How to, Backup your Mac

Backup

The easiest and most effective way to make a complete backup of your machine the way it is, is to make a disk image. What is a disk image? A disk image is a complete 100% identical copy of your system the way it is. All your files, programs, music, pictures, everything. This means if your hard drive is currently 280 gig’s in use, your disk image will come out to be 280 gigs. Disk images are also really easy to restore, and luckily do not require any additional downloads or purchases to make and use on your mac. Lets look at how this is done.

Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. When open go to File > New and you will see several different options. If you create a blank disk image you will be able to selectively put what you want in it. This is the fastest way to do this. You can also make an image of a folder, or from a drive (if available). The option to make an image from your drive is the best option as it is a complete backup of your disk. I would like to note that depending on the size of your backup this can take several hours, or if you are just backing up a small folder it can take a fraction of a second. To restore a backup you can use the migration assistant or Disk Utility to mount the image you have created. Good luck!.