The latest version of Apple's operating system, OS X Mavericks, is available for download today. In this article, we'll show you how to save your data, update your operating system, and prepare for the latest version of OS X.
Before you begin, you need to make sure you have everything you need. To back up your data, you will need external hard disk with at least the same amount of memory as HDD your computer (or Time Capsule). You also need to make sure your Mac can run Mavericks and make sure you have an iTunes account to purchase the upgrade.
Before installing the update, you must ensure that your device is compatible with Mavericks. Most of the information you need is on the About This Computer tab. To open it, click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen, then click the "About this PC" button.
This window will allow you to see what operating system is installed on your computer, check if your software is up to date or not, find out how much memory your computer has, and also get serial number to find out what year it was purchased.
Since Mavericks is downloaded through the store Mac app, you need to make sure the version number listed on the About This Mac page is 10.6.8 or higher. If you don't have 10.6 (also known as Snow Leopard), you can buy it online. When you click on "Software Update" the system will check for an update for your machine. We strongly recommend that you make sure that your software is up to date before installing the operating system. In addition, you must have at least 2 GB of RAM.
Here is a complete list of machines that are compatible with OS X Mavericks:
MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or early 2009 or newer)
iMac (mid 2007 or newer)
Mac Mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
Xserve (early 2009)
Macbook Pro(mid/late 2007 or newer)
Macbook Air(late 2008 or newer)
You can find out the exact year of manufacture of your Mac by its serial number:
Backup data
If your machine supports Mavericks, we recommend that you back up your data before upgrading.
If you're already using Time Machine, it's very easy to check when your data was last backed up and run it again if necessary. Just click on the Time Machine icon to see when the backup was completed. If you need to make another copy, just click on the "Back Up" button.
If you haven't backed up using Time Machine, let's discuss various methods Mac backup using Time Machine. You have two options: with Time Capsule, or using third party external hard drives.
1. Backup on Time Capsule. To customize AirPort Time Capsule for backup, open System Preferences and click on the "Time Machine" button. Then click the "Select Disk" button and select your Time Capsule from the list that will appear.
2. Backup to an external hard drive. When connecting any external hard disk for the first time, a pop-up window will appear asking you to use it for Time Machine.
Backup Encryption will allow you to encrypt your Time Machine backup using FileVault 2. It's up to you whether you want to encrypt the backup or not. This will give you additional level protection with a password to access the backup, but data encryption can noticeably slow down the backup process.
Click on "Use as backup drive" and select which external hard drive to use with Time Machine. The first backup can take several hours, I would recommend doing it quickly so as not to interrupt the process. After the initial backup, Time Machine backs up only the files that have changed while the drive is connected hourly. If the drive is not connected when it's time for a backup, Time Machine will simply wait until the drive is connected again and continue operating normally.
In addition to Time Machine backups, or instead of Time Machine backups, online backups can be used, although this can be much slower than using a local disk.
Installing Mavericks
Once yours has created all the backups, you are ready to download Mavericks from App Store. The download is free and takes about an hour, depending on your internet connection. Once it has finished downloading, the installer will automatically open and prompt you to get started. Click the "Continue" button to install.
The first part of the setup process simply involves agreeing to Apple's terms of use. Click the Agree button to continue. If you later decide that you want to read (or re-read) all of the terms, you can find them on the Apple website.
You need to re-confirm that you have read the terms.
Next, you will have to choose which drive you want to install OS X Mavericks to. For most, this should be your internal hard drive, which is often the only choice, but if you have multiple partitions of the hard drive or multiple hard drives in the machine, select the drive that the best way suits your needs.
In order to proceed with the installation, you need to enter the administrator password on the computer. This password is usually different from your Apple ID. This password is used when you log into your computer and is sometimes required to change settings. Not all users on a computer have a single administrator user, so it's important to make sure you're signed in to an administrator account. If you have more than one account on your computer, the administrator is usually the first user of the computer.
Now everything is ready for installation.
After a few minutes, the computer will automatically restart and the installation will begin.
The computer will boot to a black screen with a gray window showing the current progress of the installation. This usually takes about forty-four minutes, but sometimes it actually takes an hour and twenty minutes, depending on the speed of your machine.
If the progress bar seems to be stuck at "Less than a minute left," don't worry. This message is almost always wrong, and takes much longer than it says. Do not attempt to restart your computer during this step.
When the installation is completed, you will receive a message that the installation was successful. Your computer will restart for the last time. You are currently running OS X Mavericks. After the reboot, there are a few additional steps that you will need to complete in order to get back to using your Mac.
