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Time Machine Back Up.

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

Posted on Mar 5, 2022 6:47 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 6, 2022 7:24 AM

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.



5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 6, 2022 7:24 AM in response to Power15

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.



Time Machine Back Up.

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