Articles • June 18, 2020
“We should treat personal electronic data with the same care and respect as weapons-grade plutonium – it is dangerous, long-lasting and once it has leaked there’s no getting it back.” – Cory Doctorow
Before we talk about Mac data backup, let’s have a word on Data Security and Apple.
Devices from Apple are famous for the data security they offer. With the introduction of T2 chips, Apple has emphasized this even further.
According to Apple, these T2 chips can offer 256-bit encryption to your SSD. But, to borrow Apple’s own words, “it also means that if the portion of the T2 chip containing your encryption keys becomes damaged, you might need to restore the content of your drive from a backup.”
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So, Apple itself warns us about the possibility of data loss.
Now, you’re right: Apple devices don’t get corruption issues as often as Windows or Linux devices do. That’s one benefit of being in a closed ecosystem.
This, however, does not mean that you are safe from issues like power surge, hardware failure, display defects, and other software issues. That is, at any point in time, you may end up losing all your relevant data. And, starting again is not an option for everyone.
But actually this case can turn sunny if you get help with best Mac data recovery software in 2017. Now this article will show you top 3 free data recovery tools for Mac that can help you recover lost or deleted photos, videos, documents, emails, audio, and many more things on Mac. Jul 07, 2020 Disk Drill is one of the best data recovery software applications for Mac users. It is a full-featured and comprehensive data recovery tool that offers advanced features to raise the level of data protection on your computer and peripheral devices. Another popular program for data recovery for Mac users is Stellar Phoenix. It can recover almost all types of deleted and lost files from corrupted, crashed and deleted partitions. It helps recover lost data by scanning entire hard disk. The various advantages and disadvantages of this software are as follows. Best Mac Data Recovery Software +FREE+100 Get Back (2017) has built in proxy and VPN for 100% safety and anonymity. Our tool is 100% safe and secure, w us only open source technology and every one can edit and see our code, all instructions ar included after installation. Best file recovery software mac 2017. Hi friends, Alvin is here again with a new blog Best DATA Recovery Software 2017. By the way, it is a sequel of our famous and most shared blog Top 10 Best Professional Data Recovery Softwares. Where we have shared the best data recovery softwares for data recovery, repair and data restoration.
This is also why keeping a backup of your Mac makes a lot of sense!
What is a backup?
Free cloud and local backup software for PC / Mac backup. Backup all your photos, videos and important files to cloud storage with true privacy! Jan 17, 2019 A 30-day free trial is available. Mac Backup Guru (Bootable Backups) MacDaddy’s Mac Backup Guru is another app that creates a bootable disk image of your main drive. In fact, it supports three different types of backup: direct cloning, synchronization, and incremental snapshots.
A backup is a copy of files on your device, stored in a more organized manner. Furthermore, you can quickly restore backups in the event of data loss, device corruption, or a voluntary factory reset. Best free disc burning software for mac.
In the simplest way possible, data backups provide peace of mind. That is, even if you lose all your data due to unforeseen events and circumstances, you still have a way-out.
Let me paint a realistic picture for you.
A few weeks back, my MacBook Pro faced an issue with the display panel. When I visited the Apple support center, they asked me to submit the device for inspection and repair. They also warned me that they might have to factory-reset the device as a part of the review.
Since I regularly take backups of my system, I was not scared by the second statement. But I’m sure that is not the case for many people. What we are trying to say is this: you cannot even foresee when you have to format your Mac.
So, a backup is the only shot you have at uninterrupted work.
Why take backups aka backup myths debunked
Apart from the fact that they are essential?
Unlike the popular belief, backups are quite straightforward, especially on Mac. Taking a backup of your Mac is a task that takes just a few minutes. You don’t have to be a Pro or macOS expert to do this. Nevertheless, you should have the right Mac backup tool at your disposal.
Many believe that taking a system backup is an expensive affair. That’s not entirely true. There are options to back up your Mac without spending a single penny. However, we always recommend keeping your data in an external drive, which costs a bit.
People say backups are tough, because they don’t understand the various types of backup options out there. The collection is so rich that you can choose based on the backup type, source, destination, and your budget. For instance, you can have online incremental backups or a one-time local backup.
