Hello fello photographers,

Happy New Yew Year to you all.
I have a question about backing up my desktop.
I have iMac2017, it is connecting to external drive Element for back-up.
How long should you keep your back ups or which back ups to be deleted? How much memory they takes up?
Thank you in advance.

Kind regards,
Sanjiv Kumar

Quote from: sanjiv on January 11, 2022, 06:03

Hello fello photographers,

Happy New Yew Year to you all.
I have a question about backing up my desktop.
I have iMac2017, it is connecting to external drive Element for back-up.
How long should you keep your back ups or which back ups to be deleted? How much memory they takes up?
Thank you in advance.

Kind regards,
Sanjiv Kumar

Hello Sanjiv,


I recommend that you read up on "time machine". This is an automated backup tool for which your external backup hard disk should be the same size as the internal one.

With time machine you can also restore accidentally deleted or overwritten files in seconds.

I have two identical external hard drives for this, which I connect in daily rotation in case one of the hard drives breaks. I take them with me in the evening and store them in another place in case of fire or burglary.

This is excellent advice.

And yes, I really do know. I bought my first Apple computer in 1981 (!!!), migrated to the Mac about 5 years later, and never left the platform. The Time Machine backup system has saved me on more occasions than I can remember.

For long-time security of photo files, book manuscripts, and essential personal data, I also keep other backup drives in a safe deposit box in my bank. But the Time Machine can't be beat for quick rescues and peace-of-mind backups of everything I do on my latest Mac.

Thank you very much!

You're welcome! 

Does Time Machine offer a way to verify your backups?

To be completely honest, wds: Sorry, I don't understand the question. What do you mean by verify?

Quote from: wds on January 13, 2022, 10:15

Does Time Machine offer a way to verify your backups?

To be completely honest, wds: Sorry, I don't understand the question. What do you mean by verify?

Wilm, I think he means "confirm that the backup took place."

Verifying a backup is to check the integrity of the backup file. Apple's Time Machine may be doing a good job but there is no guarantee that the drive containing the backup file is in a good shape.

When the TM�s backup is on a local drive (USB, SATA, TB, etc.), Disk Utility should get the job done because Apple recommends using it to check the TM�s backup if you can�t restore from it.

But if the backup is on a networked drive (a drive you connect through WiFi, ethernet, etc), you can't use Disk Utility to check it. So there is the "Verify Backups" available for it in the TM icon in the menu bar, when you option-click it. It will be greyed out if you set TM to use a local drive.