it is a simple copy and paste command, you dont have to delete the backup in your time machine disk. Called time machine, its the easiest way to back up your mac to an external hard drive. Best for mainstream users seeking max backup space. The backup plus hub is designed for the mac and is the most affordable 8 tb drive, followed by the wd my book. How to restore your mac from a time machine backup if you use time machine to back up your mac, you can restore individual files, or restore your entire hard drive from a recent backup. I have a 4tb backup hard drive, i use it strictly for video footage shot on my drone and phone. Compare portable, usb and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. It can be as easy as a click of a button but we will take a look at all of the steps necessary to backup your mac as well as some other information to consider during the process.
So, here is the guide on how to transfer iphone backup to external drive from mac. You can start dragging and dropping files into the drive, or copy files to your macs internal hard drive. How to use seagate backup plus on mac drag and drop. How to recover files from external hard drive for macbook pro. If you need instant crossplatform compatibility, and an array of color choices, youll be covered with the seagate backup plus slim 2tb.
With the previous, you can either keep a drive associated with your mac which is simple in the event that you have a desktop mac or interface it every now and then in the event that you have a tablet so time machine can naturally make. How to backup iphone to external hard drive on windows and mac. Wd my passport for mac best overall the western digital 2tb my passport for mac is the perfect 2tb portable external hard drive for mac users. When the backup procedure is completed, dont rush to disconnect your device as this could cause potential disk problems. Best external hard drives for macs in 2020 techradar. It can also back up to a mac or networkattached storage device nas on your network.
Usually while you back up iphone through itunes on windows or mac, the backup file will be automatically saved in default location on the limited disk space. This small compact ssd drive from samsung comes with both a usbc to usbc cable and a usbc to usba, meaning its perfect to use with your macbook or mac. Luckily there are quick and easy ways to free up space on your hard drive. That could be because your mac is waiting on the hard drive. To see the size of a specific file or folder, click it once and then press commandi. Desktop external hard drives usually run at 7200 rpm to offer all the speed they can. Make sure you have a current backup of your data on a separate drive before you continue. Do you want to back up the entire mac data to an external hard drive. Backing up your mac is simple, important and recommended for everyone. Drive speed is measured in revolutions per minute rpm, based on how fast the drive can spin. When you see this box above, go ahead and click on encrypt backup disc and then the use as backup disk button. So usbc or thunderbolt doesnt matter if youre looking at hard drives.
You need an external hard drive that is at least as. The reasons to backup your macbook pro to an external hard drive are pretty obvious but if you are unfamiliar. Be smart and get one for yourself, but before that i need to give you the best external hard drive for macbook pro. How to connect external hard drive to macbook pro wikihow. The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc. I did this several weeks ago while preparing my macbook pro for a. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. You dont need to format the hard drive every time you can choose a filesystem while formating the drive so the hard drive or usb drive work on both mac and pc so to get rid of these situations we bring here a guide that will help you to format your drive which works on both platforms and you dont need to format and backup data every time. Doubleclick the drive on your desktop or select it from the left frame of a finder window to view the contents of the drive.
Is getting an external backup drive worth it for macbook. How to backup a mac to time machine with any hard drive. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. Why backing up macbook pro to an external hard drive. While using time machine is a great option, sometimes it helps to consider all your options for example, if youre looking to replace your macbooks hard drive, consider creating a disk image of your hard drive and store it. A hard drive is perfect for music, video files and photos. Western digital my passport ultra features cloud storage and 256aes encryption. The first hard drive i bought was a seagate, way back in 1989.
Discover the world of external hard drives for mac. How to fix seagate external hard drive readonly on mac. Making a backup is an important part of preparing your mac for service, especially because some types of repair might require erasing or replacing your hard drive. Its a complete backup solution, but you can use other backup methods as well. Once you plug in a hard drive and set up time machine, it will work automatically in the background, continuously saving copies of all your files, applications, and system files i. Space on that hard drive or disk partition if you are using a partitioned disk. Instead, go back to the main desktop, locate the volume that your external hard drive represents, rightclick and select eject. So i went to mac os utilities and went to disk and accidentally deleted my 3tb hard drive. It cant backup to the mac because of the tiny hard drive, so it has to use the external drive.
Heres how to clean up your mac and reclaim some drive space. This western digital my book hard drive offers builtin 256bit hardware encryption and optional password protection for peace of mind. If you follow the instructions it works to backup your iphone to an external drive, i do it every time i backup because of the above scenario that apple creates for nearly all users with their tiny hard drives. Lacie 4tb rugged raid pro usbc hard drive with builtin sd card reader next gallery image. Store files securely with this 4tb western digital my book hard drive. Lacie 4tb rugged raid pro usbc hard drive lacie 2tb dji copilot boss hard drive previous gallery image. Lacie 4tb rugged raid pro usbc hard drive with builtin sd card reader previous gallery image. With a bootable clone of your drive, you can boot from your backup in minutes. Whether you accidentally delete a file or lose a bunch of your data to a hard drive crash, regularly backing up your machine is always a good idea. External usb, thunderbolt, or firewire drive connected to your mac external drive connected to an airport extreme base station 802. Whether you have an imac or a macbook pro, its always smart to have all. The 10tb gdrive desktop external hard drive will give you enough volume and lightning speed for a traditional drive, and comes preformatted for mac.
Get your mac ready for service how much space do i need for a backup. Learn how to create a backup of the files on your mac. An external hard drive is, for many, the best solution. How to backup mac to an external hard drive 5 steps softwarehow. Mac backup is designed in our computer with time machine but in some certain cases, we do need to backup mac computer files in external hard. These devices also act as a back up of your data files. This is a great external hard drive for your mac if you are concerned about keeping your data safe and secure. How to identify and fix hard disk problems on a mac. By default, the 4tb hard drive uses the ntfs format for windows pcs, but theres a help file included on the drive that provides information for mac users so that you can reformat the drive and. How to transfer data from your old drive to a new drive.
1433 1204 562 1281 1112 1109 616 169 814 163 41 1578 1075 940 1584 344 535 220 1622 864 27 909 686 1145 269 424 467 1611 1599 1160 972 955 365 282 225 624 207 1059 540 645 1177 853 486