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Technology, no matter what kind it is, will eventually fail. There is a reason movies shot on film are often transferred over and stored onto digital, which are then uploaded and saved to other formats in order to prevent the deterioration of the material. With your computer, you run the risk of it failing on you. Over time, with electricity continually pumping through the device, something will probably falter. There often isn't anything you can do about it. Other times, a cup of coffee or a glass of wine might spill onto the keyboard and short out the system. Because you don't know what the future might hold, it's always a good idea to use a Time Machine backup.
What Is A Time Machine Backup?
Every computer system should take advantage of some kind of a physical backup. This physical backup creates duplicate files of the computer so that ,should anything ever happen to the computer, it's possible to revert back to the backup. This is what the Time Machine backup is. It's the Apple version of the backup. It refers to it as a time machine, as, even if something bad happens such as a virus finding its way onto your computer or you have to replace internal elements due to shorting the system out, you're able to go back in time and restore the system.
Apple's Time Machine backup doesn't work on its own, though. You need to activate it, and you need to have a standby hard drive available to perform this backup. It doesn't help to back up the hard drive onto the same hard drive, because if something happens to the computer you'll destroy both the original and the backup. Instead, with a connected external hard drive you have the backup on hand and you're able to have it handy, both to upload the information to a new computer or to restore it to the current one after fixing any previous issues.
Is There A Need For Time Machine To Back Up A Mac?
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It is very important to have some kind of physical backup of your computer. Chances are you have important files you want to have backups to. Whether you wrote a novel or you have pictures of family members you want to save if your computer fails and the hard drive is destroyed, you could lose these files: potentially forever.
There are cloud based backups you can take advantage of, although the Apple iCloud service is limited at best, as this cloud service is designed more for images and mobile backup and not a full system backup. Additionally, other cloud services will cost a substantial amount of money to obtain the amount of space you need to back up a full computer.
With the Time Machine backup, you don't need to worry about this. All you need is an external hard drive. External hard drives are inexpensive enough now to where you can buy one that will be large enough to back up your entire hard drive for less than $100 (you can probably buy a hard drive for around $50 now, depending on the size of your drive).
This way, if your computer is ever infected with a virus and you need to recover files back to a previous time before your were infected with a virus, you'll have a complete backup. You'll also have a complete backup if your computer is damaged, lost or stolen. You never know what might happen in the future, but you can protect yourself against whatever might come your way, which is why taking advantage of the Time Machine backup is so beneficial.
How To Use Time Machine To Back Up A Mac
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First, you need some kind of hard drive to connect to your computer to take advantage of the Time Machine backup. You also need to make sure this hard drive is at least the size of your current hard drive. If you're not sure how large the hard drive is on your computer, you can click on the Apple logo in the upper left corner of the screen, then choose "About This Mac." This will load a new window. Choose the "Storage" tab to see how large the hard drive is. You need to purchase a hard drive that is at least this size.
Buy A Backup Hard Drive
Connecting The External Drive
Format The Hard Drive
Setting Up The Backup
Conclusion
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It is important to have some kind of backup to your computer system. Cloud services are helpful but generally basic and do not provide complete system backups. You can create a full system backup with several programs, but Apple provides its own built-in feature known as the Time Machine backup.
This is easy to use and easy to set up. Plus it provides you assurance tha,t even if your computer is stolen, damaged or infected with a virus, you have the ability to get all your information back.