How do I restore my Mac back in time?

Answer 1

Great question! Mac's, or MacOS, has a feature called "Time Machine". When enabled, Time Machine periodically backs up the computer at different points in time to give you a history of different backup points. To enable Time Machine to start backing up all you need is some kind of external storage device such as a USB drive or external/portable hard drive.

When you connect an external drive directly to your Mac, you might be asked if you want to use the drive to back up with Time Machine. Select Encrypt Backup Disk (recommended), then click Use as Backup Disk.

If Time Machine doesn't ask to use your drive, follow these steps to add it manually:

1. Open Time Machine preferences from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. Or choose Apple () menu > System Preferences, then click Time Machine.
2. Click Select Backup Disk (or Select Disk, or Add or Remove Backup Disk):
3. Select your external drive from the list of available disks. Then select ”Encrypt backups” (recommended) and click Use Disk.

If the disk you selected isn't formatted as required by Time Machine, you're prompted to erase the disk first. Click Erase to proceed. This erases all information on the backup disk. 

After you select a backup disk, Time Machine immediately begins making periodic backups—automatically and without further action by you. The first backup may take a long time, depending on how many files you have, but you can continue using your Mac while a backup is underway. Time Machine backs up only the files that changed since the previous backup, so future backups will be faster.

To start a backup manually, choose Back Up Now from the Time Machine  menu in the menu bar. Use the same menu to check the status of a backup or skip a backup in progress.