You will then need to subtract the available space from total amount. To check this, click the Apple Icon in the top left of your screen > About This Mac > Storage. You will need to have enough space available on your external drive to handle all the data you have on your Mac.

If your drive doesn’t need a power supply but is still not showing up, you will need to format the drive so it is compatible with Apple Mac OS. If it does it will usually have a circular power port located on the drive somewhere. If your hard drive is not showing up on the desktop, first check the external drive to see if it needs a separate power source to work. Preparing your External Hard Drive Connect Driveįirstly you’ll need to connect your external hard drive via USB or Thunderbolt port. OS Updates put incredible strain on your hard drive and a good number of hard drive failures happen during this time. It is also incredibly important that you back up your Mac before you update the Operating System. We’re going to be looking at the latter, using Time machine software built into the Mac to back up your device to a 3rd party external drive.īackups should be done regularly, especially if you’ve just added important files to your MacBook like photos, music or videos. Meaning if you ever needed to start again on a new device, you wouldn’t need to optimise all your settings, re-input all of your passwords or log back in to any apps or software you use.Ĭreating a backup can be done using an Apple device called Time machine or by using a third party hard drive and using software to transfer your system data. Backing up your Mac may just be the best form of insurance you can have on your prized device, as it not only saves your pictures and data, but your entire system from the ground up.

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