Back Up Before Upgrading to Mojave or iOS 12
## Back Up Before Upgrading to Mojave or iOS 12!
---
Poll a room of Apple experts about the one topic they can't stop talking
about and many will launch into frustrated rants about how too few
people back up. Backups are always important, since you can never
predict when your Mac or iPhone will be lost or stolen, melt in a fire,
or just break. But one time when backups are especially important is
before you upgrade to a major new operating system. If you're thinking
"What could go wrong?" the answer is, "Lots, and wouldn't you like to be
able to revert instantly if something does?"
### Mac Backups
---
On the Mac side, there are plenty of ways to back up, and a bootable
duplicate made with
[SuperDuper](https://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/) or
[Carbon Copy Cloner](https://bombich.com/) is the best
insurance right before you upgrade to macOS 10.14 Mojave. More
generally, backing up with Time Machine ensures that you can not only
restore your entire drive if necessary, but also easily recover a
previous version of a corrupted file. Finally, since a fire or flood
would likely destroy your backup drive along with your Mac, we always
recommend an offsite backup made via an Internet backup service like
[Backblaze](https://www.backblaze.com/).
What happens if you don't back up and your Mac gets damaged such that
you can't access important data? That's when things get expensive, and
if you have a 2018 MacBook Pro, you have even fewer options.
Historically, it was relatively easy to remove a drive from a broken Mac
and recover the data from it. Data recovery got harder with solid-state
storage, and even more so with the introduction of the first MacBook Pro
with Touch Bar, thanks to Apple's new T2 encryption chip, which encrypts
data on the drive. To simplify last-ditch data recovery, Apple put a
special port on the MacBook Pro's logic board and provided a custom
recovery tool for Apple Authorized Service Providers. With the 2018
MacBook Pro, however, Apple removed that port, so only data recovery
specialists like
[DriveSavers](https://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com/)
can recover data from such damaged machines, and only then if they have
the user's password.
So *please,* back up your Mac before something goes wrong. It's fast,
easy, and inexpensive to get started, and we're happy to help.
### iOS Backups
---
We've all seen, if not experienced, a broken iPhone or iPad. They're
durable little devices, but they won't necessarily survive a drop onto a
sidewalk or into a toilet (yeah, it happens). And it's way too easy to
forget your iPhone at the gym or in a restaurant. So a backup is
necessary if you don't want to risk losing precious photos or having to
set up a new device from scratch. Plus, just as with a Mac, things can
go wrong during major iOS upgrades.
With iOS, though, you don't need extra software or hardware. Apple
provides [two ways of backing up your iPhone or
iPad](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204136), iTunes and
iCloud. Neither is necessarily better or worse, and you can---and
should!---use both for added safety. We've seen situations where an
iPhone would refuse to restore its files from iTunes but would from
iCloud.
To back up to iCloud, go to Settings \> *Your Name* \> iCloud \> iCloud
Backup, turn the switch on, and tap Back Up Now. For backups to happen
automatically in the future, you must have sufficient space in your
iCloud account (you get 5 GB for free and can [buy
more](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201318)), and your
device must be on a Wi-Fi network, connected to power, and have its
screen locked.
To back up to iTunes, connect your device to your Mac via a
Lightning-to-USB cable, launch iTunes, and click the device icon to the
right of the media menu.
Then, in the Backups section, click Back Up Now. If you're prompted to
encrypt your backups, we encourage you to agree since otherwise your
backup won't include passwords, Health information, or HomeKit data. For
automatic backups via iTunes, select This Computer. After that, every
time you plug into your Mac, it will back up.
If you have sufficient iCloud storage, we recommend backing up
automatically to iCloud because its automatic backups work well at night
when you're charging your devices. Then, make extra backups to iTunes
whenever you think you might need to restore, such as when you're
getting a new iPhone or iPad, or when you're about to upgrade to a new
version of iOS.
What happens if you don't back up and your Mac gets damaged such that
you can't access important data? That's when things get expensive, and
if you have a 2018 MacBook Pro, you have even fewer options.
Historically, it was relatively easy to remove a drive from a broken Mac
and recover the data from it. Data recovery got harder with solid-state
storage, and even more so with the introduction of the first MacBook Pro
with Touch Bar, thanks to Apple's new T2 encryption chip, which encrypts
data on the drive. To simplify last-ditch data recovery, Apple put a
special port on the MacBook Pro's logic board and provided a custom
recovery tool for Apple Authorized Service Providers. With the 2018
MacBook Pro, however, Apple removed that port, so only data recovery
specialists like
[DriveSavers](https://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com/)
can recover data from such damaged machines, and only then if they have
the user's password.
So *please,* back up your Mac before something goes wrong. It's fast,
easy, and inexpensive to get started, and we're happy to help.
### iOS Backups
---
We've all seen, if not experienced, a broken iPhone or iPad. They're
durable little devices, but they won't necessarily survive a drop onto a
sidewalk or into a toilet (yeah, it happens). And it's way too easy to
forget your iPhone at the gym or in a restaurant. So a backup is
necessary if you don't want to risk losing precious photos or having to
set up a new device from scratch. Plus, just as with a Mac, things can
go wrong during major iOS upgrades.
With iOS, though, you don't need extra software or hardware. Apple
provides [two ways of backing up your iPhone or
iPad](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204136), iTunes and
iCloud. Neither is necessarily better or worse, and you can---and
should!---use both for added safety. We've seen situations where an
iPhone would refuse to restore its files from iTunes but would from
iCloud.
To back up to iCloud, go to Settings \> *Your Name* \> iCloud \> iCloud
Backup, turn the switch on, and tap Back Up Now. For backups to happen
automatically in the future, you must have sufficient space in your
iCloud account (you get 5 GB for free and can [buy
more](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201318)), and your
device must be on a Wi-Fi network, connected to power, and have its
screen locked.
To back up to iTunes, connect your device to your Mac via a
Lightning-to-USB cable, launch iTunes, and click the device icon to the
right of the media menu.
Then, in the Backups section, click Back Up Now. If you're prompted to
encrypt your backups, we encourage you to agree since otherwise your
backup won't include passwords, Health information, or HomeKit data. For
automatic backups via iTunes, select This Computer. After that, every
time you plug into your Mac, it will back up.
If you have sufficient iCloud storage, we recommend backing up
automatically to iCloud because its automatic backups work well at night
when you're charging your devices. Then, make extra backups to iTunes
whenever you think you might need to restore, such as when you're
getting a new iPhone or iPad, or when you're about to upgrade to a new
version of iOS.
