(Full Guide) How to Backup Mac to External Hard Drive

The Importance of Backing Up Mac to An External Hard Drive

Backing up your Mac is just as important as backing up any other type of computer. After all, your Mac contains all of your important files, photos, and memories. If something were to happen to your Mac, you could lose everything.

The best backup destination for Mac backup is an external hard drive. There are many advantages to backing up Mac to an external hard drive. Perhaps the most important advantage is that you can safeguard your files in case of a computer crash or other disaster. If your internal hard drive fails, you will still have a copy of all your important files on your external hard drive.

Another advantage of backing up Mac to an external hard drive is that you can free up space on your internal hard drive. If you have a lot of files, photos, and other data, your internal hard drive can fill up quickly. By storing some of your data on an external hard drive, you can keep your internal hard drive from becoming overloaded.

Finally, backing up Mac to an external hard drive can give you peace of mind. Knowing that your important files are safely stored off-site can provide great comfort.

You may be interested in: Top 5 Best Backup Software for Mac (Free & Paid)

How to Backup Mac to External Hard Drive (Time Machine + ?)

Many handy tools can help users backup Mac to external hard drives. Both macOS built-in tools and the third-party backup tool will be included in this part.

Tool 1. Time Machine

Time Machine is a macOS built-in backup utility that can help users create backups of their entire system. It will save regular snapshots of your system files, applications, and user data so that you can easily restore your Mac to an earlier state if necessary.

On your Mac menu bar, there is an Apple icon present. Click it and then click on the "System Preferences" option. Find and launch Time Machine. Now you can follow the step-by-step guide to see how to use Time Machine to backup Mac.

Step 1. Choose an external hard drive as your backup destination.

Click on the Select Disk button and choose the external hard drive you wish to use.

Step 2. Allow Time Machine to perform its first backup. 

Click on Use Disk and then click on Done to allow Time Machine to begin its first backup. This initial backup can take a while to complete depending on your data.

Step 3. Set the content you want Time Machine to back up.

After choosing the backup disk, you can decide what to back up. You can also exclude items that you don't want.

Step 4. Set how often you want Time Machine to back up your Mac.

By default, Time Machine will perform a backup every hour. However, you can change how often Time Machine backups occur by clicking on the Options button. From here, you can set how often you want Time Machine to perform a backup.

Time Machine Tips:

Tool 2. EaseUS Todo Backup for Mac

EaseUS Todo Backup for Mac is a professional backup tool that can help users backup files, folders, partitions, and even the entire system. EaseUS Todo Backup can also help to clone hard drives and upgrade hard drives. It has both Windows and Mac versions. Here we will take how to backup Mac to an external hard drive as an example to show you how to use this tool.

First of all, you need to connect the external hard drive to your Mac and make sure your computer can detect it. Then download, install, and launch EaseUS Todo Backup on your Mac.

Now you can follow the guide to backup Mac.

Step 1. Launch and run EaseUS Todo Backup for Mac.
Click the first Backup tab or simply click the + button in the bottom-left corner to create a backup project - name the backup project and click OK.

Step 2. Set up the backup destination where you want to store Mac files as backups, automatic backup frequency, etc and click OK.

Step 3. Add files and folders to the backup project.
Click File+ to selectively choose files and folders to add to the backup and click the blue start button to back up your Mac to another drive or external device.

How to Backup Mac without Time Machine

There are a few ways to backup Mac without Time Machine. The most common method is to use iCloud or another cloud storage service. iCloud is a cloud storage service from Apple. It offers 5GB of free storage and additional paid plans for more storage. iCloud can be used to backup your entire system or just the selected files.

To use iCloud to backup your Mac, first, you need to enable iCloud backups on your Mac. To do this, open System Preferences and click on the iCloud icon. Next, click on Options next to iCloud Backup. Finally, check the box next to "Back up now."

Another cloud storage service that can be used to backup Mac is Google Drive. Google Drive offers 15GB of free storage with additional paid plans for more storage. To use Google Drive to backup your Mac, first, you need to download and install the Google Drive app on your Mac. After that, launch the app and sign in with your Google account. Finally, click on the "Backup" option and select the files you want to backup.

A few other methods can also be used to backup Mac without Time Machine. These include using Disk Utility or creating a bootable clone of your system.

What to Do Before Backing up Mac to External Hard Drive

Before backing up Mac to an external hard drive, there are a few things you need to do.

• 1. You need to check the storage space on your external hard drive. Make sure that your external hard drive has enough space for backup.
• 2. You need to format the external hard drive if it's not already formatted. You can use Disk Utility to format the external hard drive.
• 3. You need to make sure that the external hard drive is connected to your Mac. Make sure that the external hard drive is turned on and connected to your Mac via USB or Thunderbolt.
• 4. You need to make sure that your Mac is connected to the Internet. Time Machine will need an Internet connection to perform the backup.

FAQs

1. How do I backup my entire Mac to an external hard drive?

You can use Time Machine to backup your entire Mac to an external hard drive. First, you need to connect the external hard drive to your Mac and format it. Next, open Time Machine preferences and select the external hard drive as the backup disk. Finally, click on "Back Up Now" to start the backup process.

2. How do I backup specific files on my Mac to an external hard drive?

There are a few ways to backup specific files on your Mac to an external hard drive. One way is to use iCloud or another cloud storage service. Another way is to use Disk Utility or create a bootable clone of your system.