Verify Time Machine Backups to a Network Disk
If you’re backing up your files with Time Machine to a networked location, verifying your backups is a simple process. Verifying might take a while, depending on the size of your backup and your Mac’s speed. Time Machine alerts you if there are any problems with your backup.
Verify Time Machine Backups With Local Storage
If you’re using a local storage device for your Time Machine backups, you can’t use the Verify Backups option, which works only with a network storage device. Instead, use the Mac Terminal command-line system to run the Time Machine Utility. This compare Time Machine snapshots to verify that backups are valid. The system compares the contents of your Mac with the contents of your backup. When it is finished, you see a report listing the files that were compared, how much data was added, how much data was removed, and how much data has changed. You are notified of any problems in the backup.
Verify Time Machine Backups by Restoring a File
The simplest method of verifying that your backup files are sound is to do a spot check and restore a test file using Time Machine. This works regardless of whether you’re using a network device or a local device to store your backups.
