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As a Mac user, your computer is the center of your digital life. It‘s where you store your precious photos and videos, critical work documents, creative projects, and so much more. But as the saying goes, "it‘s not a question of if your hard drive will fail, but when."
That‘s why having a reliable backup system in place is absolutely essential. Fortunately, it‘s easier than ever to keep your Mac data safe, thanks to affordable, high-capacity external drives like the Seagate Backup Plus.
In this in-depth guide, we‘ll walk through everything you need to know about using Seagate Backup Plus drives with your Mac. From choosing the right model, to setting up simple yet powerful backups with Apple‘s Time Machine or third-party software, you‘ll learn the best practices to protect your data for the long haul. Let‘s dive in!
Why Seagate Backup Plus for Mac Backups?
Seagate has long been a trusted name in computer storage, and their Backup Plus lineup hits the sweet spot of performance, reliability and value for Mac backups. As for 2025, Backup Plus drives are available in capacities up to a whopping 5TB, giving you ample space to store backups of your macOS system, applications, settings and years worth of files.
All Backup Plus models support the latest USB 3.0 standard, providing fast data transfer speeds over 100 MB/s. They‘re fully compatible with Macs out of the box, with no reformatting required. Just plug them in and you‘re ready to start backing up.
The Backup Plus series includes both desktop and portable models to fit your needs:
- Backup Plus Desktop drives are larger capacity 3.5" models that require AC power. With up to 5TB of space, they‘re perfect for backing up one or more Macs with lots of files and applications. The enclosures include extra USB ports to use as a hub. 4TB and 5TB models retail for around $90-$120.
- Backup Plus Portable drives are compact 2.5" models that are bus-powered over USB, so you can easily take them on the go. They max out at 5TB currently, with 1TB, 2TB and 4TB also available. Prices range from about $45 for 1TB to $100 for 5TB.
The drives are pre-loaded with Seagate‘s Toolkit backup software for Mac and Windows. And this is where things get a bit troublesome…
The Problem with Seagate Toolkit for Mac
While Seagate‘s Toolkit backup software works reasonably well on Windows, the Mac version leaves a lot to be desired. Instead of providing complete backups of your startup disk like Time Machine, Toolkit offers two limited options:
- Mirror folders – This lets you select folders on your Mac to sync one-way to the Backup Plus drive. But it doesn‘t copy anything outside those folders, provide versioning, or let you restore previous file versions.
- Backup On-Demand – This lets you manually copy selected files to the Backup Plus drive. Again, it provides no automatic, scheduled, or versioned backups.
In other words, Seagate Toolkit is too basic to be a reliable, set-it-and-forget-it backup solution for your Mac. It can‘t create a bootable backup, doesn‘t support versioning or deleted file protection, has no scheduling options, and won‘t back up your entire system.
Thankfully, we have some much better options, starting with the backup software already built into your Mac: Time Machine.
Backing Up Your Mac with Time Machine
Apple‘s Time Machine is the easiest and most full-featured way to back up your Mac to a Seagate Backup Plus drive. It provides complete, automatic, versioned backups of your entire system, and makes it simple to restore files, folders, applications or your whole disk.
To set up Time Machine with your Seagate drive:
- Connect the Backup Plus drive to your Mac. Skip the prompt to install Seagate Toolkit.
- Open System Settings and go to the Time Machine page.
- Click the "Select Backup Disk" button and choose your Seagate drive from the list. You may be prompted to erase the drive.
- Check the "Back Up Automatically" box to have Time Machine back up your Mac to the drive every hour.
- Click "Options" to exclude any files you don‘t want backed up, like caches or large media files.
That‘s it! Time Machine will start preparing your backup and copy every file on your startup disk to the Seagate drive. The first backup may take several hours, but future incremental backups will be much faster, copying only new and changed files.
Time Machine keeps a complete backup history, with:
- Hourly backups for the past 24 hours
- Daily backups for the past month
- Weekly backups for previous months
So you can jump back in time to restore previous versions or deleted files whenever you need to. You can even recover your entire system onto a new Mac.
Plus, Time Machine lets you encrypt your backups, pause backups temporarily, and checks for errors at regular intervals. It‘s an incredibly convenient, integrated and reliable solution for Mac backups.
Alternative Third-Party Mac Backup Software
While Time Machine is my top recommendation for most Mac users to back up to a Seagate drive, there are also some excellent third-party options to consider:
Carbon Copy Cloner
Carbon Copy Cloner makes a fully bootable clone of your Mac‘s drive, which you can restore from if your internal drive fails. It can also keep the clone updated on a schedule. Restoration is fast since all your data is ready to go on the clone. CCC offers more customization options than Time Machine, can copy to multiple destinations, and do folder-to-folder syncing. It‘s $39.99 for a lifetime license.
SuperDuper!
SuperDuper is another popular drive cloning utility for Mac, with a simpler interface and lower cost than Carbon Copy Cloner. The base version is free, while the fully-featured version is $27.95. It can create bootable backups on a schedule and offers "sandboxing" to test backups virtually.
Acronis True Image
Acronis True Image is a powerful and flexible backup application that can create full disk image backups as well as file/folder backups locally or to the cloud. It includes anti-ransomware features, blockchain authentication of backups, and syncing across devices. Pricing starts at $49.99/year for one computer.
ChronoSync
ChronoSync is a multi-purpose backup, restore, and synchronization app for macOS. It can create bootable backups, standard versioned backups, and sync files across Macs, iOS devices, and cloud storage. A full license is $49.99, while ChronoSync Express offers fewer options for $24.99.
The Best Backup Strategy for Your Needs
So which backup approach should you use with your Seagate drive and Mac? Here are my recommendations:
For easy, automatic, versioned backups: Use Time Machine. It‘s free, built-in, simple to set up, and will cover your needs for backing up your entire Mac reliably and restoring older file versions or deleted files.
For a bootable clone: Use Carbon Copy Cloner (for the most features) or SuperDuper (for simplicity/low cost). A clone will let you get back up and running immediately if your internal drive fails. I recommend using one in addition to Time Machine.
For image backups/cloud options: Use Acronis True Image. It‘s the most powerful solution if you want full image backups, anti-ransomware, cloud backups, and multi-device syncing in one.
For local and cloud sync/backups: Use ChronoSync. It offers the widest range of backup and sync options, including bootable backups, cloud and local folder syncing, and versioning.
No matter which path you choose, the key is to stick with it! Set up regular, automatic backups to your Seagate drive, and your Mac‘s data will be well-protected against drive failures and other disasters.
I also recommend keeping a second, redundant backup on another drive or in the cloud for extra security. You should also test restoring from your backups periodically to ensure everything is working properly.
With a solid backup system in place, you can enjoy the peace of mind of knowing your precious Mac data, photos, and files are safe and always recoverable. Happy backing up!