Are you looking for a way to backup your Mac data without setting up Time Machine? Although Time Machine automatically backs up data, many users still look for a simple way to back up their data. Well then, here you go. This article explains how you can back up Mac OS data without Time Machine.
External storage device:
This is one of the most common methods to backup Mac data without setting up Time Machine. You have to manually back up data to an external hard drive or USB drive. Connect the external hard drive or USB disk to the Mac computer. Follow the steps mentioned below to backup data.
- Click on Finder – Preference – then check the Hard Disks box under Show these items on the desktop
- Now open backup disk, create a file folder and give it a name – for e.g: Backup
- Next open Mac disk, click on Users file folder and then select all files, including folders that you wish to backup
- Now drag all these selected files and folders to the Backup file folder that you created
- Wait for the copying process to complete
You need to wait for quite some time if you have a lot of big files to be copied to the external storage device.
Additional Information: If you have to recover deleted files from Mac Terminal, then follow this link to know how it can be done easily.
iCloud:
Here, you can back up Mac data to iCloud.
- Click on Apple menu in the upper left corner of your screen
- Click on System Preferences from the drop-down menu
- Now click on the iCloud icon
- If you are not logged in automatically, then enter your Apple ID and password
- To know how much storage is there in your plan, or to upgrade, click on Manage option and click Change Storage Plan…
- Check the box next to iCloud Drive (You can now store files on iCloud. Choose iCloud Drive in any Save dialog box, or drag files to iCloud Drive. Also, you can select which apps have permission to access iCloud Drive by clicking on Options button next to iCloud Drive.)
- Finally, you can select the types of files to be stored on iCloud. You can check the required boxes below iCloud Drive. For instance, Photos, Mail, Calendars, Notes, Contacts, etc.
So here are 2 methods by which you can backup Mac data without Time Machine.
Psst: If your archive file has been accidentally deleted, then you can use this software to quickly recover deleted archive file on Mac OS.
