Backup your Mac.

[Pasquanel]

David sharing my ignorance with you is my pleasure glad you got something out of the exchange, I know I did.

 

[JonLily]

is it that necessary to back up mails separately? or just time machine is sufficient enough?
I came across this article. https://www.mac-help.com/threads/backups-backups-backups.223959/
Montepirlo defines the need. is that justified?

 

[honestone]

is it that necessary to back up mails separately? or just time machine is sufficient enough?
I came across this article. https://www.mac-help.com/threads/backups-backups-backups.223959/
Montepirlo defines the need. is that justified?

Some folks prefer to use a separate program for backing up only EMails for their EMail client. Others, like me, just use their preferred program for backing up everything, including EMails. Myself, I use SuperDuper! for my backups, and I do it once a week for both of my machines (I actually make 2 backups for each machine to two, separate external devices (SSDs). However, I am performing some disk cleanup every day. About 99% of that is having deleted EMails permanently removed right away. And that occurs multiple times each day, depending on how often I use each machine. I use Outlook 2016 as my EMail client, and the procedure for having deleted EMails removed permanently is quite simple: after selecting EMails to be deleted, they wind up in the Trash folder. Moving to the Trash folder, I click once on the first one, then do a Select All. Then, with the mouse pointer on the Trash icon, I do a right click, and a small menu of options appears, with one of them being "Empty Folder". When I select that, a dialogue appears that says "Are you sure you want to permanently delete all the messages in this folder". When I click on Delete, they are gone. In this way, the EMail database maintained by Outlook 2016 is "lean and clean".

I do not know how to do that with any other EMails clients, but one would think there is a way. (Given that most folks around here use Apple's Mail program, I'm surprised to see that no one has stated how to do that).

So getting back to your question. Myself, my SuperDuper! backups are more than sufficient. But again my need for only 1 backup a week (with no incremental backups in between) is fine. I of course understand that 1) some folks need to make incremental backups (it can be done with SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner, as well, of course, with Time Machine), 2) a number of folks do not perform disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs as often as I do, and 3) there could be a definite need for selective backups of "parts"of EMails, ie, maybe one keeps separate EMail folders for various classifications (business, personal, etc.).

 

[Monte Pirlo]

add another tool to the list -Mail Backup X.
post to backup, people lose the labels and other settings that they have had arranged in their mail accounts. the backup tools mentioned in the article might somehow save your mail folders but fail to save these settings. apparently syncing issues also do occur after the re-feeding to the system.
a tool specifically built for backing up emails comes into the scene now that saves your emails, backs them up, can recover them and save these labels as well. you won't feel it for a single moment that you had a discontinuity in the mailing. it simply settles out everything the way it was, before the crash in your system.

 

[theALmighty66]

Hi!

Out of curiosity, I've never quite backed up my mid-2009 El Capitan 160 GB SATA Disk MacBook Pro (ha). I can easily purchase a 160GB external hard drive from eBay for probably under $10, but I want to know everything I should before doing so.

Would the storage device have to be MORE than the hard disk's capacity? Is Time Machine good enough? Let me know anything you can.

Thank you!

 

[honestone]

First, it is always best for the backup drive's/partition's size to exceed "some" measurement of your internal drive. By that I mean how much space is being taken up on your internal drive. For example, my late 2012 Mac Mini has a 256 gig SSD inside, but I am only using about 78 gig of its total capacity. So, on my 2 external Samsung 840 Pro 512 gig SSDs, each of them has 3 partitions, with two of the partitions being dedicated for my SuperDuper! backups for both of my Macs. Each of those partitions is 100 gig in size, and thus can easily accommodate the backups of each of SSDs inside each of my Macs. However, I keep my Macs "lean, mean, and clean", and thus manage the space utilized very carefully. Also, I do not need prior versions of my Backups. My weekly backups are fine, with the new one just replacing the prior one. Like Time Machine, I can configure SuperDuper! to do incremental backups and/or keep prior versions. But then of course I would need a larger drive.

So, as you can see, the size of your external drive you want to use for backups depends on your needs, and how "well" you manage the space used on your Mac's internal drive. Of course you can choose to just buy a larger capacity drive than the size of your internal drive, but it's difficult to say how large it needs to be. Again, that depends on your needs.

Additionally, would you want to purchase a traditional Hard Disk Drive (HDD), or an SSD? If you are only going to use the external drive for backups, and thus not access anything on that drive and/or not use it for running programs, then an HDD should be fine. It is preferable to purchase an HDD that has a rotational speed of 7200 rpm (revolutions per minute). A 5400 rpm drive would be OK, but again depending on your needs, some operations will be slower than with a7200 rpm drive.

Secondly, your question "Is Time Machine good enough" again depends on what you want/need. Myself, I want a backup that is bootable, and also makes it easier whenever I need to do a recovery and/or install a new version of the Mac OS (or even an existing one). Thus, that is why I choose to use SuperDuper!. (Carbon Copy Cloner is a similar, excellent product). Time Machine works fine, and most folks who visit these forums use it.

 

[theALmighty66]

Thank you so much for all this information! I'll look into all of it once peak season is over. : )

 

[mlhinds]

I have been using Time Machine since 2015. Have all those files...but what good are they? HOW DOES ONE RETRIEVE ANYTHING? I am currently having password problems and was wondering if my resolution lies in those files?

 

[Lufbrarunner]

I have been using Time Machine since 2015. Have all those files...but what good are they? HOW DOES ONE RETRIEVE ANYTHING? I am currently having password problems and was wondering if my resolution lies in those files?

Restoring files from a Time Machine backup

Select System Preferences from the Apple menu.

Choose the Time Machine icon.

Check the box next to Show Time Machine in menu bar.

Click Enter Time Machine after clicking the Time Machine icon in the Menu bar.

Use the time line in the bottom right to select the date you need to return to, find the file or folder in question and click Restore.

Time Machine will copy that file back to its original location on your hard drive.

 

[mlhinds]

Thank you for the information; worked fine / first time have tried it...obviously. However, it did not resolve my password issue.