Even though the installation will complete, there are still a few things the installer needs to do before you can continue using your Mac. This process takes a few minutes, but is much faster than the previous step.
If the installer detects that you have old incompatible versions software on your computer, it warns you that these programs have been moved to the Incompatible Programs folder.
To start using the machine, click the "Start Using Mac" button. At this point, depending on the version of OS X that was updated, you may have to complete a few extra steps, such as signing in to (or creating) an iCloud account, which isn't very long and easy enough.
When you enter the desktop for the first time, two notifications will appear on the right upper corner screen. The first tells you that your Mac will be optimized for use with Mavericks, which will affect performance and time. battery life until completed.
And the second will offer to get acquainted with the features of the new operating system.
Clicking on the "Show" button will take you to a page on Apple's website detailing the changes to Mavericks. You can always find "What's new in OS X Mavericks" later using the Help menu in the Finder. First option, " Help Center”, you will be taken to the Mavericks user manual. The second option, What's New in OS X Mavericks, will take you to an Apple page that highlights some of the new features.
Congratulations! Your computer is now running OS X Mavericks. Over the next few days, we'll be posting a few help articles to help you get the most out of your updated Mac.
And if your computer is too old for Mavericks, it's time to upgrade! New MacBoo Pro, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina display always in stock in our online store
The problem of data loss was as relevant 10 years ago as it is now and will be in the future. You can lose all the necessary information different ways: Damage to the media due to infection with viruses or unintentionally remove them. There are not so many ways to restore information, and the most reliable is considered to be restoring from a backup. What's the point - you insure yourself and make a backup of the necessary data when everything is in order with them, but when an unexpected problem occurs, you simply restore them from a backup. No need to think that backing up is hard handmade, not at all, today there are quite a few programs that will do everything for you, once you set up such a program, you can forget about it and remember it only when you need to restore something. Mac OS already has a similar backup program built into it, and it's called Time Machine.
In order to perform a backup (also called backup / backup) using Time Machine, you need OS X 10.5 Leopard or higher + external media where the backup will be performed (this can be external HDD, connected via USB, Thunderbolt or FireWire, network drive, AirPort Time Capsule, or other similar Apple device). Next, you need to determine the size of the external media, the calculation is as follows if you have 50 GB occupied on the disk, then you only need to allocate 100 GB of space for backup. In order to see how much hard disk space you have, click "Finder" - "Programs" - "Utilities".
Then select "Disk Utility".
Select your main drive and below you will see information about how much disk space is used.
In my case, backup will need about 60 GB. The backup process will look like this, the first backup will be "Full", i.e. the entire OS along with the data and will take up the same amount of space as used on the MAC OS, all subsequent backups will back up only the changed data and they will already require much less space. Time Machine stores:
- Hourly copies for the last 24 hours;
- Daily backups for the last month;
- Weekly backups for all other months of work.
As soon as there is not enough space on the external drive, the old data will be overwritten with new ones.
From theory, I propose to move on to practice, connect the media to which you will backup, go to "Finder" - "Programs" - "Time Machine".
In the window that opens, select "Select backup disk".
Select the media to be backed up to. If you wish, you can password-protect the backup, to do this, check the box "Encrypt copies". This procedure is optional and is only needed to protect your backup from strangers.
If there is any information on this media, it must be migrated because Time Machine will delete all information on it and format the media in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
If necessary, you can exclude some folders from the backup, to do this, click the "Options" button, click on the "plus" and specify those folders that do not need to be backed up.
The Time Machine backup system is great for beginners and anyone who is just aware of the need to create backups, but has never encountered complex data recovery from a backup.
Time Machine does not have any settings at all and does not have advanced options for advanced users. The system is made in the style of Apple: everything just works by pressing one button.
You cannot set a flexible copy schedule or complex conditions for changing its settings. There are other significant drawbacks as well.
I do not claim that the system I have described is the best and most secure. Just sharing my experience and alternative way Reserve copy.
Why I don't like Time Machine
First of all, the most convenient way to back up from Time Machine is to save to a network drive. Apple has long curtailed the production of branded routers with a built-in disk, the direction is clearly not a priority for the Cupertinos.
Secondly, work with plug-in drives for backup sooner or later gets bored. At first you try to connect the disk every day, then you make backups once a week, and then you completely forget about this process.
Thirdly, you need to make a backup copy yourself. If data is stored on an external drive or network storage, it must be backed up to a more secure location.
Devices at home are not protected from external factors (fire, flood, robbery, etc.) and are not a safe enough place for backups. You have to periodically upload copies to the cloud.
