Time Machine unable to backup

Time Machine is macOS’s built-in backup tool that automatically saves copies of your files, apps, and system settings. It allows you to restore lost files or roll back your Mac to a previous state. 9 out of 10 times this works smoothly with key features listed below when it works its brilliant. However the 10th time it not working you have to go through a sequence to trouble shoot why its not backing up.

Key Features of Time Machine

✅ Automatic Backups – Backs up your Mac hourly (last 24 hours), daily (last month), and weekly (older backups).
✅ Incremental Backups – Saves only new or changed files, not everything every time.
✅ Easy File Recovery – Lets you restore individual files or your entire system.
✅ Mac Migration – Use it to transfer your data to a new Mac.
✅ Works with External & Network Drives – Supports USB, Thunderbolt, NAS, and Time Capsule.

Continue reading “Time Machine unable to backup”

Other methods to make a complete Backup of your Mac when Time Machine does not work

So you have to make a backup of your Mac and included all the apps, profiles etc. Your options are really Time Machine backup or a clone software. We take it you have a hard rive to use as the backup of the said device you require a backup of. The answer is also a little bit more complicated as what state the Mac is in, is the machine running an encrypted drive, is the drive removable, does the Mac boot etc. All valid questions.

For the drive removal option you can take out the drive place in an adaptor and plug into another machine and run one of the backup software solutions to get your backup. Sound simple and it is if you can get access to the drive hardware easily have the correct adapter to plug the drive in to a spare machine to do the backup.

Continue reading “Other methods to make a complete Backup of your Mac when Time Machine does not work”

Affinity Bundle instead of using Creative cloud

Ever since Adobe moved to a subscription based system there has been a scramble to keep the old versions of the Adobe suite on your Mac. With a machine still running the old OS like Mojave (macOS 10.14) you can still use the old version of the Adobe products without paying the subscription based system. When you go to Catalina 10.15 which was the first OS that was a true 64 Bit version of macOS the old Adobe Product wont work along with a few other products like Office 2011 and some Steam games for Mac like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare to name just a few. In short anything 32 Bit stops working unless you have a 3rd party app to allow it to run on 64 Bit. Outside of keeping an old Mac to run your very old version of Photoshop you are forced to look either to the subscription based Adobe Cloud version or look for a new product to use.

Continue reading “Affinity Bundle instead of using Creative cloud”

Magic Mouse 2 and Magic keyboard

The Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse 2 have been out since Oct 2015 replacing the similar designed mouse and a more flatter triangle shaped design keyboard with a rechargeable battery instead of the AA batteries. In theory gone now are the days of having a issue with a keyboard or mouse losing connection to the mac. Now you just plug in the lighting cable and away you go, well the keyboard anyhow, the mouse is a bit difficult to work with while its plugged in for regarding. Continue reading “Magic Mouse 2 and Magic keyboard”

Laptop or Desktop

If you are looking to buy a new Mac and and wondering wether to go for a laptop or desktop there are few questions which you need to ask to help you decide which one.

 

 

Do you work solely from a desk/ office or do you require a mac that is mobile.  The second question is performance.  If your not that bothered about performance then a laptop might be the better option, giving your the flexibly of working from a desk or not.   The final question would be your budget?  If you are on a budget and your concerned about performance then you might want to consider a desktop machine.

Continue reading “Laptop or Desktop”

Add WPS Printer to Airport Extreme

Adding a Wi-Fi printer to a network using the WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup Method) feature on your Broadband Router is, well straightforward.  Press the button on the WPS on the router and then press the Wi Fi button on the Printer.   The machines talk to each other and less than a minute the printer is now on the network.
The Question I have is how do you do that if your Router is a Airport Extreme, there is no fancy button for WPS on the Apple Device what do you do.  The process is rather simple but before we go into that I would have to ask one question.

Continue reading “Add WPS Printer to Airport Extreme”

Command Line to Create USB OSX Stick

As many people are aware creating a USB installer for OSX is ideal for any IT Engineer.  I have spent many hours searching for the terminal command to create a USB Bootable memory stick.

To simplify I am assuming you know what terminal is,you have a USB stick (8GB or more), have formatted it to untiled in disk utility and finally downloaded the latest version of the Mac OS you want an installer for.  All you need is the terminal command to run the installer to create the USB Installer.

Continue reading “Command Line to Create USB OSX Stick”