All about keeping your data safe and in more than one place.
Long ago, to get ready for a trip, we’d mostly make sure we had our plane tickets, books and magazines to read, and a snack. Prepping for travel in today’s tech-heavy world comes with a new set of tasks, most of which shouldn’t be left to the last minute. Identify Devices, Chargers, and Cables to […]
Read moreHow to disable Time Machine backups on your Mac computer.
Read moreSince its inception, Time Machine has backed up on an hourly schedule. It then keeps hourly backups for the previous 24 hours, daily backups for the last month, and weekly backups back to the start of the backup. Once free space on the backup drive gets low, Time Machine deletes older backups to make room […]
Read moreHappy New Year, and welcome to 2024! For many of us, starting a new year means reflecting on fresh habits we’d like to adopt. Although we support any resolutions you may have made to get enough sleep, eat better, exercise more, and reduce social media usage, allow us suggest a few more that will improve […]
Read moreAre you among the millions of people planning to get a new iPhone 15? It’s exciting, we know, but don’t move too fast when getting started with your new iPhone, or you might cause yourself headaches. Instead, follow these instructions when you’re ready to transfer your data—and, for many people, much of your digital life—to […]
Read moreIf your iPhone were to be stolen or suffer an unfortunate accident, would you lose all your precious photos? Those using iCloud Photos are probably shaking their heads smugly, thinking that all those baby and vacation photos are backed up securely in iCloud. iCloud Photos does indeed store a copy of all your photos, but […]
Read moreDo you use CrashPlan to backup your Mac? If so, CrashPlan version 11 was released earlier in March. CrashPlan should be granted a permission known as Full Disk Access so it’ll be able to backup any file. CrashPlan released a 3 minute video containing instructions on how to grant Full Disk Access. The instructions vary … Read more
Do you use Backblaze to backup your Mac? It’s a great way to create an off-site backup of your Mac’s data. Backblaze tends to automatically install minor updates but it won’t install major upgrades on its own. Here are instructions on how to manually install a major upgrade of Backblaze on your Mac, such as upgrading from … Read more
Do you use Time Machine to backup your Mac? Is Time Machine configured to backup to one or more hard drives? Has one of your backup hard drives died? If so, you want to remove that drive from Time Machine’s configurations. If you don’t remove it then Time Machine will repeatedly remind you that you … Read more
A client recently had his iPad stolen, but he was prepared because he had the Find My feature enabled and he was backing up his iPad to iCloud. Do you have these features enabled? These features are useful whether you get your iPad back or not. If you don’t get your iPad back then the … Read more
Are you still using an Apple AirPort Time Capsule as either your router or as a destination on which you store your Time Machine backups? If so, you should consider replacing it since Apple discontinued the product in 2018 and provided the last significant upgrade to the Time Capsule in 2012.
Read moreIs your Mac’s hard drive getting full? Have you ever noticed that Apple designates some of your storage space as purgeable space? What is purgeable space? Apple introduced the concept of purgeable space in macOS 10.12 Sierra. If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or newer, you can easily see if it has so-called purgeable … Read more
Do you use CrashPlan to backup your Mac? After migrating to a new Mac have you experienced CrashPlan giving the following error message? Logged Out By Authority. Invalid Application State. If so, here are general instructions on how to fix this problem. Sign in to your account at CrashPlan’s web site. Download the most current … Read more
If you backup your iPhone or iPad to iCloud, this Tech Tip is for you. Backing up your iPhone or iPad is an important thing to do since it provides an easy way for you to transfer your information to a new iPhone if your current iPhone is lost, stolen, or dies. Thus, it’s important … Read more
Do you use Backblaze to create an off-site backup of your Mac? If so, it’s important to know that by default, Backblaze only stores older versions of your files as well as recently deleted files for 30 days. A 30-day retention period may be sufficient for many, but some will want to extend this to … Read more
Backblaze is an online backup application. I use it and recommend it for many residential clients. Some clients might prefer CrashPlan for Business, which is a competing online backup service I also use and recommend. In my experience Backblaze is a bit easier to setup and monitor. CrashPlan’s appeal is that it offers longer file … Read more
Do you use either CrashPlan or Backblaze to backup your personal data files on your Mac? Starting with macOS Mojave (aka macOS 10.14), Apple implemented tighter privacy restrictions. Consequently, you now need to explicitly grant permissions to CrashPlan and Backblaze so these applications can access all of your files and folders on your Mac. Here … Read more
Do you use Time Machine to backup your Mac? There’s an adage that goes if it’s worth backing up once, it’s worth backing up twice. Consequently, I backup my Mac to two different hard drives as well as backing up my data to the cloud using Backblaze. Storing backup data on two different hard drives … Read more
Do you use Backblaze to backup your Mac? It’s a great way to create an off-site backup of your Mac’s data. When CrashPlan eliminated their backup service for home customers, I recommended that most of my residential customers switch to Backblaze. In the fall of 2019, Backblaze version 7 was released. Backblaze tends to automatically … Read more
This week’s Tech Tip is a cautionary tale. Last week, I offered some guidance on how to prepare for a Genius Bar appointment and the importance of knowing that you have a current Time Machine backup of your Mac, before taking your Mac to the Genius Bar. Recently, I had two clients take their Macs to … Read more