What directories do I need to back up?

Tech Support
,
1

Here is the “What directories do I need to back up?” link regarding Linux:

But what about macOS? Is it the same for macOS or there are some differences?

2

There’s not one single or several single directories unfortunately for Mac.

One of the things I actually miss from Windows. C:\ Drive is system, D:\ drive is data & (portable) apps. Easy to clone system drive with Macrium Reflect X and restore in case of issues.

With Mac you have to use Time Machine :frowning:

1 Like
3

MacOS is very similar to Linux based, so yes, I would think the same directories make sense to back up. Obviously, the idea of Time Machine is that you don’t have to think about it… Plenty of alternative backup tools available, such as Carbon Copy Cloner or Backblaze.

1 Like
4

I do full disk backups to external drives using either SuperDuper! or CarbonCopyCloner (both are really equivalent). You can recover the user files using the Macs Migration Assistant program. Backblaze is a good cloud backup service. I consider TimeMachine to be a last resort, but I have managed a restore from it.

1 Like
5

Thanks. You mean that Time Machine is not that reliable as SuperDuper! and CarbonCopyCloner?

6

That has been my experience with TimeMachine backups (which I do to a drive on a server Mac and not to an attached drive). Of course YMMV, but you should be doing multiple backups via multiple methods to be extra secure!

1 Like
7

My minimum standard is /Users/yourusername and anything in /Volumes that corresponds to an external drive. This is assuming you could re-install any applications you have from other sources.

If you want, you can get finicky with ~Library and exclude large folders full of data that can always be re-downloaded.

1 Like