Forum Discussion
How to backup iphone to mac without icloud preferably external hard drive?
Time Machine is mac's native system-level backup tool, capable not only of comprehensively safeguarding your entire Mac's data but also automatically incorporating local iPhone backups. It represents the most hassle-free and enduring solution for backing up your iPhone to your Mac. Set it up once for long-term automatic synchronisation, eliminating the need for repeated operations.
- Prepare an external hard drive, format it to a Mac compatible format, and connect it to your Mac.
Open System Preferences on your Mac, locate and enter the Time Machine options.
Click “Add Backup Disk”, select the connected external hard drive, and confirm setting it as your Time Machine backup disk.
Enable Automatic Backups. Your Mac will automatically commence its first full-disk backup.
Ensure your iPhone has completed at least one local backup to your Mac via Finder.
Time Machine will subsequently update backups automatically at scheduled intervals. All new iPhone local backups will be synchronised to the external drive, completing the entire process of how to backup iPhone to Mac.
To restore data, access the Time Machine interface to retrieve Mac data and iPhone backup files from specific points in time.
Drawbacks
The initial backup is extremely time-consuming, dependent on hard drive speed and data volume.
Requires additional external storage hardware, incurring hardware costs.
Cannot restore iPhone data independently; requires restoring the entire Mac system first.
Time Machine’s system-level automatic backup feature fully automates how to backup iphone to mac, making it the best solution for long-term users who value data security. As long as the external hard drive remains stable, it provides dual backup protection for both Mac and iPhone data, completely eliminating the risk of data loss.