One of the great unsung features of macOS is Time Machine, the software that sits inside your System Preferences panel and quietly performs an automatic backup of the entire contents of your Mac's. Here you will find Time Machine and click on it there. If you do find it in your menubar, click on it, then click on “Open Time Machine Preferences.” Here you will be able to set up your Time Machine and your external drive. First, make sure your external drive is hooked into your Mac and that your Mac recognizes it. Time Machine can back up to an external drive connected to a USB, Thunderbolt, or FireWire port on your Mac. If the disk isn't using the correct format, Time Machine will prompt you to erase it. Network-attached storage (NAS) device that supports Time Machine over SMB Many third-party NAS devices support Time Machine over SMB. Types of disks you can use with Time Machine on Mac. You can use Time Machine with an AirPort Time Capsule, with a network-attached storage (NAS) device that supports Time Machine over SMB, or with an external storage device connected directly to your Mac (such as a USB or Thunderbolt drive). If a disk has partitions, you can use one of the partitions for your backup disk.
If you used Time Machine to create a backup of your Mac, you can restore your files from that backup or a local snapshot on your startup disk. You might want to restore your files after the originals were deleted from your Mac, or the hard disk (or SSD) in your Mac was erased or replaced, such as during a repair.
Restore from a Time Machine backup
When you restore from a Time Machine backup, you can choose to restore all your files, or restore both the Mac operating system (macOS) and all your files.
Restore all your files
Apple Macbook Hard Drive
- Make sure that your Time Machine backup disk is connected to your Mac and turned on. Then turn on your Mac.
- Open Migration Assistant, which in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
- If your Mac starts up to a setup assistant, which asks for details like your country, keyboard, and network, just continue to the next step. The setup assistant includes a migration assistant.
- If your Mac doesn't start up all the way, or you also want to restore the macOS you were using when you created the backup, follow the steps to restore both macOS and your files.
- When you're asked how you want to transfer your information, select the option to transfer from a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk. Then click Continue.
- Select your Time Machine backup, then click Continue.
- If you're asked to choose from a list of backups organized by date and time, choose a backup and click Continue.
- Select the information to transfer, then click Continue to start the transfer. This screen might look different on your Mac:
- If you have a lot of content, the transfer might take several hours to finish. When the transfer is complete, restart your Mac and log in to the migrated account to see its files.
Restore both macOS and your files
These steps erase your hard disk, then use your backup to restore both your files and the specific version of macOS you were using when you created the backup.
![Apple Apple](https://cdm.link/files/storiespre2k6/neon13.png)
- Make sure that your Time Machine backup disk is connected and turned on.
If your backup disk isn't available, keep going: You might be able to restore from a local snapshot on your startup disk. - Turn on your Mac, then immediately press and hold Command (⌘)-R to start up from macOS Recovery. Release the keys when you see the Apple logo or spinning globe.
- When you see the macOS Utilities window, choose the option to restore from a Time Machine Backup.
- Click Continue until you're asked to select a restore source, then select your Time Machine backup disk. Or select your startup disk (Macintosh HD), which might have a local snapshot you can restore from.
- Click Continue. If your disk is encrypted, you're asked to unlock the disk: Enter the administrator password you used when setting up Time Machine, then click Continue again.
- Select a backup, if available, then click Continue.
- Select a destination disk, which will receive the contents of your backup. If restoring from a local snapshot, you aren't asked to select a destination.
- Click Restore or Continue. If your Mac has FileVault turned on, you're asked to enter your administrator password to unlock the disk.
- When done, restart your Mac.
Restore specific files
Learn how to use Time Machine to restore specific files, including older versions of your files.
Apple Time Machine Hard Drive Replacement
Learn more
- What to do if you can't restore with Time Machine. If you need help, contact Apple Support.
Hello Moeller1983 and welcome to Apple Support Communities.
![Apple Time Machine Hard Drive Apple Time Machine Hard Drive](https://www.stectrade.com/goods_images/1565364809.png)
I see you have a question about hard drive activity (specifically with the drive spinning) when Time Machine does not appear to be running.
It's important to keep in mind that there are Time Machine tasks that are not specifically backing up. This would include things such as identifying older backups which can be deleted if the drive is starting to get low on space.
If you want to get a snapshot of all the processes underway at any time on your Mac, you can get that via the Console app.
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Apr 25, 2020 8:54 AM