It's essentially as easy as plug and play once initial setup is complete. The benefit of this method is that it's extremely simple and requires almost no knowledge of the inner workings of your computer. It's simple to use and can back up your Mac automatically, including files, photos, email, apps, music, and more. Time Machine is an Apple feature that comes pre-installed on your Mac. Otherwise, you can always just add more iCloud storage with an iCloud-only plan. If you need more, an Apple One bundle may help you save money on your storage and other subscriptions if you subscribe to multiple Apple services. If you're using iCloud for backups, you'll need to make sure you have enough storage for everything you want to sync, plus as much extra as you think you'll need for more files, photos, and other items you want to store. If you're not backing up all of your data, you could certainly get away with a little less, but it's still better to err on the side of caution and get more storage where possible.

If you're using an external storage device for Time Machine or manual external Mac backups, Apple estimates that you'll need about twice as much available storage space as the capacity on your Mac.

How Much Storage Space Do I Need to Back Up My Mac?

How Much Storage Do I Need to Back Up My Mac?.

You never know when a cup of coffee will spill or another accident will make your computer unusable. We'll show you the best ways to back up your Mac and how to use each method. Backing up your data is crucial to prevent the loss of important files, photos, and other data on your device should something happen to it.

How to backup mac to icloud drive