Backup plays a crucial role in computer usage since your business or personal data might be lost unexpectedly from a computer. Data loss is a prevalent and perpetual issue on the internet. Well, backup is the most straightforward and efficient method to prevent data loss and avoid unnecessary complications arising from it. This page on MiniTool will guide you on how to back up your Mac to an external hard drive in five different ways.

Backup, also referred to as data backup, is essentially a copy of your computer's data. It is stored elsewhere on your computer or an external device, enabling you to restore the original data when they are lost or corrupted. Backup is a simple yet highly effective approach to safeguarding important data.

"How to back up Mac to an external hard drive" is a commonly asked question when users store valuable data on their Mac. Why back up to an external hard drive instead of an internal one? There are primarily three reasons:

• Regular backups require substantial disk space.
• Internal hard drives, particularly older ones, can fill up quickly.
• Accessing an external drive is more convenient: the external drive can be accessed from any device, whereas you cannot access the internal drive if your Mac crashes or becomes unresponsive.

Please read the following methods carefully to understand how to back up your Mac yourself (these methods apply to backing up a MacBook to an external hard drive, an iMac to an external hard drive, etc.).

Tip: Don't waste any time hesitating; simply obtain a robust data recovery tool for Mac and use it to recover the lost data as soon as possible!

How to Backup Mac (Using Time Machine)

Microsoft provides various ways to assist Windows users in backing up their computers to external hard drives: System Restore and File History. Similarly, Apple offers a built-in tool to aid users in backing up their Macs to external drives: it's called Time Machine.

Back Up Your Mac with Time Machine

How to back up a Mac: four steps.

Step 1: Connect an external hard drive.

Prepare an external disk with sufficient capacity and connect it to your Mac via USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt.

Step 2: Open Time Machine and select the disk.

1. Click the Apple menu → select System Preferences → click Time Machine.
2. Click the Select Backup Disk button (it may also be labeled Select Disk in some systems).
3. Select the connected external disk as the backup disk from the list.
4. You can check Encrypt backups to secure your backup.
5. You can also click the Options button to determine which data to back up.

Step 3: Erase the disk or stop backing up to the previous disk.

• If the disk you selected for data backup has not been formatted by Time Machine, you should click Erase in the prompt window to confirm.
• If you have previously used another disk for backup, you will be prompted with "Do you want to stop backing up to the previous disk and use the new disk, or back up to both?" Please make your choice.

Step 4: Wait for the backup process.

The backup process will start and proceed automatically, so you should just wait until it's complete. Afterward, you can remove the external drive from your Mac.

Time Machine Stuck On Preparing Backup? Problem Solved.

How to Backup Mac to External Hard Drive without Time Machine (4 Ways)

What if you don't want to back up your Mac to an external hard drive using Time Machine? Fortunately, you have several other options.

Backup Mac to External Hard Drive Using Disk Utility

How to back up your Mac to an external hard drive using Disk Utility:

1. Connect the external hard drive to your Mac.
2. Open Disk Utilities from Finder → Applications.
3. Select the external disk.
4. Click Erase and confirm your action.
5. Confirm the Name, Format, and Scheme.
6. Click Erase and wait.
7. Click Done.
8. Open the external hard drive and create a new folder named Backup or anything else.
9. Navigate to the file/folder you want to back up, copy it manually.
10. Go to the Backup folder and paste the file/folder.

Backup Mac to iCloud

iCloud is a great option to keep a backup of your data. It allows you to back up data on many different devices like Mac, iPhone, or iPad. Then, you can access the backup data wherever you want.

How can you back up your Mac to iCloud:

Backup Mac Using Cloud Storage Services

Online backup services are also a good choice for backing up your MacBook. How to back up your MacBook? There are many options available for you.

• Dropbox
• OneDrive
• Google Drive
• Etc.

You should just follow the on-screen instructions to complete the backup.

Backup Mac with Third-party Backup Software

There is a wide range of third-party backup software designed for Mac. You should choose a professional one that won't cause any harm to your system or disk.

That's everything about how to back up your Mac on an external hard drive.

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