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Seagate has an entire Backup HDDs Family. Among them, Seagate Backup Plus Desktop drive seems like an affordable solution for Seagate hard drive recovery and backup. Its capacity ranges from a tiny 500 GB to a generous 4 TB. This slick HDD is compatible with both PC and Mac. However, it will incur some problems such as losing data. Install external hdd on Mac. Welcome to the user manual for Seagate Backup Plus Hub, a hard drive with ample capacity to store all your important files. Connect your Backup Plus Hub to a computer that supports USB 3.0 for fast transfers of all your data. You can also use its two additional USB 3.0 ports to connect more devices to your computer. Download Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Quick Start Manual. Switch Seagate Backup Plus User Manual 20 pages.
How do I transfer files to my seagate external hard drive?
“I have some precious pictures, files, videos, etc on my computer that truly need to be backed up !!!! Thus, I bought Seagate Backup Plus. It’s said this is a backup drive. But It does not show as a backup drive when I plug it into my Windows 10. What's wrong? How do I backup files on Seagate external hard drive?”
Don't worry about it! This is what I will share with you in the following. As far as I know, this is probably a connection issue or the disk driver is outdated. And there are 3 different Seagate external drive backup software for you to backup files on Seagate external hard drive, namely Seagate Dashboard, Backup and Restore, and AOMEI Backupper.
Honestly, the third one is smarter, which has more advanced features and allows you to backup only changed files or folders. Also, it has an intutive interface, so all users can understand this software easily and quickly. Therefore, if you want a simple & effective way, it will be a great choice.
Why backup files to Seagate external hard drive?
Talking about the reason, there are 2 main reasons to backup files on Seagate external hard drive. Let's see them specifically.
Ensure the security of your precious data. Most computers users save data on their laptop or desktop, but there is a great risk of data loss in the event of failure, such as, system crash, disk failure, virus attack, ransomware etc. To minimize the risk, you can backup files to external hard drive, like Seagate Backup Plus.
External hard drive is very portable to take. Aside by the security issue, you may want to save the common used files to a portable storage device and take it everywhere, so you can view files on external hard drive anytime. Seagate external hard drive is one of the portable storage devices.
Seagate Dashboard: use Seagate external hard drive to backup files
This is the first method to backup files on Seagate external hard drive. You will use Seagate Dashboard, a seagate external drive backup software, which comes along with Seagate Backup Plus or Seagate Center. Without further ado, let's get started to reveal Seagate backup Plus how to use.
Step 1. Connect Seagate Backup Plus to your computer and make sure it can be detected. Then, access Seagate external hard drive in Windows Explorer and double-click the Seagate Dashboard Installer.exe to install this software
Step 2. Launch Seagate Dashboard and then select PC Backup in the home page.
Step 3. Then, click Protect Now and Back up Now to backup all non-system files.
Notes:
◑ About how do I know when Seagate backup is complete, you can see the green backup progress bar and percentage. And when the task is complete, these indicators will disappear.
◑ Seagate Dashboard can also be a Seagate automatic backup software, which allows you to backup all personal folders (non-system files) or specific folders with New Backup Plan option. It supports multiple Seagate automatic backup options, including snapshot, weekly, monthly, daily, hourly, and continuously.
Backup and Restore: backup files using Seagate external hard drive
As said before, Seagate Backup Plus is one of the backup drives. It’s is compatible with Windows and Mac. And it has a great capacity, even up to 8TB. Aside by that, it supports a faster speed. Then, let's have a closer look at how to use Seagate external hard drive in Windows 7/8/10 to backup files.
Step 1. Install Seagate Backup Plus drive on your computer via an adapter. Then, click Use this drive for backup under AutoPlay window, and wait for Windows Backup to start.
Step 2. Pitch on Let Windows choose or Let me Choose, then click Next.
Note: If you just want to backup files saved in libraries, on the desktop, in default Windows folders, you can choose Let Windows choose. If you want to backup specific files or folders, you can choose Let me choose.
Step 3. The default schedule setting is set to 7am every week. If you want to change it, click Change schedule. Then, review your backup settings and click Save settings and run Backup to finish the last step. Wait until you see a prompt like ”Windows Backup has completed successfully”.
Note: Backup and Restore utility (Windows 7) is very useful. It can help you backup files and backup system as long as you have a common external hard drive. However, it may fail to encrypt and compress backup images. Also, it cannot support differential backup.
