Mac Backup … is it important?

“There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who back up and those who wish they did…. “

~Unknown Tech support guy

That phrase has been a mantra of mine for years. Every year around HSCs we would have devastated teens bring in their liquid damaged laptops praying that we would be able to save their HSC project to find out no. They would have to go to a data recovery service that would cost a minimum of $600. They would not have had this problem if they had a Mac Backup

I have seen businesses fail because a power surge killed the computer that held all the financial records. The business owner thinking they were too busy to backup having to stop EVERYTHING to devote all their time to recover lost records. Also would not have been a problem if they had a Mac Backup.

I have a long list of scary stories about people who have lost weeks if not months of work because they did not have a proper backup. Remember spending five minutes to back up will save you weeks and hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

So why do you need to back up your Mac computer?

Apple makes awesome computers. I paid a lot of money why should I have to back up? Apple will be the first to tell you that you need to back up your computer often. They have even designed one of the best backup software I have ever seen called Time Machine. (I have yet to find it’s equal and I have been looking)

All Hard drives fail

All hard drives fail. Every one of them. It is just a matter of time. If you are using your computer every day there is a chance that at some point something is going to go wrong and your hard drive is going to say “NOPE I’m not going to work “. I could go into all the reasons why a Hard drive would fail but this is not that kind of blog. Think of it this way cars are not supposed to fail either but there is at least one repair shop in every town.

People Delete stuff

You know who has destroyed my most important data by mistake … ME. The worst was just this last year when I had recorded a live podcast. During the editing process, I think I had deleted the wrong file sending the important audio file to its doom. I knew better and I kick myself every time I hear about that episode.

If I can accidentally delete a file. Think about how often it happens with non-computer experts.

Ransomware

I have been seeing reports of ransomware that affect macs on the rise. Phone scams can create a ransomware situation by following the instructions of the scammer over the phone. Though Apple and a few other companies are working on ways to prevent this (Including myself) At the moment the only good defence is a backup. Even if you are using our Magg-pi web blocker that helps prevent you from downloading Ransomware before your computer can be infected. We still recommend backing up.

You can have your computer stolen

I think the most dramatic story of having computers stolen was when I was working phone support and a man called up REALLY angry. Not at us but the fact his shop was broken into and all his computers had been stolen. Being that he had the financial records of his clients he really needed to have access to those documents. He was not concerned about the thieves having access to his data as all the computers were encrypted. His insurance would cover some of the damages however his clients would be losing a lot of money and time because of the lack of data. (Not everything can be covered by insurance )

During the phone call, he stopped mid-rant (The poor guy needed a good vent) and he started laughing uncontrollably. When he calmed down enough to speak he informed me that the thieves did not notice the “Time Capsule ” (A WIFI Router that does Time Machine Backups) “Connect me with your sales department I need to buy four iMacs”. He emailed me later to inform me that he ended up going to the Apple store buying four iMacs. Because he had a Mac Backup he was able to restore all his new computers and no data was lost.

Fire? You need a Mac backup

Bushfires in the Blue Mountains do I need to say more? However, understand having a backup does you no good in the case of fire if both the computer and the backup are in the same house. We have a service where we have two back up drives. You keep one and we keep the other in a fireproof safe. Once a month we swap hard drives making sure that even if your house or business was to be caught in a bushfire there is always a backup that is less than 30 days old.

So how do you back up your Mac computer?

That part is easy. The Mac actually goes out of its way to give you opportunities to create a Time Machine backup. All you have to do is connect a new HD to the Mac computer. You should get a message asking if you “would like to use this drive as a backup?” Say YES. This will erase all the data on the drive and reformat it to work with the Mac. The first backup will take a few hours. But after that, it will back up every hour as long as the hard drive is plugged in. All you have to do is remember to plug it in.

https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201250 <—— Official Apple instructions on how to turn on Time Machine backups.

close up photography of woman sitting beside table while using macbook Mac Backup
Photo by Andrew Neel on Pexels.com

Our backup services to make sure you have a good Mac Backup

We offer a few backup services. If you are having your Mac serviced here in the Blue Mountains and you have never done a backup We are happy to do a temporary backup for only $20 extra. This backup is encrypted and will be deleted 10 days after your computer has been repaired. (We value your privacy)

We also have an Off-Site Backup plan. Where you buy two hard drives. Both hard drives are then labeled with your name. One drive you keep connected to your Mac and it backs up every hour. The other goes into our fireproof safe. Once a month I drop by and we swap Hard Drives. So no matter what you always have a backup that is less than a month old even in the case of a fire. (Service includes checking to see if the backups are working properly and verifying the hard drives are in good condition )

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