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I have an external hard drive I back up my Mac to. Time Machine is set to back up to this. But I have to plug the external hard drive in manually for back up. How often should I plug it in for the automatic back up to occur?
Is there an easier way to do the back up?
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.2
The risk of running the TM Backup Utility ONLY when the drive is attached, if one forgets to attach the drive for an extended period of time. That being days for worse still weeks.
Once TM Backup is setup - it will perform Snap Shots and will continue to make more and more Snap Shots until the drive is attached. It will then take a longer time for all the Snap Shots to be transferred to the External Drive.
Added, should an extended period of time lapse between the actual connection of the Drive occur, the Snap Shot will buildup and occupy Space on the drive.
The risk of running the TM Backup Utility ONLY when the drive is attached, if one forgets to attach the drive for an extended period of time. That being days for worse still weeks.
Once TM Backup is setup - it will perform Snap Shots and will continue to make more and more Snap Shots until the drive is attached. It will then take a longer time for all the Snap Shots to be transferred to the External Drive.
Added, should an extended period of time lapse between the actual connection of the Drive occur, the Snap Shot will buildup and occupy Space on the drive.
You are welcome and thank you too.
Do come back to the Apple Support Communities ( ASC ) in the future, if / or when additional question may arise
Leave it plugged in all the time especially if it is set to backup each hour.
Thanks for that. Time Machine is set to back up when the disc is connected. Do you suggest a how often for this?
Thanks P. Phillips- this data was extremely helpful and I totally get it now. Thanks so much.
Actually, I knew nothing of this and I only backed up recently after one year!!
Time Machine Back Up.
