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Backup and restore is one fundamental thing a person must know when using their device or computer. Many Mac users are not keen on how to backup Mac to Extrernal Drive and restore it. Most users rely on the Time Machine component in order to perform backup and restore of their data.
However, if you want to manually backup Mac without Time Machine, this is the perfect tutorial for you. Below, we will introduce a step by step guide on how to backup Mac to external drive and restore it.
Steps To Manually Backup Mac to An External Drive
Time Machine is the more efficient means to backup Mac. However, there are those who prefer to backup Mac to external drive manually. The goal is for you to be able to do that as well!
- The first thing you need to do is to connect the external hard drive or USB drive with Mac.
- Next, click Finder > Preference > Check Hard Disks box under the “Show these items on the desktop” pane
- Now, open backup disk. Then, create a new file folder, name it as you like. (For example, “Mac Backup”)
- Here is the tricky part. Open Mac disk and click Users file folder. Now, what you need to do is to select all files and data – the ones you need to backup Mac to external drive for.
- Drag these items to the external hard drive folder of your choosing.
- Finally, wait for the file transfer to finish.
See! It’s just easy to backup Mac to External Drive manually, without Time Machine. This implies though that you may have to wait longer time if you have files with big data and logs to be copied to your new storage device.
To restore your files, just copy them back from the external drive to the Desktop or at any folder on your Mac.
Apple does offer a couple of ways to backup your Mac. This will give you more options which you think will best fits you.
But if you want an easier and guaranteed way to protect your data, you can check our post about Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery. it may come handy for your needs.