AOMEI Backupper: backup files on Seagate external hard drive
Reading here, you may already know how to backup files using Seagate Backup Plus. Frankly speaking, it’s not a perfect way to backup files.
I strongly recommend you using Seagate automatic backup software AOMEI Backupper Professional. With it, you can backup files to Seagate external hard drive automatically, even with only changed files. It supports daily backup, weekly backup, monthly backup, incremental/differential backup, etc. Also, you can choose to compress backup files if it's too large In addition, you can encrypt backup files if there are any sensitive data.
Then, let's take Seagate Backup Plus as an example and have a closer look at how to backup files to Seagate external hard drive. Before starting any operation, please connect Seagate Backup Plus drive to your computer and download the free trial file backup software AOMEI Backupper Professional.
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Step 1. Launch AOMEI Backupper Professional. Then, click Backup and File Backup to summon the next window
Step 2. Click Add File or Add Folder to select files from the local computer.
Step 3. Select Seagate Backup Plus drive as the destination path.
Step 4 (Important). Click Schedule, then click daily under the General tab and select differential backup under the Advanced tab. Then, click Start Backup if there are no problems.
Notes:
◑ Differential backup is much safer than incremental backup, because it will contain all the files in the original backup and the newly added or modified. Even if one of the image file is damaged, you still can restore files from backup.
◑ This version of software is only suitable for Windows 7/8/10/XP/Vista. If you are using server computer, you could consider upgrading to AOMEI Backupper Server.
How to view files on Seagate Backup Plus?
In the minds of many users, where is my backup file may be a question. Here I will show you the answer. To view files on Seagate backup drive, such as, Seagate Backup Plus, you could delete old backup using Seagate Dashboard or use the built-in explore image feature in AOMEI Backupper. Details are below.
Method 1: View files using Seagate Dashboard.
Open Seagate Dashboard, select the BackupPlus in the Dashboard, click Info and View Files to go to the target path.
Tip: Also, you can see your files in the Seagate external hard drive. You can go to (My) Computer and the backup drive, open the folder named Backup and with your PC name subsequently, click on the C folder and go to Users > Username>Documents, then double-click the files to check it.
Method 2: View files in virtual partition.
You can launch AOMEI Backupper Professional, go to Tools > Explore Image, select backup image and time point, then click Save As and select a path for the image file, then wait until the process is completed. Finally, go to the path and see your files.
Note: If you just want to check the integrity of backup files, you can click Settings at the lower left corner and tick Check backup integrity on complete. It’s much convenient.
How to delete backup files from seagate external hard drive?
Some users reported that Seagate Backup Plus slim full. Do you have similar questions? See below and I’ll show you how to delete backup files from Seagate external hard drive. Here are 2 ways.
Method 1. Delete backup files using Seagate external hard drive.
You can select PC Backup on the home page and then backup task, click the drop down menu and choose Delete to delete this task. If this is a Seagate automatic backup plan, please select the box next to Delete backed up files and click Delete.
Method 2. Delete backup image regularly with AOMEI Backupper.
Seagate Backup Plus User Manual
You can Go to Home, click the three bars icon > Edit Backup > Backup Scheme > Enable Backup Scheme, then select a scheme settings from the drop-down menu. After that, it will automatically delete old backups by a specific role.
The meaning of creating one or more backups are to continuously protect your data and OS. If you delete all the backups, it is against the original meaning. And you may delete the latest backup mistakenly. Thus, the second way is more useful. It will keep the latest backup and delete other backups with a specific role.
Conclusion
Honestly, it’s necessary to backup files on Seagate external hard drive, because the backup image could protect and recover your files in case of system crash, virus attack, etc. Of course, if you can create a Seagate automatic backup, so much the better.
All of the given solutions can help you do this. But if you don't want to backup all files everytime, the last one will be a better choice. Its incremental/differential backup can backup the changed files only after the full backup.
In addition, this software still supports many useful features, such as, three compression level, encryption, backup scheme to delete backup files, event trigger backup, system backup, disk backup, universal restore, replace HDD with SSD, create bootable media etc. Any interest? Please download this software to enjoy these features.
Do you love your Mac as much as I do? My iMac is my workplace. It contains every article I’ve ever written. It holds every photo I’ve ever taken, contact details for the people that matter to me, and recordings of the songs I’ve written. If something goes wrong, everything could disappear forever!
