HT201250: Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac

Learn about Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac
fhornick

Q: What size Back Up Drive should I uses to back up a Mac Book Pro with 500 GB drive?

What size of remote back up drive do I need for my Mac Book Pro with retina display and 500 GB hard drive?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Aug 27, 2016 9:23 AM

Close

Q: What size Back Up Drive should I uses to back up a Mac Book Pro with 500 GB drive?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by macjack,

    macjack macjack Aug 27, 2016 9:33 AM in response to fhornick
    Level 9 (55,682 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 27, 2016 9:33 AM in response to fhornick

    If you are using Time Machine will it will use 3X times the space of what you are backing up, or more.

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Aug 27, 2016 9:44 AM in response to fhornick
    Level 9 (69,813 points)
    iTunes
    Aug 27, 2016 9:44 AM in response to fhornick

    See question 1. If you are backing up using a clone, something at least 10 - 15 GB bigger than 500 GB.

     

    Time Machine FAQ

  • by keg55,

    keg55 keg55 Aug 27, 2016 10:47 AM in response to fhornick
    Level 6 (8,368 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 27, 2016 10:47 AM in response to fhornick

    What size of remote back up drive do I need for my Mac Book Pro with retina display and 500 GB hard drive?

    In my opinion as a basic user (like me), you need a back up drive that's minimum twice the size of the drive you're backing up. So, in your case, 1TB.

     

    The initial Time Machine back up will back up everything. After that, assuming you leave Time Machine ON, it will back up only updated files. Time Machine also deletes old back ups if the back up drive is running low on space.

  • by Vishal2014,

    Vishal2014 Vishal2014 Aug 30, 2016 1:56 AM in response to fhornick
    Level 2 (202 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 30, 2016 1:56 AM in response to fhornick

    Time Machine performs incremental backup of your hard drive hence the Time Machine external drive should be larger than the source disk which is Macintosh HD. A large Time Machine drive (say 2 or 4 TB) will help you never run out of free spaces anytime soon. Or may be you can partition the external drive and use it for Time Machine as well as Cloning your Mac HD.