Apple Time Machine 101 - Seagate Style

Formatting a drive for Time Machine
Setting up the external drive to be used with Time Machine
Excluding items from Time Machine backup plan
Restoring data from Time Machine backup


Formatting a drive to be used with Time Machine:

 macOS requires that a drive be formatted with a specific file system to be used with Time Machine

• For Big Sur use Apple File System (APFS) when setting up a new backup
• For macOS versions for 10.6 (Snow Leopard) to 10.15 (Catalina) use Mac OS Extended (Journaled) also referred to as HFS+ when setting up a new backup

Use this link for instructions on formatting your drive

Setting up the external drive to be used with Time Machine:
 

1. Open System Preferences.
2. Open Time Machine.
3. Click on the Select Disk button. A window opens showing External Storage Drives connected to your Mac.
4. Select a drive and click on the Use Disk button. At this point the Backup Disk is selected and the next Time Machine Backup will start in 120 Seconds (2 Minutes).

Excluding items from Time Machine backup plan (Options):
 

1. Open System Preferences.
2. Open Time Machine.
3. Click on the Options button. An options window opens
4. Click on the + button to change what is excluded by Time machine.
5. Select files/folders and click on the Exclude button. At this point the folder size Calculations and Adjustments are made.
6. Click on the Done button to finish. At this point Time Machine prepares the drive and backs up selected data.

Restoring data from Time Machine backup:
 

1. Open Finder - Applications - Time Machine.
2. Time machine opens. You can navigate Time Machine through the following:
   • The Graphical Timeline to the right of the Time Machine window
   • The Up/Down Arrows
   Browse to, and select files/folders you wish to restore.
3. Click on the Restore button. Address any prompts that appear on the screen (grant Administrative access, etc.)
4. Click Continue. Data is restored to your Mac.