There is so much emphasis on backing up devices like Mac so that all the precious data that one might have is kept safe. If you are already syncing all your stuff to iCloud, is there any need of having full backup? Well, probably, yes! Full device backups prove to be crucial in case of any device crashes when you literally lose everything that you’ve ever kept on your Mac.
But what happens if your Mac crashes and you lose everything that you had on it? Well, if you have a full backup of your mac, you can simply restore it to have everything back again – just like magic. The restoring process may differ from one type of Mac backup to another. And, here we have discussed everything you need to know about restoring your Mac from different types of backups.
Jump To Section:
- Restoring Mac From Time Machine Backups
- Restoring Mac From Local Backups
- Restoring Mac From Cloud Backups
Restoring Mac From Time Machine Backups
If you always use Time Machine Backups, it is possible for you to restore everything from individual files to an entire hard disk drive. Here are the steps that you will have to follow for this.
- Restart the Mac to begin
- During the startup process, press and hold Command key and then press R key on the keyboard. This will take your Mac to the macOS Utilities
- Here, select the Restore from Time Machine Backup option in the list that is right in front of you
- Click on Continue
- When Restore Your System Page shows up, click on Continue again
- Select Time Machine Backup
- Now click the Continue button again
- Now select most recent Time Machine back of the hard drive of your Mac
- Click on Continue
The Mac will restart after the completion of the restoration process.
Restoring Mac From Local Backups
If you have used some cloning program such as Carbon Copy or SuperDuper! to clone Mac, entire hard disk drive can be restored from the backup. Follow these steps to initiate and complete the Restore.
- Restart the Mac that you want to restore
- In the startup process, Press Command + R in order to take Mac to macOS Utilities
- Click the Disk Utility option
- Click on Continue
- Select the hard drive of your Mac
- On top of Disk Utility Screen, you will see a Restore Tab. Click it
- Select the external drive on which you have the cloned backup in “Restore From” option
- Select hard drive of your Mac in “Restore To” option
- Now click the Restore button
Your cloned backup will now be restored to your Mac and once the process is finished, your Mac will restart.
If you’re looking to install bootable backup, press Option key in the startup process and choose clone from the external drive in the partitioned hard disk.
Restoring Mac From Cloud Backups
If you are using a cloud backup service such as, CrashPlan or Backblaze, you will be able to download any of your missing data for restoring your Mac.
Every cloud backup option is different from others. However, they all require you to download the backup from remote servers that they maintain – unless there is the option of getting physical hard disk drives from the service provider to be used as backup.
Most of the service providers offer Restore files option on their UI. The remote app can be used on the Mac for restoring with that option or you can also visit the website of the company for the same.
It is then possible to select files & folders you want to be restored from the backup menu.
As you will be downloading the files from Internet or will have to wait for the physical copy, restoring Macs from cloud backups is only recommended if no local backup exists or it is inaccessible. The process can be quite time consuming and not as efficient as other options listed above. So, it should be your last resort for restoring your Mac when you can’t do anything else.
Nevertheless, all these restore options are quite handy and can be used for restoring your Mac whenever the need be. You just have to be careful enough to decide which option you’d like to go with.