Fourth, you need a working Mac to restore from a Time Machine backup. The computer has broken and without a new sense there will be no backup.
You can’t extract data from it, you won’t be able to boot, you can only deploy it on another Apple computer.
To get rid of all the mentioned Time Machine problems, I decided to switch to third party system Reserve copy.
How do I store data on a Mac
You already know that I'm not using the original Mac, but with the installed . Three drives fit inside my computer at once: SSD drive 256 GB with macOS, SSD drive 256 GB with Windows and a 1 TB HDD for files and data, which I formatted in exFAT to work with them from any OS.
I store all working files and data on a common exFAT to work from macOS or Windows. In addition, the disk is installed in the laptop through an adapter. Optibay instead of the stock DVD drive. This allows you to unscrew just a couple of screws from the bottom of the laptop, remove the drive and connect it to any computer using a penny adapter.
Temporary files and not the most important data are already stored in each operating system separately.
For backup, I singled out two tasks: keep up-to-date backup folder with working data and regularly back up copy boot disk to restore the system.
How to back up work files
I prefer to store my data folder in the cloud. I chose the most versatile option for myself - drop box. I have long expanded the place to 22 GB, this is enough for my work data so as not to buy a paid subscription.
Periodically I clean and delete unnecessary or obsolete data, storing about 15-17 GB up-to-date information. If this is not enough for someone, you can always.
To synchronize the folder, a regular DropBox client is used, which instantly uploads all new and changed data to the cloud.
Very important data can be encrypted or simply archived with a password.
As a result, I have all the data necessary for work at hand and, if necessary, access to them can be obtained from any other computer or mobile device. Of course, after authorization in DropBox. I recommend this service.
How to back up your system drive
This is where help is needed third-party utilities. There are dozens of such solutions. One of the search criteria for me was the ability to create bootable copies.
I found three good solutions: Carbon Copy Cloner, ChronoSync and Get Backup Pro. To be honest, there was no time to deal with all the nuances and features, I installed the first trial version Carbon Copy Cloner. I realized that the utility suits everyone and did not want to deal with other programs.
The first time you launch Carbon Copy Cloner, it prompts you to create a backup rule. We select the target disk, the destination disk (it can be a network one) and the copy schedule.
In the future, the system will record only changed or new data, the process will take a few minutes.
After creating a backup, do not forget to confirm the creation of a boot disk with a copy. Carbon Copy Cloner will record a little additional files and carry out the necessary manipulations.
Everything now this disc you can simply connect to any Mac or running hackintosh and boot from it. We get a familiar working environment with everything you need at the time of creating a backup.
No recovery procedures and data downloads from the network or cloud are required.
Carbon Copy Cloner can store changed or deleted data. This is the option safety net. When updating a copy, a special folder will contain old copies of changed or overwritten data. This will continue until the end of the free space on the disk with the backup, then the oldest data will be deleted.
How to protect system disk backup
After the first backup system disk on the drive we get our working system in open form. It is not encrypted in any way, which is not very secure.
There are two solutions: initially, when formatting a disk for backups, do APFS encrypted drive or boot once from the backup disk and on it enable FileVault encryption.
In the first case, you will have to remember the password to access the protected drive and enter it during boot, while in the second case, the backup will continue with built-in encryption enabled.
After that, I disconnected the drive from the computer and connected it to a network media player based on Raspberry Pi. After that, I reconfigured the backup rule in Carbon Copy Cloner and set the appropriate frequency for creating backups.
You can make copies every 3-6 hours or backup data once a day. Here everyone will adjust according to their needs. It is convenient that the creation of backups can be limited, for example, during a heavy load on the home network.
It is even possible to wake the computer from sleep mode or turn it on at night to create a copy.
If there were not so many changes since the previous backup, then updating the copy will take several minutes. The load on the system will be minimal, and network activity will be comparable to the transfer of a similar amount of data between home devices.
As a result, you can stop at creating 1-2 backups per day. You can do this even during business hours.
To “back up a backup”, I decided to upload it to the cloud. I had the required volume in the downloaded free Yandex.Disk. I set up the unloading of all content from the connected drive on the “raspberry”.
October 25, 2018 09:26It's too late to back up your MacBook when you can't access those files. Even if you are careful enough about the safety of your Mac computer, it's hard to tell if you can protect its internal data. In other words, your Mac can be attacked by many situations including malware, system crashes, update failure, accidental deletion etc. To avoid these unpleasant cases, you'd better Mac backup to iCloud make a copy.
