Talking about keeping people happy with their technology… Let’s keep your data safe, shall we? 😀
If you’re running Time Machine on your Mac you can pull down the little Time Machine menu in the top right of your screen to see when the last backup was (see image below). If you had a successful backup recently, it will show “Latest Backup: [some recent date]”.
Anyone not running Time Machine is probably not backing up, which means a hard drive failure can be disastrous. That would be no fun at ALL.
If there’s an error like “Delayed”, then you can actively tell it to backup from this same menu. Connect the drive, or join the Time Capsule wireless network, and choose “Back Up Now”.
Clearly it’s time for me to back up.
Lucas,
What if, hypothetically, I have an old mac G4? Then what? How can I be sure that all my important data is backed up? I want to have a good Christmas too 🙂
Then I would recommend downloading Carbon Copy Cloner, donating to the genius that made it, and setting it up to run a backup script that starts automatically whenever you connect your external drive (one of the options within CCC settings). An incremental backup script taking only your personal/critical info, like your Home folder, is ideal for this. CCC rules, and should be a staple in any technician’s toolkit.
PS: Old Mac G4’s need love too. I think it should be called a “distinguished” or “veteran” Mac G4. 🙂
Thank you!!! CCC has been downloaded on my DM G4, my Distinguished Mac G4.