These are plenty of reasons to take a backup of your Mac if you have not so far.
Types of Backups: Based on Destination
Depending on where you are storing the backup files, we can categorize macOS backups.
Local backups refer to backup documents that are stored on local devices like external hard drives. When it comes to Mac, you can even save the backup to a single USB drive. These backups are readily available for restoring without an internet connection. If you are using an external HDD, you’d need some cables, though.
On the bright side, you don’t need an internet connection, and this process is cheap. Even if you are buying a portable SSD, you can spend way less than $100. The problem is that it’s still hardware. Just like your Mac, the external drive may also crash.
There are so many options within local backups. We will discuss them later.
As you can guess, these backups get stored in cloud storage spaces, which offer reliability and speed. While you don’t have to worry about cables, physical issues, and corruption, an internet connection is a necessity. You also have to pay a considerable amount of money as the subscription fee.
On the bright side, you can access the backup from almost any device. Suppose you are traveling, and your Mac decided to give up. Even in the event where you purchase a new device, you can restore all the backed-up info from the cloud.
The catch here is that you may pay anywhere from $50 to $1000 per year for these services.
Cloud Sync is similar to cloud backup from many aspects, but there are some differences. Once set up, the cloud sync service will synchronize your Mac files with a web server. You can access these files from devices connected to the same account.
This is what you get through services like iCloud, Dropbox, and Google Drive. On the positive side, you may not have to spend money. The problem is that you will have to download files and folders to the new device individually.
In the free cloud sync services, you usually have limits. Upgrading to premium plans is an expensive affair.
Types of backups: based on backup pattern
Depending on the level of control and convenience, you can choose from these options.
This type of backup backs up everything on your computer, from documents to downloads and from apps to media files. If you have 80GB of data on your Mac, the size of the backup would also be 80GB. As you can guess, this type of backup takes a considerable amount of time and space.
Full Backups are great when you take backups less frequently.
As the name says, the changes in data will become part of the data. For instance, let’s consider a scenario where you take a full backup on Sunday. Now, when you enable incremental backup, the changes made on Sunday will become a part of Monday’s incremental backup.
Incremental Backups are great when your file storage undergoes constant change.
Continuous backup can save all the essential information from your Mac to another space while keeping all the changes. When you have enabled, the backup process happens automatically. That is, almost as soon as you make changes, they are updated on the backup files.
Continuous backup offers some of the most convenient options there.
Bootable clone is almost like a full backup, but it’s a bit more expansive. When you create a bootable clone, you will be copying the entire hard drive of the Mac, including the OS. Because it’s bootable, you can use the drive to boot macOS and access your files/apps.
This is an excellent option if you are planning to get your Mac repaired/replaced.
You have to choose the right type of backups from the above mentioned options. Some of the backup options are advanced, and only professional scenarios would require them.
How to take local backups on Mac
Even when we narrow things down to local backup, you have so many options. Now, we will have a look at some of the most popular, reliable, and reasonable ways to create a local backup on Mac.
#1 Time Machine backups
Time Machine is the official backup software of macOS, built into the Operating System. You may have seen the Time Machine restore option while setting up your Mac for the first time. So, as it stands, Time Machine is the most native, affordable, and easy-to-use way to back up your Mac.
Time Machine can create full backups of your Mac in an effective manner. Whenever you connect the device to the Mac, it will back up local snapshots and other changes. On any day, you can get hourly backups for up to 24 hours, daily backups for up to a month, and weekly backups for up to several months.
Requirements: the only thing you need for a Time Machine backup is an external drive. This can be an HDD, SSD, or even a USB drive. Just keep in mind that Time Machine will erase the device and convert it into AFPS, Apple’s file system.
Process: Once you have connected the external drive, you can go to System Preferences and choose Time Machine from the menu. From the list, you have to select the external drive. Soon, after formatting the disk (if needed), Time Machine would start backing up your Mac. You can see real-time progress too.
Pros
Cons
Time Machine comes built into macOS.
#2 Carbon Copy Cloner
Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) is a professional-grade backup software for Mac. This tool allows you to create multiple types of backups and clones of your Mac hard drive. You should consider this backup suite if you need extra control over the backup process.