If you want to backup your Mac without an external hard drive, then iCloud is one of the best programs for Mac backup. You don't need to prepare external storage for Mac backup as iCloud offers free 5GB cloud storage and related plans. Therefore, this article shows you how to backup your MacBook to iCloud quickly and easily.
Part 1 : Why backup MacBook to iCloud
As mentioned above, nowadays digital devices are easily attacked by viruses and malware, including a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. If you can't afford data loss, then it's absolutely essential to back up your MacBook Pro to an external hard drive or cloud storage. And these two methods are also widely used by most Mac users to protect your MacBook data.
Some people may still wonder if backing up a Mac to an external hard drive using Disk Utility or Time Machine is better. Well, you can't deny the benefits of backing up your MacBook to an external hard drive, but you can also benefit greatly from a backup. copy iCloud. For example, you can access information about over-the-air backups. So it doesn't matter if your external hard drive is in good condition or not. And once you enter your account iCloud, you will be able to restore the data of any Apple product directly. As a result, you can move your Time Machine backup to iCloud for future use. And that's why Mac needs iCloud backup.
Part 2 : How to backup MacBook to iCloud
Once you set up iCloud to back up files on your Mac, it can work automatically. In addition, you can restore all data from a backup iCloud copies to a new Mac wireless network. Even though iCloud storage only has 5GB, you can upgrade it with a flexible management plan. Therefore, using iCloud to back up a Mac without Time Machine is discontinued.
Step 1
Open the Apple menu and select "Software Update" to see if there is available update. Before backing up your MacBook to iCloud, you need to make sure your MacBook has latest version OSX.
Step 2 Turn on iCloud for MacBook backup
Launch System Preferences from the Apple menu. Then find "iCloud" and click on it. Sign in iCloud entry using your Apple ID and password. You can view all the available file types to back up, including photos, mail, contacts, calendars, reminders, etc. So, it's pretty easy if you're going to back up documents to iCloud on Mac.
Step 3. Enable iCloud Photo Backup Settings on Mac
Click Options next to Photos, and then you can tick iCloud Photo Library, My Photo Stream, and iCloud Photo Sharing according to your personal needs. After that, you can import the latest photos and view videos on all Apple devices on wireless communication. After all this, the automatic backup of the MacBook to the iCloud drive will begin.
Step 4
You can also open iTunes and find its settings to set up automatic backup. iTunes copy on Mac. Select "Downloads" and check the box next to "Music, Movies, and TV Shows" to back up available files over the air. Click "OK" to save your changes.
If the left iCloud storage isn't enough to store your entire Mac backup on iCloud, you can click the "Manage" button on the bottom right corner to upgrade to a larger storage plan that starts at 50GB for just $0.99 per month.
Don't Miss: Best Methods to Find iPhone Backup on Mac
Bonus Tips : Backup and Restore Mac with Time Machine
If you want to back up your MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Time Machine, you can follow the steps below to fix the problem.
Section 1 : How to back up your MacBook to an external hard drive
Step 1
Connect an external hard drive to your Mac and select "Use as Backup Drive" when you're prompted to use it to back up your Mac with Time Machine.
Step 2
Select "Back Up Now" to back up your Mac data to an external hard drive. Also, check the "Backup automatically" box to automatically make hourly/daily/weekly backups as needed. The first time you use Time Machine to back up your Mac, it will take longer for the MacBook backup process to complete.
Section 2 : How to Restore Mac with Time Machine Backup
Step 1. Open the window you want to restore
For example, you need to open your Documents folder if you want to recover an accidentally deleted document.
Step 2, Restore MacBook from Time Machine
Open the Time Machine menu and select "Enter Time Machine" to find a specific file from your previous file backup. Press the spacebar to view in detail. Finally, click "Recover" to recover Mac data from Time Machine selectively.
If you want to restore your entire Mac data, you can choose the "Recover from Time Machine" utility in macOS Recovery.
With the system backup and iCloud backup methods above, you can detail the key points of Mac data backup. If these files are really important, then it is better to back up your MacBook to iCloud and Time machine at the same time. That's all, how to backup MacBook to iCloud. Feel free to contact us if you encounter any issues while backing up and restoring your Mac.
If you still don't regularly back up Mac OS X, you should be prepared for the fact that one day all your data may be irretrievably lost. It is unlikely that there will be at least one user who would say that this is not a problem for him. Even if your Mac is full of simple rubbish, it is still rubbish dear to your heart in the configuration you need, with which you have grown together with your soul, and its loss will sadly affect your state of mind. That is why you can and should back up your drive regularly. And even if you use an excellent antivirus, constantly check how everything works, you can still miss the moment "X".
