newMacbook12'

Q: How can I backup my Mac without my own external hard drive?

I travel constantly right now, and do not live in a place I can call home, I have a suitcase and have no Apple AirPort Time Capsule.

 

I would however love to be able to backup my Macbook beyond the usual Notes and Calendar iCloud synch that happens automatically.

 

There's a lot of settings that I would not wish to adjust to my own preferences again, for example.

 

What services are out there for this?

 

I am looking for something that would offer a restore, similar to what is offered on an iPhone via iCloud, a complete identical backup of my Macbook.

 

Please help me on this, surely there is an online option for this already in this cloud based world we are living in??

 

Thanks guys

 

Dan

MacBook

Posted on Sep 19, 2016 4:42 PM

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Q: How can I backup my Mac without my own external hard drive?

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  • by Kappy,Helpful

    Kappy Kappy Sep 25, 2016 5:33 AM in response to newMacbook12'
    Level 10 (271,392 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 25, 2016 5:33 AM in response to newMacbook12'

    You really need an external drive for backups unless you have a pretty large SSD on the computer. If you do then simply configure Time Machine and turn it on. It will create snapshots stored invisibly on the SSD. Of course they do take up storage space. This is really not a great idea.

     

    You could purchase a cloud-based backup service instead. There are any number of them around you could use. For example, DropBox, SugarSync, and ChronoSync are good ones for the Mac. Of course cloud storage is pretty slow, and the first backup will be very slow to complete due to its size. Thereafter, they all do only incremental updates.

     

    You can purchase an external SSD that can connect either using a USB-C or USB 3.0 port along with an attachment for your MacBook to enable connecting USB 3.0 to USB-C such as the USB C Hub, HooToo Shuttle 3.1.