As you can guess, Carbon Copy Cloner supports a variety of backup modes, including full backups and partial backups. You can also create bootable backups, which are very useful in the long-term scenario. It also brings Snapshot features that you see in Time Machine.
Requirements: You can use practically any drive as the source/destination of the backup process. Unlike the Time Machine scenario, Carbon Copy Cloner does not erase or repartition the destination drive. So, you can have backups without disrupting existing content.
Process: Thanks to the simple UI, using Carbon Copy Cloner to back up content from Mac is an easy task. As you can see, you can choose the source and destination drives from the given menu, along with what you’d like to copy. There is also an option to schedule the copying process.
Pros
Cons
Carbon Copy Cloner costs $39.99, but you can get a free trial for 30 days.
#3 SuperDuper
SuperDuper is an easy-to-use Mac backup and data recovery software. Compared to Time Machine, you get more features and control over the process. At the same time, the tool comes with a UI that is simpler than that of CCC.
Just like we did in CCC, you can control what you copy to the destination drive as well. There are options for a full backup, partial backup, and even bootable backup drives. The best part? SuperDuper works without an external drive as well.
Requirements: As we said, you don’t need any specific storage drive to use with SuperDuper. The software works magically when it comes to data backup. However, we recommend having a compatible drive so that you can use all the smart features.
Process: Using SuperDuper to back up your Mac device is an easy task. Using the drop-down menu on the main interface, you can choose both the target and destination drives. The app would tell you what happens even before you press the button
Pros
Cons
SuperDuper is a paid tool, and it is available for $27.95.
How to take cloud backups on Mac
Given below are the tools/platforms you can use to save a cloud backup. In this case, though, you don’t need an external drive. However, a reliable and robust internet connection is necessary.
#1 Carbonite
Carbonite is probably the most user-friendly solution to create and manage cloud backups of your Mac. This subscription-based service presents an easy way to keep your entire Mac secure while offering features like encryption, remote file access, and even external drive support.
You need to understand that Carbonite does not offer complete backup. For instance, files bigger than 4GB won’t be uploaded automatically. However, restoring the data is an easy task. You can either download the data or even get the Hard Drive shipped to your address.
The problem with Carbonite and other cloud backup solutions is the price. In addition to the noticeably high subscription fee, you also have to bear the internet charges. You may have to pay extra for hard drive delivery features as well.
Carbonite is available for a monthly subscription starting at $6.00 when billed annually. But you also have to note that it has certain limitations. If you are looking for advanced control over the backup process and data, you may need something else.
#2 Backblaze
Backblaze is an affordable and lightweight cloud backup solution for macOS. The service is available for a low price of $60 per year, making it the most popular. What’s better, you ask? Backblaze provides unlimited storage on that plan.
As a Mac application, Backblaze provides near-native performance as well. More importantly, it does not put much strain on the resource consumption part. That is, you can keep using Backblaze even if you have multiple apps running.
Because there is no storage space limit, you can quickly deal with all sorts of your backup. Another advantage is that Backblaze can back up files of any size, unlike Carbonite, which has a 4GB limit. Blackblaze also offers several other features like worldwide hard drive delivery.
As we said, Backblaze for Mac is available for an affordable price of $60 per year. This amount is way lower when compared to the features and convenience you get. Unlimited storage and control make it a superb tool for everyone.
So, both these tools are dedicated cloud backup solutions for Mac. They don’t provide syncing-based features, which can be a let-down. This is why we have to consider cloud syncing solutions, as well.
How to enable cloud sync on Mac?
Now, we will have a look at a few options you have at enabling Cloud Sync on macOS. As we said, these are not complete backup solutions. However, if you badly want to skip paying for backup solutions, you can have a look here.
#1 iCloud
iCloud is the recommended (by Apple) cloud sync and backup solution for macOS and iOS devices. Because it’s a service from Apple, you get some advantages too. For instance, files you sync will be available on other Apple devices connected to your iCloud account.
More importantly, you can access all your files from any device, using the web-based interface. Also, since iCloud is built into macOS and Apple products, you can enjoy the best transfer speeds, upwards, and downwards. You also have an option to import all your data while setting up a Mac.
