Most backup apps make snapshots, so why not use those instead of conventional backups? Because of the weaknesses of snapshots, as explained.
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Unless you exclude them from backups, Time Machine will back up all items in iCloud Drive as long as they’re stored locally when the backup is made.
Consider the fidelity of backup copies, the speed of a backup method, and the risk of losing the contents of that backup. And test backups by restoring samples from them.
Classic TM backed up HFS+ to HFS+; current TM backs up APFS to APFS. But what if you want to back up a mixture of APFS and HFS+ volumes?
What’s in an APFS snapshot, and how the stages in its life-cycle work, from creation, through mounting and unmounting, to deletion and cleanup.
Preserve documents according to how much time or money would be needed to replace them. For work in progress, macOS versioning can be a great help.
How are snapshots made, and what do they contain? How are they sized, and can they grow? How can you copy a snapshot, or remove a file from one?
You can disable its checks of scheduling, and it better analyses Speed in Big Sur, and backups in macOS 11-14.
Analysis of T2M2’s report from rotating Time Machine backups, including the first full backup made to a NAS.
Minor update to version 2 for recent macOS backing up using Time Machine to APFS. This lets you reduce the number of error messages shown.
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