That’s why I keep careful backups of everything that matters to me, and so should you. An easy way to do that is to copy it to an external hard drive. The right Mac app will make sure it happens automatically, and the right external hard disk makes it easy.
Seagate makes excellent hard drives for backup purposes. In our roundup The Best Backup Drive for Mac, we found that their drives were the best in two major categories:
- The Seagate Backup Plus Hub is the best external hard drive to keep at your desk. It requires a power source, offers two USB ports for your peripherals, has a maximum data transfer rate of 160 MB/s, and comes with 4, 6, 8, or 10 TB of storage.
- The Seagate Backup Plus Portable is the best external hard drive to carry with you. It’s powered by your computer, comes in a sturdy metal case, transfers data at 120 MB/s, and comes with 2 or 4 TB of storage.
They’re Mac compatible and offer excellent value. I use them myself.
Purchasing one is the first step in keeping your data safe. The second step is to set up your computer to reliably and automatically keep an up-to-date copy of your files. Unfortunately, Seagate’s Mac software is not up to the job—it’s terrible. How can Mac users back up their computers reliably?
The Problem: Seagate’s Mac Software is Not Up to the Job
A company that calls their hard drives “Backup Plus” is obviously serious about helping you back up your computer. Unfortunately, while their Windows program will perform full scheduled backups, their Mac app only mirrors certain files.
Here’s how it’s described in the Seagate Toolkit User Manual:
The Mirror activity lets you create a Mirror folder on your PC or Mac that is synced to your storage device. Whenever you add, edit, or delete files in one folder, Toolkit automatically updates the other folder with your changes.
What’s the problem? While the Windows app automatically keeps a second copy of all of your files—they’re all protected—the Mac app doesn’t. It will only copy what’s in your Mirror folder; anything outside of that folder won’t be backed up.
It also means that if a Mac user accidentally deletes a file, it will be deleted from the mirror. That’s not how a true backup should work. While Windows users would be able to recover the file if it was deleted in error, Mac users won’t.
None of that is ideal. Neither is the fact that the software only works with certain Seagate drives, and not at all with products from other manufacturers. As a result, I recommend you don’t use this software for your backups. We’ll explore some alternatives below.
In case you’d like to try Toolkit first, let’s briefly look at how to install and use it.
Backing Up Mac with Seagate Toolkit
Make sure your hard drive is plugged in, then install the software. You’ll find Seagate Toolkit for macOS on the Seagate Support web page.
After installation, the app will run in your menu bar, waiting for you to configure it. Mirror Now places the mirror folder in the default location (your home folder). Custom allows you to choose where to locate the mirror folder.
In my Toolkit tests, this is where I began to have trouble. Here’s what I did: first, I selected the Seagate drive I wanted to use to back up files.
But because it’s already configured as a backup drive using different software, Toolkit refuses to use it, which is understandable. Unfortunately, none of my spare drives were made by Seagate, so the software refused to acknowledge them, and I couldn’t test it further.
If you’re curious, you can find further information in the online user manual and knowledge base.
Solution 1: Back Up Your Mac with Apple’s Time Machine
So Seagate’s software doesn’t allow Mac users to create full, scheduled backups. How can you use your Backup Plus hard drive? The easiest way is with Apple’s own software.
Time Machine comes preinstalled on every Mac. In our roundup, The Best Backup Software for Mac, we found it the best choice for incremental file backups. I use the software on my own computer to backup to a Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive.
An incremental backup stays up-to-date by only copying files that are new or have been modified since your last backup. Time Machine will do this and a lot more:
- It will create local snapshots as space permits
- It will keep multiple daily backups for the last 24 hours
- It will keep multiple daily backups for the last month
- It will keep multiple weekly backups for all previous months
That means that each file is backed up multiple times, making it easy to get back the correct version of your documents and files if anything goes wrong.
Setting up Time Machine is easy. When you first plug in an empty drive, macOS will ask you if you want to use it to back up with Time Machine.
Click Use as Backup Disk. Time Machine settings will be displayed. Everything is already set up with the default settings, and the first backup is scheduled. In my tests, which I made using an older MacBook Air, backup began 117 seconds later.
That gave me enough time to change the defaults if I wanted to. Options include:
- I can save time and space by deciding not to back up certain files and folders
- I can allow the system to back up while on battery power. That’s a bad idea because bad things can happen if the battery runs out halfway through a backup
- I can decide just to back up my own files, excluding system files and applications
I decided to stay with the default setting and let the backup start automatically. Time Machine began by preparing the initial backup, which took about two minutes on my machine.