The problem is this. The free version of iCloud comes with only 5GB of storage. Upgrading to a premium plan can be an expensive affair for some. But you will have to pay one way or the other, you know.
#2 Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive
We know these are different services with different storage space options. However, generally, they work in the same way. That is, you have to set up a synchronization client on your Mac, and you can select which files will be available on the cloud.
Now, this isn’t the most convenient option for most people. Add to that the fact that most of these services have limits like 10GB and 15GB. Also, there is the problem of restoring. All you can do is download all those files individually.
Therefore, we won’t recommend any of these free platforms as a professional Mac backup solution. If you’re that hesitant to pay, though, you don’t have many options.
Note: Some smart backup management tools let you get the best of both worlds. That is, you can store your backups in cloud-based spaces like Amazon Cloud and Google Cloud. You should consider these tools if you are looking for advanced security and privacy.
The bottom line
We hope we could answer almost all the doubts you have about backups on Mac. Talking about our favorite option, we prefer going for a combination of iCloud and local backup. Earlier, we were using Time Machine, but we have also upgraded to some advanced software for the same purpose. At the end of the day, it is all about your convenience and all.
If you are asking for an honest opinion, you should be ready to pay for macOS data backup options. Spending some money as a subscription fee/one-time purchase is way better than losing all your data due to a system crash or other issues. And, regret is going to weigh more than the happiness you have by skipping $5 or $10 per month.
Why You Should Trust UsI’m Adrian Try, and I’ve been using and abusing computers for decades. I’ve used quite a variety of backup apps and strategies, and I’ve suffered a few disasters as well. As a tech support guy, I’ve come across dozens of people whose computer died without having a backup. They lost everything. Learn from their mistake!
Over the decades I’ve backed up onto floppy disks, Zip drives, CDs, DVDs, external hard drives and network drives. I’ve used PC Backup for DOS, Cobian Backup for Windows and Time Machine for Mac. I’ve used command line solutions using DOS’s xcopy and Linux’s rsync, and Clonezilla, a bootable Linux CD capable of cloning hard drives. But despite all of this, things have still gone wrong, and I’ve lost data. Here are a couple of stories.
On the day my second child was born, I came home from the hospital to discover that our house had been broken into, and our computers stolen. The excitement of the day vanished instantly. Fortunately, I had backed up my computer the previous day, and left the tall pile of floppies on my desk, right next to my laptop. That was too convenient for the thieves, who took my backup as well—a good example of why it’s good to keep your backups in a different location.
Many years later, my teenage son asked to borrow my wife’s spare USB hard drive. The first thing he did was format it, without even glancing at the contents first. Unfortunately, he picked up my backup hard drive by mistake, and I lost the lot again. I discovered clearly labeling your backup drives is a very good idea.
These days Time Machine constantly backs up anything I change to an external hard drive. In addition, most of my files are also stored online and on multiple devices. That’s a lot of very valuable redundancy. It’s been quite a while since I’ve lost anything important.
What You Need to Know Up-Front about Computer Backups1. Back Up Regularly
How often should you back up? Well, how much work are you comfortable losing? A week? A day? An hour? How much do you value your time? How much do you hate doing your work twice?
It’s good practice to back up your files daily, and even more often if you’re working on a critical project. On my iMac, Time Machine is constantly backing up behind the scenes, so as soon as I create or modify a document, it’s copied to an external hard drive.
2. Types of Backup
Not all backup software works in the same way, and there are several strategies used to make a second copy of your data.
A local backup copies your files and folders to an external hard drive plugged into your computer or somewhere on your network. If you lose a file or folder, you can restore it quickly. Backing up all of your files on a regular basis is time-consuming, so you may want to copy just the files that have changed since you last backed up. That’s known as an incremental backup.
A bootable clone, or disk image, creates an exact duplicate of your hard drive, including your operating system and software. If your hard drive fails, you can boot directly from your backup hard drive and get straight back to work.
A cloud backup is like a local backup, but your files are stored online rather than on a local hard drive. That way, if your computer is taken out by fire, flood or theft, your backup will still be available. Your initial backup may take days or weeks to complete, and you’ll need to pay an ongoing fee for the storage, but they are worthwhile. We’ll cover cloud backup solutions in a separate review.