What to do if everything has already happened - the system has fallen, burying everything that was so dear to you under the rubble? Probably to start trying to save as much as possible with the help of special utilities data recovery. But even this does not guarantee you a full refund: at best, you will be able to revive only a part of what was on the hard drive. And then it's worth introducing a new habit - regular system backups.
I think real paranoids always keep a few backups irreplaceable, essential files, and in different places. And rightly so, because you never know when sclerosis will come? But in fact, many do not even realize how conservative and attached we are to our personal habitat - our beloved system. And only after losing it, we begin to look for ways to prevent this from happening again. And there are indeed ways, and quite a lot. The most popular ones are backups with Time Machine and Disk Utility tools.
Using Time Machine
So, if your Mac is running OS X 10.5 or later late version, then the easiest way to back up your hard drive is to use the built-in Time Machine utility, which in automatic mode backs up the system and all important files on an external hard drive or network. System files, digital photos, music, movies, documentation and more - all this will remain safe and sound with Time Machine. This utility allows you to really "return to the past" to restore files in their original form at the moment when you need it.
Setting up Time Machine won't take much of your time. The utility dialog appears as soon as the user plugs in a second drive to the Mac, you are politely asked if you want to use this backup tool.
Your task is to answer "yes" by clicking on the "Use as Backup Disk" button. Basically, that's all. If suddenly your hard drive orders to live long, you can now not only restore all files, but also complete configuration systems before the "accident".
Backups are stored for the last 24 hours, a week, a month until the disk is full. After creating the first backup, the program will save only those files that have changed. If you have files that you do not need to save, configure the program so that they are not backed up.
For this, in System settings"Program click the" Options "button, and in the dialog box that appears, specify the files and folders that should not be subjected to the copying process. Time Machine can also be started manually. To do this, select "Back Up Now" from the Program Menu.
Restoring backed up files created with Time Machine is as easy as running the program itself. To do this, click the Time Machine icon, opening a window in which you should select desired file using the time scale on the right. Be sure to check that this is indeed the version you were looking for using the " quick view" (select the file and press the spacebar). Then just click the "Restore" button and the required file will automatically be reborn "from the ashes".
Naturally, the main advantage of Time Machine is the ability to restore the entire system in just one click. After booting your Mac OS from your boot disk, simply click Restore System from Backup.
Using Disk Utility
A great alternative to backing up with Time Machine is to create a virtual disk image along with everything in your Mac OS X using Disk Utility. Disk Utility has a number of unique features, such as permissions, the UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) identification standard, and the Access Control List (ACL). With Disk Utility, you can back up to an external hard drive that has enough free space.
Backing up to an external hard drive using Disk Utility
1. Connect an external hard drive (FireWire or USB) with enough space to store your Macintosh HD backup;
4. On the left panel, select the drive you want to back up;
5. Click the Verify Disk button, if any errors need to be corrected, click the Repair Disk button;
6. Click the New Image button on the toolbar, give a name to the disk image, in addition, it will indicate the time the copy was made and the name of the disk to be saved;
Note: To increase the security level, Disk Utility allows you to create an encrypted disc backup. From Encryption: Select 128-bit or 256-bit AES encoding from the pop-up menu. When prompted, you will be prompted to enter an encryption password.
7. Click the Save button;
8. Enter the administrator name and password when (and if) required; will be saved around 1Gb/min depending on various factors;
9. After the copy process is complete, select the newly created disk image in the device panel Images > Scan Image for Restore from the menu and enable full scan.
10. Close Disk Utility (by pressing Q) and the Mac OS X installer (again by pressing Q), restart your computer.
Restoring a disk backup of your Mac OS X:
1. Connect external drive A that contains the backed up data;
2. Run the installation DVD;
3. Select a language and select Disk Utility from the Utilitie menu;
4. Select Mac disk OS X you want to restore;
5. Click the Restore tab and drag the internal drive to the Destination: field;
6. Click the Image... button ("Image ...") next to the Source field: ("Source ...");
7. Go to the local folder where the backup copy of the disk you need is saved (on an external disk);
8. Click the Open button to continue, then click Restore;
9. Enter the administrator name and password; if you have encrypted backup images disk, enter the password set when saving the encrypted disk image; Depending on the size of the saved disk, data recovery takes a different amount of time.
In this article, we have described only two of several possible ways backup Mac copies OS X and data recovery. If you know other (better) ways to back up a disk, please share with us and other readers in the comments.
