My mom just got back from a weekend in LA. Her front door had been tampered with and when she walked into her apartment she noticed some things were out of place. Her jewelry was gone and her MacBook Pro was no longer on her desk by the window. It looked like they even took her little portable backup hard drive I had so carefully configured. Years of photos and documents – GONE.
She called me in a panic, thinking her data was gone and trying to come to terms with that. While we were on the phone I could hear her digging around and moving stuff. She was asking “why would they take my backup hard drive? What is something like that worth, anyway?” I was trying to calculate the value of an old portable hard drive when SHE FOUND IT! Under some cables in a basket.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief and vowed to set her up with a cloud backup right away (see #3 below).
I wrote this article to take the mystery and hassle out of backing up so you can have some peace of mind knowing you’re covered no matter what happens. In this article I’ll tell you: 1. how to check if you’re backing up or not, 2. simple steps to get a backup started, and 3. how to get extra protection from theft or fire.
Here’s what to do if…
1. you don’t know if you’re backing up or not.
Time Machine: The most complete protection for all your Mac stuff is Time Machine. You could throw your Mac off a balcony then have a new Mac setup exactly as your now-airborne Mac was when it backed up last. Check the “Latest Backup” date from the Time Machine menu in the top right (the clock hands with arrow around it). If it was a long time ago, connect your Time Machine hard drive now and update your calendar to remind you to do this on a set schedule. If it was never setup, read on to #2.
Dropbox or Google Drive: If you have Dropbox, it will only sync and protect what’s contained within the Dropbox folder on your Mac. Anything outside that folder is at risk unless it’s backed up with Time Machine. If you want Dropbox to keep extra copies of anything you delete or change by accident, use their website to enable Packrat. It’s awesome. Google Drive is the same in terms of how it works on your Mac, except the folder is called “Google Drive” not “Dropbox” and you get more storage for cheaper.
iCloud: I often hear clients ask “but isn’t it backed up to the iCloud?” If you have iCloud, that does not mean you have wireless backup. It only protects whatever documents you have saved in iCloud using Mac/iPad/iPhone. You can check what’s saved in iCloud from your Mac in System Preferences, iCloud, and “Manage…” in the bottom right.
iPhone/iPad: To see how your iPhone or iPad are backing up, connect them to iTunes, click iPhone or iPad in the top right, and look at the Summary page. In the “Automatically Back Up” section, check to see if it’s going to “iCloud” or “This computer” and when the Latest Backup date was.
2. you want to get your own backup started.
Know how much info you need to back up so you buy the right gear. On your Mac, go to the Apple menu in the top left, About This Mac, More Info… and click Storage. In my case, I have about 500GB in use so I’d want about 1,000GB (ie. 1TB) available in my backup including breathing room.
Go to a Mac-friendly retail shop. Buy a USB hard drive like this or like this for around $150. Take it home, open the box, plug it into the wall if it needs power.
Hook it up to your Mac and you’ll automatically see a message on screen that says “Bla bla want to use this for Time Machine bla?” Say yes. It’ll take a while to do the first backup. That’s normal. If it’s a laptop, leave it open and plugged in until the backup is done; usually in a couple hours.
Whenever you want to back up again you just connect the hard drive and it’ll only copy the new/changed stuff. I recommend putting a recurring note in your Calendar so you remember to back up.
If you want your Mac to back up through the air, hourly, with no need to ever connect wires — or if you have multiple Macs you want backed up, get Time Capsule. It replaces your existing Wi-Fi router so you’ll probably want some help setting that up. Contact Macinhome.
3. you want your stuff backing up to a different geographic location. True peace of mind!
If I had been a more proactive son, I would have made sure my mom also had CrashPlan so that even if the thieves had taken the backup hard drive (or blown up her building) she would have been covered.
Get CrashPlan cloud backup for between $4 and $9/month. This will install a simple little app on your Mac and automatically back up selected files to a cloud somewhere in the USA. It’ll happen every hour whenever you’re connected to the internet, wherever you are in the world. It’s good stuff, and great for people on the road.
If you’re worried about having your data stored in the USA you can even set CrashPlan to back up your info directly to a friend’s computer, or set your office files to back up directly to your home – for free! You only pay if you’re using the CrashPlan servers. It becomes your very own secure, automatic, private off-site backup.
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