3. Offsite Backup is Crucial
Some disasters that can take out your computer may also take out your backup. That includes natural disasters like fire and flood, and as I discovered, theft.
When I worked in a bank’s data center in the 80s, we’d fill suitcases with dozens of tape backups, and carry them to the next branch where we stored them in a fireproof safe. The suitcases were heavy, and it was hard work. These days, offsite backup is much easier.
One option is cloud backup, and as I said, we’ve covered those online backup services in a separate review. Another option is to use several hard drives for your disk images and store one at a different location.
4. Syncing Your Files is Helpful, but Not True Backup
Now that most of us use multiple devices—desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablets—many of our documents are synchronized between those devices via the cloud. I personally use iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive and more.
That makes me feel more secure and is helpful. If I drop my phone into the ocean, all of my files will magically reappear on my new one. But syncing services are not true backup.
One major problem is that if you delete or change a file on one device, the file will be deleted or changed on all of your devices. While some syncing services allow you to return to a previous version of a document, it’s best to use a comprehensive backup strategy as well.
5. A Good Backup Strategy Involves Several Backup Types
A thorough backup strategy will involve performing a number of backups using different methods, and possibly different apps. At a minimum, I recommend you keep a local backup of your files, a clone of your drive, and some sort of offsite backup, either online or by storing an external hard drive at a different address.
Who Should Back Up Their Computer? Everyone.
Everyone should back up their computer. All sorts of things can happen that result in data loss. No one is immune, so you should be prepared.
What could possibly go wrong?
Sorry if that sounds negative. I hope none of those things ever happen to you, but I can’t guarantee it. So it’s best to prepare for the worst. I once met a lady whose computer crashed the day before her major university assignment was due, and lost everything. Don’t let that happen to you.
How We Tested and Picked1. What types of backup can the app create?
Does the app backup your files and folders, or create a clone of your hard drive? We include apps that can perform both types of backup, and some can do both. In this roundup we won’t include apps that back up to the cloud—those apps deserve their own review.
2. What types of media can it back up to?
Can the app back up to external hard drives or network-attached storage? CDs and DVDs are slower and offer less storage than these, so are rarely used today. Spinning drives are larger and less expensive than SSDs, so are a good medium for backup.
3. How easy is the software to set up and use?
Creating a backup system is initially a big job, so apps that make setup easy score extra points. Best virtual machine software for mac os. Then implementing your backup strategy takes diligence, so apps that offer a choice between automatic, scheduled and manual backups can make your life much easier.
Backups can be time-consuming, so it’s helpful not to have to back up all of your files each time. Apps that offer incremental backups can save you hours.
And finally, some apps offer sequential backups. These are multiple dated backup copies, so you are not overwriting a good file on your backup disk with one that has just become corrupt. That way you’re more likely to have an uncorrupt version on one of your drives.
4. How easy is it to restore your data using the app?
The whole point of all of these backups is to recover your files if something ever goes wrong. How easy does the app make it to do this? It’s good to experiment and find this out in advance. Create a test file, delete it, and try to restore it.
5. Cost
Backup is an investment in the value of your data, and worth paying for. It’s a type of insurance that will minimize the inconvenience you’ll suffer if (or when) something goes wrong.
Backup apps cover a range of prices, from free to $50 or more:
Free Local Backup Software Mac 2017
Above is what the apps we recommend cost, sorted from cheapest to most expensive.
The WinnersBest Choice for Incremental File Backups: Time Machine
Many people don’t back up their computers because it can be difficult and a little technical to set up, and in the busyness of life, people just don’t get around to doing it. Apple’s Time Machine was designed to change all of that. It’s built into the operating system, easy to set up, and works in the background 24-7, so you don’t have to remember to do it.
Time Machine was originally designed to work with Apple’s Time Capsule hardware, which, along with their Airport routers is being discontinued. But the Time Machine software will continue to be supported and works with other hard drives. It should remain an excellent backup option for years to come.
Time Machine is included free with macOS
“Time Machine backs up all of your files to an external storage device so that you can restore them later or see how they looked in the past.”
