This Tech Tip covers provides you with instructions on how to set up and monitor Time Machine. Monitoring your backup system is important. A backup system that isn’t working is useless so please monitor it and test it.  Restore a file or two as a test to know that your data can be retrieved.

Set Up

Time Machine is Apple’s backup application which comes bundled with macOS. These instructions assume you’re using macOS 13 or newer.

If your Mac has never had Time Machine Configured

• Connect your external drive to your Mac and turn it on, as needed.
• Wait about 10 seconds for the external drive to appear on the Mac’s Desktop.
• Your Mac should detect the new drive and automatically display a message asking if you’d like to use this hard drive for backups.
• Click the Options button and select Set Up Disk.
• Wait about a minute for the Mac to properly format your external drive and initiate the backup. (Important Note: your external drive will be erased during the formatting process.)

If your Mac has previously backed up to another drive

• Connect your external drive to your Mac and turn it on, as needed.
• Wait about 10 seconds for the external drive to appear on the Mac’s Desktop.
• Click on the Apple menu and select System Settings
• Click on General
• Click on Time Machine
• If your Mac is configured to backup to another drive then click on its name and click the minus sign icon to remove it.
• Click the Forget Destination button.
• Click the Add Backup Disk button
• Select your external drive and click the Set Up Disk button
• Wait about a minute for the Mac to properly format your external drive and initiate the backup. (Important Note: your external drive will be erased during the formatting process.)

Initial Backup

Once Time Machine is configured to use a particular hard drive, backups will automatically occur every hour as long as the Mac is on and awake and the selected hard drive is available. The first backup will start within two minutes of you selecting it. The first backup can take many hours, but you can continue to use the computer while the backup is running. I typically start the initial Time Machine backup near the end of the day. This way it can run all night, as needed.

Day-to-Day Monitoring

After you’ve set up Time Machine, the next most important task you can do is monitor Time Machine to ensure that it’s operating properly. A backup system that isn’t working is useless.

To monitor Time Machine do this:

• Click on the Time Machine icon located in the upper right corner of your screen near the clock. The icon looks like an arrow curving around in a circle with clock hands inside the circle.
• Read the first line. It should read  “Latest Backup: Today 2:15 pm” or something similar. If your most recent backup was not today then you should select “Back Up Now” from the Time Machine menu. You can then click on the Time Machine icon again to monitor the status of the backup. Commonly seen messages are Preparing, Backing up X Megabytes of ABC Megabytes, and Cleaning Up.

If your Time Machine backup system is not working properly, the most common cause is that your backup hard drive has become disconnected or is turned off. Do you see your backup drive’s icon on the Desktop? If not, check for loose cables and to make sure that it’s turned on. Also, disconnect and then reconnect the cable which connects the hard drive to your Mac.  If you’re still not able to get the backup drive to show up then restart your Mac. Afterwards, manually start Time Machine to see if it works now. If it’s still not working, you could refer to either of the web sites I list below or contact your Mac support person for assistance. (For an expanded version of these instructions check out my article about troubleshooting Time Machine.)

Restore

It’s best to know how to restore a file from your Time Machine backup before a crisis hits. Thus, you should practice performing a restore in order to get comfortable with the procedure. This way you can remain calm should a crisis arise. I’ve written a separate Tech Tip about how to restore files from Time Machine.

Apple’s introduction to setting up, restoring from and troubleshooting Time Machine.

Mr. Pondini has created a very thorough web site about Time Machine, including extensive Frequently Asked Questions and Troubleshooting sections.