At last, you’ve got your Samsung T7, T7 Touch. Or T7 Shield in your eager hands.
You’ve raved to your friends about how smooth it feels to the touch. And how tiny it is.
All that external storage in such a cool package.
Now it’s time to get serious. And get your latest Mac accessory hooked up to your Mac, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or M1 Mac. And get yourself a Time Machine backup done.
In this quick guide with pictures, you can find out how to do it.
Does Samsung T7 Work With Time Machine?
Yes, reformat your Samsung portable SSD T7 to APFS (Apple File System). Or HFS+ (Mac OS Extended Journaled). And then your T7 Solid State Drive is perfect to connect up to Time Machine.
Samsung T7 Time Machine Set Up
It’s ridiculously easy to set up.
And once you’ve set Time Machine up.
Each time you plug in your Samsung T7, Time Machine will see it’s hooked up.
And Time Machine will kick off a backup to your T7.
Format Your Samsung SSD T7 For Time Machine First
You’ll quickly notice that your Samsung T7 comes ExFAT formatted. And yes, that means you can plug your external storage in and your Mac can use it right away.
But, as shipped your solid state drive is not in the format that Time Machine needs for a backup. That’s HFS+. And since Mac OS X Big Sur, you can also format your drive as APFS (Apple File System).
You’ll use Disk Utility. Software that is part of your Mac OS X to format your T7 external drive.
Bounce over to this article on the site to see the steps to formatting your Samsung T7 storage like a pro.
Get your Samsung external drive formatted. Then head right back and read on.
1. Log Into Your Mac And Connect Your Samsung T7 Portable SSD.
If you haven’t already. Plug your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or M1 Mac into a power outlet. And log onto your desktop.
Connect your Samsung T7 external drive into your Mac.
In the box with your Samsung SSD T7 you’ll find two USB cables. A USB C to USB C cable. And a USB C to USB A cable.
And depending your generation of Mac, pick the cable with the right connection for your Mac with a USB C port. Or USB type A port.
After a few moments you’ll see your Samsung T7 on the desktop.
From Mac OS Ventura
Your Mac may ask you if you want to use your Samsung T7 for a Time Machine backup. You can then click Options in the dialogue box. Then pick ‘Set Up to use this disk as a backup disk with Time Machine?’
Or.
2. Open System Settings.
Scroll down to General. Click there. Then Scroll down to Time Machine and click that option.
3. Click The Button Add Backup Disk.
Pick your T7 drive, then click Setup Disk.
4. If you’ve previously set up a backup drive for your Mac.
You may have upgraded your Mac from Mac OS Monterey and your Mac remembers your previous backup drive.
And you want to add another backup drive or change from your previous backup drive. Then click the + button.
Pick your T7 Samsung drive. Then click the button Setup Disk.
Your Mac will then format your T7 hard drive as a Mac drive. And set your drive up for Time Machine.
5. Set Up To Show Time Machine Icon In Menu Bar
You can set your Mac to show the Time Machine icon in your Mac’s menu bar.
In System Settings click on Control Centre. Then scroll down to Time Machine. Then Click the option ‘Show In Menu Bar’.
In Mac OS Monterey Or Earlier
2. Start System Preferences.
You set up your Mac Time Machine software in System Preferences.
To open the software. Simply click on the Applications Folder.
You can do this either from your Mac’s dock.
Or in a Finder Window by clicking on the Applications Folder.
Then double click on System Preferences.
3. Click On Time Machine.
Inside System Preferences you’ll see the icon for Time Machine. You click on this.
4. Start Your Time Machine SSD T7 Set Up.
You’ll next see the 1st set up pop up window of Time Machine.
Check the box at the bottom of your popup window to show Time Machine in the menu bar at the top of your Mac’s desktop.
You’ll thank me later for doing this.
Then for now uncheck the box to backup automatically.
And now you’re ready to click the button ‘Select Backup Disk …’.
5. Pick your Samsung T7 To Use With Time Machine.
The next pop up screen will have your Samsung T7 SSD in the list.
Click on your T7 external SSD.
Then decide if you’d like your Mac to encrypt your backups. If you’d like to do this then put a check in the box.
Time Machine will ask you to set a password for your Samsung SSD T7.
You’ll need this password to get to your backups. And access your external SSD drive for a backup or a restore.
Watch you keep this password safe. If you lose the password you’ll lose access to your backups. And you’ll be crying because you’ll need some data recovery software. Or data recovery services to get your lost files back.
Next click on the ‘Use Disk’ button.
Congratulations. You’re done.
Your Samsung T7 is now hooked up to Time Machine.
You are now taken back a screen. And the Time Machine screen is updated.
You can see here that your Samsung T7 is picked as your Time Machine backup drive.
And from now on Time Machine will use your T7 to back up your Mac.
Automatic Backups of Your Mac To Your Samsung External SSD
Put a check in the box backup automatically.
This means that whenever your T7 external drive is plugged into your Mac. And your Mac or MacBook Pro has enough battery power. Your Mac will go ahead and start a backup.
That way you won’t have to kick off a backup yourself.
Then you can exit the Time Machine window.
Manually Starting Your Time Machine Backup To Your Samsung T7
You can wait until your Mac is ready to kick off your backup.
Or.
If you’re impatient like me you can tell your Mac to kick one off right away.
Look up at the top of your Mac’s desktop. You’ll see there the Time Machine backup symbol.
It was put there by the check box you ticked earlier.
Click on it.
Feel free to click on it at any time. It’ll tell you the last time a backup was done and it allows you to kick off a backup right away.
Click Backup Up Now from the list of options. And Time Machine will start preparing your Mac for a backup right now.
Your Mac may take a while preparing your Time Machine backup. It depends on how much you have to backup.
But once your backup kicks off. The USB 3.2 Gen 2, 1000+ MB/s transfer speed of your Samsung T7 will leave you jaw droppingly impressed.
You can check how your T7’s doing on your backup at any time. By clicking on the Time Machine symbol at the top of your desktop.
And you can check how many GB’s or MB’s are left to backup.
And you also check right there to confirm your backup is finished.
Then before you’re done with your Samsung T7 SSD eject.
Be sure to eject your Samsung T7 before you pull out your USB cable.
How Do You Eject Your T7 From Your Mac?
Easy.
Right clicking on your Samsung T7’s drive icon on your desktop.
And from the menu pick Eject.
The arrow in the picture above shows you where.
Then wait till the LED activity light stops flashing. And your T7 external SSD drive icon disappears from your desktop.
Now you can plug out.
Remember to do this each and every time. Or you risk corrupting your backup drive.
Related Articles
Format Samsung T7 for Mac, When You Can’t Work Out How
Samsung T7 Not Working On Mac, What To Do Now
Samsung T7 Mac Setup (How To Checklist Inside)
Does Samsung T7 Work With (Compatible And Other Mac Questions)
Samsung T5 on Mac Review, Bust Waiting Times on your Mac
What is the Best External Hard Drive for Mac – Don’t Risk It