Time Machine backs up your files and folders to a hard drive connected to your computer or on your network. It’s convenient, uses a local hard drive, and constantly backs up your files as they change or are created, so you’ll lose very little (probably nothing) when disaster hits. And importantly, restoring individual files and folders is easy.
Here’s how Apple Support describes the app:
“With Time Machine, you can back up your entire Mac, including system files, apps, music, photos, emails, and documents. When Time Machine is turned on, it automatically backs up your Mac and performs hourly, daily, and weekly backups of your files.”
“When you use Time Machine on a computer using Apple File System (APFS), Time Machine not only keeps a copy of everything on your backup disk, it also saves local snapshots of files that have changed on your internal disk, so you can recover previous versions. These local snapshots are saved hourly (unless you deselect Back Up Automatically) and they’re stored on your computer’s internal disk.”
The app is very easy to set up. When you first connect a blank hard drive, you may be asked if you’d like to use the drive to back up your computer. Alternatively, click on the Time Machine icon at the left of your menu bar, and select Open Time Machine Preferences.
Once you have set up the software, Time Machine keeps:
So there’s a lot of redundancy there. Although it uses more storage space, it’s a good thing. If you’ve just discovered something went wrong with one of your files months ago, there’s a good chance you’ll still have an older good copy still backed up.
I back up my 1TB internal hard drive (which is currently half full) to an external 2TB drive. 1TB isn’t enough, because there will be multiple copies of each file. I’m currently using 1.25TB of my backup drive.
Restoring a file or folder is quick and easy. Select Enter Time Machine from the menu bar icon.
Helpfully, the Time Machine interface looks just like Finder, with previous versions of your folder going off into the background.
You can move back through time by clicking on the title bars of the windows in the background, the buttons on the right, or the calendar on the far right.
When you find the file you’re after, you can have a look at it, get more information, restore it, or copy it. The ability to “quick look” at a file before restoring is useful, so you can make sure it is the desired version of the file you’re looking for.
Best Choice for Hard Drive Cloning: Carbon Copy Cloner
Bombich Software’s Carbon Copy Cloner is a more capable backup app with a more complex interface, though “Simple Mode” is also available, allowing you to back up your drive in three clicks. Significantly, the app allows you to back up your computer in an additional way: by creating an exact clone of your Mac’s hard drive.
Carbon Copy Cloner can create a bootable drive that mirrors your Mac’s internal drive, and then update only the files that have been added or modified. In a disaster, you will be able to start up your computer with this drive and work as normal, then restore your files onto a new drive once you purchase one.
A Personal & Household license is $39.99 from the developer’s website (one-time fee), covering all computers in the household. Corporate purchasing is also available, starting at the same price per computer. A 30-day trial is available.
Where Time Machine is great at restoring files and folders that have vanished or gone wrong, Carbon Copy Cloner is the app you want when you have to restore your entire drive, say when you’ve had to replace your hard drive or SSD due to a failure, or you’ve bought a new Mac. And because your backup is a bootable drive that’s a mirror image of your main drive when disaster hits and your main drive fails, all you need to do is reboot your computer from your backup, and you’re up and running.
All of that makes the two apps complementary rather than competitors. In fact, I recommend you use both. You can never have too many backups!
This app has more features than Time Machine, so its interface is more complex. But Bomtich has made their app as intuitive as possible by using four strategies:
1. They’ve tweaked the app’s interface to make it as easy to use as possible.
2. They’ve provided a “Simple Mode” interface that can perform a backup in three clicks.
3. The “Cloning Coach” will alert you to any configuration concerns and concerns about your backup strategy.
4. They also offer guided setup and restore, so that getting back your lost information is as easy as possible.
Besides making the interface easy to use, you can automatically keep your backups up-to-date by scheduling them. Carbon Copy Cloner can back up your data hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and more. You can specify what type of backup is to be done, and chain together groups of scheduled tasks.
The Competition and ComparisonsSuperDuper! (Bootable Backups)
Shirt Pocket’s SuperDuper! v3 is an alternative to Carbon Copy Cloner. It’s a simpler app, where many of the features are free, and the full app is more affordable. SuperDuper! has been around for a healthy 14 years, and although new features have been added, the app looks a little dated.
