How to restore a file from Time Machine – Stepwise Guide

Whether its a smartphone or a laptop, it is always advisable to take a backup of your device regularly so that in case anything goes wrong, you have the backup to restore all important files. In this article, I’ll teach readers how to restore a file from Time Machine on Mac.

While each device has its own backup wizard system to take a backup of the whole device or part of it but when it comes to Macbook, taking backup and restoring a file from backup is super easy and automated.

Also see: How to take a screenshot on a Mac

Once you setup Time Machine for your Macbook, you can automate the backup process so that you always have the files in case anything goes wrong. You can choose to take hourly backup or daily, it totally depends on you.

How to restore a file from Time Machine

How to restore a file from Time Machine is super simple and you can do that in two simple steps given below.

You just need to follow the steps carefully and you will be able to restore the specific file you’ve deleted and want to restore.

Step:1 Enter Time Machine:

This is the best thing of Macbook that you can easily restore the file you have deleted earlier and now you need to restore it. Follow the below steps:

Go to System Preference > Time Machine.

Alternatively, click the search button at the top right corner of the Macbook and type “Time Machine”. The search result will have Time Machine showed up, tap to open it.

When you enter Time Machine, you have the option to restore the files that you have mistakenly deleted.

Use the dial on the right-hand side to look for the file you want to restore. On the extreme right side of the Mac screen, you will see the timeline as well that you can use too.

Dates you see in pink are backed up in the external hard drives. However, those in white are backed up in the internal storage of your Macbook.

You can move back and forth to look for the file that you wish to restore. Moreover, you can use the search option to look for the file within Time Machine itself.

Step:2 Restore file:

Once you find the file that you need to restore, click on it to highlight and hit the “Restore” button at the bottom. Mind you, this button will not be active until you select at least one file to restore.

Once restored, you can see the file exactly like it used to be before you deleted it. This is the same as if the file was never deleted from your Macbook. You can long-press Command key on your keyboard and use the mouse to select multiple files to restore.

How to restore the entire Mac:

The beauty of Apple’s Mac is that you can restore an entire Mac from Time Machine in a matter of few minutes. But the entire Mac re-store can be done only if the backup was taken on the same model otherwise it wouldn’t work.

To start Mac in recovery mode, restart the Mac and long-press Command key + R. On restart you will see an option to restore Mac from Time Machine. Click the continue button and follow the on-screen instruction to complete the process.

So you saw how to How to restore a file from Time Machine in two simple steps and how to re-store the entire Mac. Taking backup of your device in a regular interval of time is always recommended as it becomes life savior when your Macbook’s hard drive dies for any reason.

We can’t afford to lose the pictures or the important files related to our office work or the business. In case anything goes wrong and we have a back up with you, we don’t need to worry much about anything.

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