How to Back Up Your MacBook Air M4: Time Machine vs. iCloud

MacBook Air Backup Options

• 💡 This video demonstrates two primary methods for backing up your MacBook Air M4: iCloud and Time Machine using an external drive.
• 🎯 Both methods help secure your important files, photos, documents, and settings.

iCloud Backup Explained

• ☁️ iCloud backup can be set up automatically, but it has limitations, notably only 5 GB of free storage.
• ⚙️ Users can manually select which specific items to back up to iCloud, meaning it doesn't offer a full system backup.
• ⚠️ The free tier is insufficient for backing up a significant amount of data.

Time Machine Backup Setup

• 🔌 To use Time Machine, connect an external drive (USB stick or external hard drive) to your MacBook Air.
• 🛠️ Before setup, it's recommended to erase the external drive using Disk Utility, formatting it with Mac OS Extended.
• 🔐 Time Machine allows for encryption with a password to secure your backup data.
• 📊 You can also set a disk usage limit and configure backup frequency (e.g., hourly, daily, weekly) or manual backups.

Using and Restoring from Time Machine

• ⏳ Time Machine can be set to back up automatically or triggered manually via the status bar icon.
• 🔄 It backs up changed files hourly if set to automatic, ensuring up-to-date backups.
• ⏪ Backups can be previewed from different dates, and data can be restored from macOS Recovery if needed. Instructions for accessing macOS Recovery are available on the channel.