Why aren’t you backing your data up?
I’m talking about your music, your photos, your documents, and anything else you may have on your computer’s hard drive. All of it can be lost at any given time, no matter how far technology has come to prevent data loss. Fortunately, every shipping Mac includes Time Machine, Apple’s simple-to-configure app to backup your files.
Time Machine has been included with every release of Mac OS X since the fall of 2007 when it shipped with 10.5 “Leopard”. With Time Machine, all you need is an external hard drive connected via USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt, depending on what model Mac you own.
Simply connect your drive, and the Mac will ask you if you want to use the drive with Time Machine. Yes, it’s that simple. Plus, it’s already a part of the OS, so there’s no extra software to install. The best part of this is that it’s all automatic, meaning that once an hour, every day, your machine is being backed up to the external drive without needing you to do anything.
Restoring a file is as simple as entering Time Machine via the menu bar or app icon, and navigation to the last known date/time the file was on the computer. Once you locate it, hit the Restore button and your file is back in your possession.
Time Machine also works great with Time Capsule, enabling any Mac in the household to backup to just one central device. Time Machine only works on Macs; Time Capsule works with Windows and Mac.
Currently, I use a 2TB Western Digital MyBook Studio LX, connected via FireWire 800. It’s solid, quick, and most of the time, I don’t even know it’s running due to how quiet it is.