Then the backup proper began: the files were copied to the external hard drive (in my case, an older Western Digital drive I had laying in a drawer). Initially, 63.52 GB needed to be backed up in total. After a few minutes, a time estimate was displayed. My backup was completed even faster than expected, in about 50 minutes.
Solution 2: Back Up Your Mac with Third-Party Backup Software
Time Machine is a good choice for Mac backups: it’s conveniently built into the operating system, works well, and is free. But it’s not your only option. Tons of alternatives are available. They have different strengths and may create different types of backups.
In our roundup, The Best Backup Software for Mac, we cover six additional backup applications. One of these may meet your needs better.
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
Carbon Copy Cloner is a solid option for hard drive cloning or imaging. That’s a different backup strategy than Time Machine: instead of backing up individual files, it makes an exact copy of the entire drive.
After the initial duplicate is made, Carbon Copy Cloner can keep the image up to date by backing up only the files that have been modified or newly created. The clone drive will be bootable. If anything goes wrong with your computer’s internal drive, you can boot from the backup and continue working. That’s convenient!
Other features include:
- A “cloning coach” that warns of configuration concerns
- Guided setup and restore
- Configurable scheduling: hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and more
This app is harder to use than Time Machine, but it also does more. Fortunately, it has a “Simple Mode” that allows you to create a backup with three mouse clicks. A Personal License costs $39.99 and can be purchased from the developer’s website.
2. SuperDuper!
Shirt Pocket’s SuperDuper! v3 is a simpler, more affordable disk cloning application. Many of its features are free; the full app costs $27.95 and includes scheduling, smart update, sandboxes, and scripting. Like Carbon Copy, the clone drive it creates is bootable.
3. ChronoSync
Econ Technologies ChronoSync 4 is a more versatile application. It can perform just about every type of backup you’re likely to need:
- It can synchronize your files between computers
- It can back up your files and folders
- It can create a bootable hard disk image
However, it doesn’t offer cloud backup as Acronis True Image (below) does.
Scheduled backups are supported. You can configure your backups to be performed automatically each time you attach a specific external drive. Incremental backups are supported, and multiple files are copied simultaneously to save time.
The software costs a little more—$49.99 from the developer’s web store. A more affordable version can be purchased from the Mac App Store for $24.99. It’s called ChronoSync Express. It’s feature-limited and unable to create bootable backups.
4. Acronis True Image
Acronis True Image for Mac is the most expensive application in our roundup, starting with a $49.99/year subscription. It also offers more features than the other apps on our list.
The base plan offers active disk cloning, and the Advanced plan (which costs $69.99/year) adds half a terabyte of cloud backup. You can download the software and purchase a subscription from the developer’s website. Read our full review for more.
Mac Backup Guru
MacDaddy’s Mac Backup Guru is an affordable app that creates a bootable clone of your hard drive. It offers three types of backup in total:
- Direct cloning
- Synchronization
- Incremental snapshots
Any changes you make to your documents are automatically synced. You can choose not to overwrite older backups so you can go back to an earlier version of a document.
Get Backup Pro
Finally, Belight Software’s Get Backup Pro is the most affordable third-party backup program on our list. You can purchase it for just $19.99 from the developer’s website.
Like ChronoSync, several types are offered:
- incremental and compressed file backups
- bootable cloned backups
- folder synchronization
You can backup to an external drive, network drive, DVD, or CD. Backups can be scheduled and encrypted.
So What Should You Do?
Seagate Backup Plus Srd00f1 Manual
You’ve decided to protect your data by backing up your Mac, and as a first step, you got a Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive. If you’re a Mac user, do yourself a favor and ignore the software that came with the drive. It doesn’t offer the features you need.
Instead, use an alternative. You already have Apple’s Time Machine installed on your Mac. It’s reliable, easy to use, and will keep multiple copies of every file so you can choose the version you want to get back. It works well, and I use it myself!
Or you can choose a third-party app. These offer additional features and backup types. For example, Carbon Copy Cloner and others will create a bootable backup of your hard drive. That means if your main drive dies, rebooting from the backup will get you working again in minutes.
Seagate Backup Plus Manual
Whichever software you choose, start today. Everyone needs a reliable backup of their important files!