Backup Methods

We highly recommend using your UBC provided OneDrive cloud storage as a backup solution.

The process of backing up files between external drives varies based off of the operating system. More information about this backup method can be found here.

MacOS uses a built in application called Timemachine to back up.

Backup with Timemachine

Use TimeMachine with an external drive (ZCU can lend you one). This takes a lot of time (overnight) if it is your first backup. To speed it up you can exclude folders, like these for example:
   ~/Applications
   ~/Documents
   ~/Desktop
A first backup might take up to 10 hours.

  1. Connect the external drive to your Mac. NOTE the external drive will only be useable as a timemachine backup and any data currently on the drive will be erased once Timemachine is setup
  2. Go to System Settings > General > Timemachine
  3. Select Add Backup Disk
  4. Ensure Encrypt Backup is toggled on
  5. Set a password for the backup and ensure you take note of it as the backup will be non-recoverable without it
  6. You will be prompted to Erase the hard drive
  7. Once the external drive is setup, you'll have an additional options menu where you can setup backup frequency and can exclude folders from backup

Make sure you have a backup of everything you do not want to lose especially if your computer is inexplicably slow -- because that is a hint that your hard disk may be faulty. A detailed guide can be found here.