How to backup your MacBook using “Time Machine”

"Time Machine" is the built in back up feature that comes with your MacBook. It automatically makes a copy of your files and stores them on an external storage device. Before you start to setup "Time Machine" make sure you have an external storage device. Backups can require a lot of storage space so it is recommended to use an external hard drive which should only be used for backing up your files with "Time Machine".

Firstly you need to attach an external storage device to save the backup to, for example an external hard drive

Once plugged in you should see the drive is connected to your MacBook

Click on the Apple logo in the very top left corner of the screen

Click “System Preferences”

Click on “Time Machine” to open the backup settings

Click “Select Backup Disk…” to choose where to backup the device to

Select the drive where to store the backup, in this example our external drive is called “External Drive”, click “Use Disk”

The device will now automatically perform a backup of the device. Depending on the size of your storage this may time a long time, to prevent errors leave the device turned on and plugged into the mains.

The backup is now complete, the “Latest Backup” should now show as “Today”