Now, we’re closer than ever to creating wired backups to an external hard drive, an archaic concept. It’s not outdated yet, but with the scalability of iCloud and iCloud Drive, external hard drives continue to shrink in relevance, especially for Mac and iOS users. If you want to eliminate the need for an external drive, it’s safe to say that you can now back up nearly your entire Mac through iCloud if you’re willing to take a few different steps.
It’s time to leave the Time Machine past and take the leap to iCloud | Hadrian/ShutterstockNote: This won’t be as comprehensive as a Time Machine backup
1. Upgrade your iCloud storage
Storing nearly all of your computer files in iCloud will require more than the 5GB of free storage Apple gives you for iCloud.
To upgrade your iCloud storage, open System Preferences on your Mac and select icloud.
At the bottom, click Manage… Now click Buy more storage… or if you already bought a pack and need more, click Change the capacity plan…
Choose from the available pricing and hosting options. 50GB storage costs $0.99 per month, 250GB costs $2.99 per month, and 1TB costs $9.99 per month.
Tip: To estimate what you might need, click Apple Logo in your menu bar, select About this Mac and click Warehouse
Follow the process to upgrade your storage plan, then go back to your iCloud settings.
2. Turn on all iCloud services
Clear and simple: click the check mark for every possible iCloud service. That’s especially true for iCloud Drive and Photos — make sure iCloud Photo Library is turned on so you don’t lose a single photo. Keychains are also important for remembering your saved passwords and credit cards across all devices.
This will not only benefit you now as it will keep all your content in sync across devices, but also in the future when you need it on a new device.
Tip: While music isn’t technically an iCloud service, you should consider signing up for Apple Music if you don’t already have one (or Spotify Premium). Apple Music with iCloud Music Library enabled automatically stores all your music in the cloud and brings it to any of your new or existing devices. Subscription is $9.99 per month
3. Copy user files to iCloud Drive
Time to move in a two-step process. First, you make a copy of any valuable files and folders for iCloud Drive. Copy and paste them into iCloud Drive in the Finder — items like movies, local music (such as an iTunes folder), iMovie or GarageBand files, photos, screenshots, and downloads. Do not click and drag.
If you’re running macOS Sierra, see how to automatically add Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive.
Important:
Do not move apps to iCloud Drive. Apps are a bit more complicated than they seem. However, you can move the app data which I will talk about in the next section.
Don’t worry about sensitive system files, caches, messages or anything like that. For now just focus on your own personal user files.
When done, you can optionally add folder shortcuts like Music, Movies, etc. to the Finder sidebar by dragging and dropping the folders there from iCloud Drive. Since you will still be accessing most of your files locally, this is not necessary.
4. Copy library files
This will only take a little while as you will leave most of the junk behind. When Finder is active, click Go in the menu bar. Press and hold the . button Select key and select Library.
All you really need from here is Application Scripts, Application Support And Containers. Also take The hunt if you use it as your main browser. Select all four of these and copy and paste them into iCloud Drive. These will help maintain some of your application settings.
Tip:
As for the apps themselves, you’ll have to reinstall them manually. I know I’m sorry. But if you download most of them from the Mac App Store, it shouldn’t take long as you can re-download them from the cloud. Otherwise, keep the installation disc, license key, and download account in a note (digital or physical) for later use.
5. Restore
Now that nearly everything you need is in iCloud Drive, when you have a new computer, there’s not much left to do. You can copy sensitive Library files in iCloud Drive back to your local library. All your user, media, messages, etc files should be available for access in iCloud.
The only work you really have to do is reinstall your apps properly and adjust the system settings back to your preferences.
ALSO READ: How to check your Mac’s backup before restoring
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
