Time Machine backups & disaster recovery

Introduction

The External Backup Drive add-on connects a physical USB-C external drive to your Mac, dedicated to backups. You back up to it with Time Machine, and our team can restore it for you as part of disaster recovery. This page covers setup, restore, and what happens on cancellation.

The External Backup Drive add-on

1. Order it from your dashboard at app.myremotemac.com — open your instance, go to the Backup tab, and choose Order Backup Drive.
2. Our team physically connects a USB-C drive to your Mac Mini (usually within a few hours).
3. You get an email confirmation once it’s connected and the service shows Active.
4. You configure Time Machine (below) to start automatic backups.

Pricing & billing

The backup add-on is +15% of your plan (monthly or yearly, matching your billing period). Billing starts at activation, not when you order. The exact amount is shown in your dashboard before you confirm.

Set up Time Machine (desktop)

Time Machine is configured from the macOS desktop, so connect over VNC / Screen Sharing first.

1. Connect to your Mac’s desktop over VNC / Screen Sharing.
2. Open System Settings → General → Time Machine (on older macOS: System Preferences → Time Machine).
3. Click Add Backup Disk… and select the connected external drive.
4. When prompted, encrypt the backup (recommended) and set a strong password.
5. Click Done — Time Machine runs the first backup, then backs up automatically (hourly by default).

Keep the encryption password safe

If you encrypt the backup, store the password somewhere safe — it can’t be recovered, and without it the backups can’t be restored.

The drive may need formatting

If macOS asks to erase the drive for Time Machine, allow it — the drive is dedicated to your backups. This formats it as APFS; any existing content on that drive is removed.

Set up over SSH (optional)

Prefer the terminal? Use tmutil once the drive is mounted (replace Backup with your drive’s volume name):

# point Time Machine at the drive
sudo tmutil setdestination -a /Volumes/Backup
# enable automatic backups and run one now
sudo tmutil enable
tmutil startbackup --auto --block

Exclude large, regenerable folders

Speed up backups and save space by excluding caches and build output (Time Machine → Options…, or via CLI):

tmutil addexclusion ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData
tmutil addexclusion ~/Library/Caches

Restore your files

• Files: open Time Machine from the menu bar and browse to the date you need.
• Whole system / migration: use Migration Assistant, or tmutil restore for individual paths.

Disaster recovery (DRS)

Your Time Machine backups are the foundation of your disaster recovery strategy. If you need to migrate to a new Mac or recover after an incident — a failed disk, a corrupted system, or accidental data loss — open a support ticket and our team handles the restoration from your backup onto the target machine.

Speed up recovery

Tell support which machine to restore to and roughly when your last good backup was. Keeping non-essential, regenerable data excluded (see above) makes disaster recovery faster.

Cancellation erases the drive

When you cancel the External Backup Drive service from the Backup tab, the drive is disconnected and all data on it is completely erased (securely wiped) before it is reused.

Back up off-site before cancelling

Cancellation permanently destroys every backup on the drive. Keep an off-site copy of anything irreplaceable (certificates, signing keys, source you can’t rebuild) before you cancel.

FAQ

Where does Time Machine back up to?

To the USB-C external drive we physically connected to your Mac. It appears as a local external disk — no network share to configure.

Do I set it up over SSH or the desktop?

The desktop (VNC / Screen Sharing) is easiest. You can also script it over SSH with tmutil.

How do I recover after an incident or migrate to a new Mac?

Open a support ticket to request disaster recovery (DRS): our team restores your Time Machine backup onto the target machine. You can also restore files yourself from the Time Machine menu.

Should I encrypt the backup?

Yes — it is recommended. Keep the password safe: it cannot be recovered, and the backups can't be restored without it.

What happens to my data if I cancel the backup service?

The drive is disconnected and all data on it is completely erased. Keep an off-site copy of anything irreplaceable before cancelling.