The interface is very easy to use. Just choose which drive to back up, which drive to clone it onto, and the type of backup you want to perform. Like Carbon Copy Cloner, it will create a fully bootable backup, and can update it with just the changes you’ve made since the last backup.
Download SuperDuper! for free from the developer’s website. Pay $27.95 to unlock scheduling, smart update, sandboxes, scripting and more.
ChronoSync (Syncing, File Backup)
Econ Technologies ChronoSync 4 is a versatile app with many talents. It can synchronize files between your computers, backup your files and folders, and create a bootable clone of your hard drive. This one app can perform every type of backup you need.
Restoring files backed up by ChronoSync can be as easy as browsing for the backed up file using Finder and copying it, or using the app itself to sync your files back to your hard drive.
You can schedule your backups to take place at a regular time, or whenever you connect a specific hard drive to your computer. It is able to back up only the files that have changed since your last backup, and can copy multiple files simultaneously to speed up the operation.
$49.99 from the Econ Store. Bundles and student discounts are available. ChronoSync Express (an entry-level version that can’t do bootable backups) is $24.99 from the Mac App Store. ChronoSync Express is included with a SetApp subscription. A 15-day free trial is available.
Acronis True Image (Disk Cloning)
Acronis True Image 2019 for Mac is another alternative to Carbon Copy Cloner, allowing you to make cloned images of your hard drive. The more expensive plans also include online backup.
Free Local Backup Software Mac Reviews
True Image is a little more expensive than Carbon Copy Cloner, and aimed more at corporations than individuals and small businesses. It lacks a personal license that allows you to use the app on all your computers. The app costs $79.99 for three computers, and $99.99 for five.
You use the app through an intuitive dashboard, and the restore feature allows you to quickly recover your entire drive, or just the files you need.
Acronis True Image 2019 Standard (single license) costs $49.99 (per computer) from the developer’s website. A 30-day free trial is available.
Mac Backup Guru (Bootable Backups)
MacDaddy’s Mac Backup Guru is another app that creates a bootable disk image of your main drive. In fact, it supports three different types of backup: direct cloning, synchronization, and incremental snapshots. You can use it to backup either your complete hard drive, or just the folders you specify.
What makes it different is that it can continually keep that backup in sync with any new changes you make, or alternatively keep incremental backups that don’t overwrite older backups with your changes, in case you need to go back to an earlier version of a document. It’s also a little less expensive than its competitors.
$29 from the developer’s website. A free trial is available.
Get Backup Pro (Disk Cloning, Folder Sync)
Belight Software’s Get Backup Pro is the most affordable app on our list (not including Apple’s free Time Machine), and it offers you a range of backup types, including incremental and compressed file backups, bootable cloned backups, and folder synchronization. It’s another app that may do everything you need.
“Backup, clone, archive, sync—all in one app.”
Backup and sync can be scheduled, and the app supports external or network drives, as well as CDs or DVDs. Backup templates let you include data from iTunes, Photos, Mail, Contacts and your Documents folder. You can encrypt your backups for additional security.
The app is easy to use, including when it comes time to restore your files. You’re even able to restore your files onto a computer that doesn’t have the app installed.
$19.99 from the developer’s website, or included in a SetApp subscription. A free trial is available.
Free Alternatives1. Free Apps
We’ve already mentioned a few free ways to backup your Mac: Apple’s Time Machine comes preinstalled with macOS, and SuperDuper!’s free version is able to do quite a lot. You can also perform a quick and dirty backup using Finder, by dragging your files to an external drive.
Here are a couple of additional free backup apps that you may like to consider:
Free Local Backup Software Mac Download
Some cloud backup providers allow you to back up your computer locally with their software for free. We’ll cover those apps in a future review.
2. Use the Command Line
If you’re more technically inclined, you can bypass apps and use the command line to perform backups. There are a number of commands that are helpful for doing this, and by placing these in a shell script, you’ll only have to set things up once.
Useful commands include:
Mac Backup Programs
If you’d like to learn how to use the command line to roll your own backup system, refer to these helpful articles and forum discussions:
Free Local Backup Software Mac Os
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December 2020
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