Strategy, not tactics.
Deep guides on how to think about Mac backup — by use case, workflow, and scenario. Written by the team behind macup. Updated as the landscape changes.
The canonical guide.
If you only read one thing before setting up your backups, read this.
The complete guide to Mac backup in 2026
Backing up a Mac used to mean plugging in a drive once a week. It doesn't anymore. This is the guide we wish we'd had when we started building one.
Read the guidePick your question.
Each guide is deep, edited, and dated. We revisit everything under the review date — if the landscape changes, so does the guide.
Strategy
Cloud vs. local backup: how to actually decide
Most writing about cloud versus local backup is marketing in disguise. This piece is a decision aid. Read it once, then make the call that fits your data, your bandwidth, and your tolerance for a bad week.
Read 13 minThe 3-2-1 rule, reconsidered
Editorial lede: we still teach the 3-2-1 rule, but the underlying assumptions — tape, on-prem, single-machine workflows — are mostly gone. Here's what the rule is really trying to say.
ReadA decision tree for Mac backup.
The right guide to read depends on where you are in the thinking. Pick the line that sounds like you.
- “I’ve never thought about this.” Start with The complete guide to Mac backup in 2026.
- “I’m trying to decide between a local drive and the cloud.” Read Cloud vs local backup, then look at the cost calculator.
- “I shoot for a living and my drives are full.” Backup strategy for photographers is the opinionated take.
- “I’ve been told to follow the 3-2-1 rule.” Read The 3-2-1 rule, reconsidered before committing.
- “We’re a 2-10 person studio.” Start with Backup for small creative teams.
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