How to Back Up a Mac

Use Time Machine

Connect your Mac to the formatted external hard drive using the provided connection cable (usually a USB, Lightning, or eSATA cable).

Click the Apple menu. It's the  icon located in the upper left corner of the screen.

Click System Preferences . This option is in the second section of the drop-down menu.

Click Time Machine . This is the icon located at the bottom, center of the window.

With older versions of macOS and Time Machine, Time Machine needs to be set to "On".

Click Select Backup Disk… (Select backup disk). This option is in the right pane of the dialog box.

Click on the drive. Select the external hard drive that you connected to your Mac.

Click the Use Disk button located in the lower right corner of the dialog box.

Select "Back Up Automatically" in the left pane of the dialog box to have your Mac perform regular backups.

Select "Show Time Machine in menu bar" to create a shortcut to Time Machine options and backup status in the menu bar.

Click Options… in the lower right corner of the window.

Select "Back up while on battery power" to have Time Machine back up while your Mac is not charging.

Select "Notify after old backups are deleted" if you want Time Machine to notify you each time it deletes old backups to make space for newer backups.

Backup to iCloud

Click the Apple menu. It's the  icon located in the upper left corner of the screen.

Click System Preferences . This option is in the second section of the drop-down menu.

Click the iCloud icon located on the left side of the window.

If you don't set automatic login mode, now enter your Apple ID and password.

To check storage or upgrade your iCloud plan, click Manage. in the lower right corner of the dialog box. Next, click Change Storage Plan. (Change storage plan) in the upper right corner.

Check the box next to "iCloud Drive" at the top of the right pane. At this point, you can store files and documents on iCloud.

To store files and documents, select "iCloud Drive" in any "Save" box or drag and drop files to iCloud Drive in the left pane of the Finder search window.

Select the apps that are given access to iCloud Drive by clicking the Options button next to "iCloud Drive" in the dialog box.

Choose the type of data that can be stored in iCloud by checking the boxes under "iCloud Drive."

Select "Photos" if you want to back up and access your photos on iCloud.

Select "Mail" to sync and store emails on iCloud.

Select "Contacts" to save a copy of your contacts on iCloud.

Select "Calendars" to save a copy of your calendar in iCloud.

Select "Reminders" to save a copy of your reminders on iCloud.

Select "Safari" to back up Safari data, such as browsing history and favorites, to iCloud.

Select "Notes" to save a copy of your notes on iCloud.

Select "Keychain" to share an encrypted copy of your passwords and payment data across devices signed in with your Apple ID.

You may have to scroll down to see all the options.