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To backup my iMac on Time Machine, how much capacity should my USB drive have?

I am upgrading my iMac from El Capitan to Monterey. The instructions on the Apple site say I must back up my iMac on Time Machine. The questions are:


  1. Should I back up to a USB or to an external hard drive, or to iCloud? The USB seems easiest.
  2. How much capacity should the USB have? I have about 500 MB on my iMac.

Posted on Jan 7, 2022 7:56 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 8, 2022 12:56 AM

In addition to rkaufmann87;


Here’s an excellent external drive sold by Apple: G-Technology 4TB G-DRIVE mobile USB-C Portable Hard Drive - Apple. You can then follow the steps in this Apple Support article to setup your Time Machine backup: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support. Also, I recommend that you use iCloud in addition to Time Machine to sync all your files and photos to all your Apple devices. Although iCloud is not a "true" backup service, iCloud can also act as an emergency off-site backup, but this is why iCloud should be used in addition to Time Machine. Here are some resources on setting up iCloud for Mac:


After you setup iCloud, turn off "Optimize Mac Storage" in System Preferences > Apple ID/iCloud. That way, all changes made to files in iCloud are also backed up to Time Machine. If you have this setting on due to a limited amount of storage on your Mac, that is fine. Just know changes won't be backed up to Time Machine, only iCloud.


Jack

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 8, 2022 12:56 AM in response to marksalk

In addition to rkaufmann87;


Here’s an excellent external drive sold by Apple: G-Technology 4TB G-DRIVE mobile USB-C Portable Hard Drive - Apple. You can then follow the steps in this Apple Support article to setup your Time Machine backup: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support. Also, I recommend that you use iCloud in addition to Time Machine to sync all your files and photos to all your Apple devices. Although iCloud is not a "true" backup service, iCloud can also act as an emergency off-site backup, but this is why iCloud should be used in addition to Time Machine. Here are some resources on setting up iCloud for Mac:


After you setup iCloud, turn off "Optimize Mac Storage" in System Preferences > Apple ID/iCloud. That way, all changes made to files in iCloud are also backed up to Time Machine. If you have this setting on due to a limited amount of storage on your Mac, that is fine. Just know changes won't be backed up to Time Machine, only iCloud.


Jack

To backup my iMac on Time Machine, how much capacity should my USB drive have?

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