HT201250 must I keep the computer on all the time for time machine to do back ups

Must I keep my computer on at all times to get the time machine to do  updates ? If not how do I go about updateing time machine on a regular basis

It depends on how much backing up you want. Time Machine will do backups if you have it turned on (in Time Machine Preferences), and if you have your computer connected to a backup drive (either wired or wirelessly, like a Time Capsule), that is specified in TM Preferences, and is also turned on. So, for example, I keep my two macs turned on all the time, and I keep Time Machine turned off. When I am not using my macs they sleep. I have external USB drives for backup via Time Machine, but I don't keep them on and connected all the time. When I think of it, which is about once a week, I'll hook them up, power them on, and do a manual backup: I turn Time Machine on and tell it to backup. When I have more critical documents, I keep them backed up on Dropbox, or iCloud, so I know that every time I finish using them and close them they are backed up. If you want to have more complete backups, then you would keep your computer always connected to your backup drives, and the drives would always be powered on and time machine would always be turned on. You could either have all of these turned on all the time, or just when you are using them and power them all down when you are not using them, or have them powered on all the time, but set the computer to sleep when you are not using it. It just depends on what you are comfortable with in terms of backups.

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    Hello @_goma,
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    Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
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