Back up on a schedule

Updated

Choose a schedule

  1. Open Settings › Schedule.
  2. Next to Back up, choose Every day or Every week. Choose Manually to back up only when you click Back Up Now.
  3. For a weekly backup, choose the day next to On.
  4. Choose the time next to At.
  5. Under Only when, choose whether scheduled backups wait until:
    • This Mac is connected to power
    • Not on a personal hotspot or other metered connection

Both are turned on unless you turn them off. The pane shows when the next backup is due. Changing the schedule doesn't start a backup straight away for a time that has already passed today.

When a scheduled backup can't start

If your Mac is asleep or off at the scheduled time, the backup starts soon after it wakes or CloudBak opens.

If a backup is due but can't start yet, Settings › Schedule and the menu bar panel say why, for example A scheduled backup is waiting because this Mac isn't connected to power. A scheduled backup waits while:

  • your Mac isn't connected to power, if you chose that
  • your Mac is on a personal hotspot or metered connection, if you chose that
  • the backup is being checked with Verify Backup
  • the destination can't be reached. CloudBak tries to reconnect to it about every 5 minutes, and starts the backup once it can. If your NAS rejects the saved password, see If your NAS or drive disconnects.

If a scheduled backup is still waiting after 12 hours, it's skipped. With When something needs attention turned on in Settings › General, CloudBak tells you with a Scheduled Backup Skipped notification.

Keep CloudBak running

Scheduled backups only start while CloudBak is running. It keeps running after you close its window, so you can close the window whenever you like.

  • Click the CloudBak icon in the menu bar to start a backup, see how one is going, or choose Show CloudBak to bring the window back.
  • To keep backups going after you restart your Mac, turn on Open at login in Settings › General. If macOS asks you to approve it, click Open Login Items and allow CloudBak there.
  • While no CloudBak window is open, its icon isn't shown in the Dock. To keep it in the Dock, turn off Hide the Dock icon while no window is open in Settings › General.

When you quit CloudBak with a schedule set, it asks whether you'd rather keep it running. To stop being asked, select Don't ask again, or turn off Offer to keep running when quitting in Settings › General.