I'm supposed to back up my computer. Can someone help?

[IBrakeforPastry]

It's the morning after. I set it up to run overnight and now what? Do I leave the drive plugged in?

[OakLeaf]

It's the morning after. I set it up to run overnight and now what? Do I leave the drive plugged in?

First, confirm that it's finished. It should be, but if you had a lot of data to back up and/or a lower-speed bus, it might not be. It might also be working on an update if it finished your initial backup. If you're using Time Machine, by default it places an icon on the menu bar in the shape of an analog clock face with an arrow encircling it. If it's in the process of backing up, there will be two arrowheads, or if that's too hard to see, you can click on the icon and the pull-down menu will either display the date of your latest backup, or "Backing Up" with a progress indicator.

If the drive isn't chewing on anything, then you can decide whether to leave it plugged in. If you leave it plugged in, it will automatically update itself on a regular schedule, so that's best if you don't have any reason to unplug it (like if you need to move your computer, or you need the port for another device).

If you do decide to unplug it, eject it from your system first. Go to Finder, then there are two ways you can eject an external drive: In a Finder window, on the left bar, below the list of your Favorites, the next category is Devices, and any connected drives are displayed. Select your backup drive and press Command-E, or choose Eject from the pull-down menu under File. Alternately, an icon of the drive should appear on your Desktop, and you can drag that to the Trash. It will grey out first; wait until it completely disappears before physically unplugging it. Then, best practice is to plug it back in when you can, so it can resume regular backups.

[IBrakeforPastry]

Thanks so much for all the help. It's finished - it was waiting for me this morning. Putting the Time Machine icon in the menu bar was actually an option. I checked the box, and now I can't find it
I'll leave it plugged in for now, and again, thank you all very much.

[OakLeaf]

You can also access it from System Preferences, fourth row of the main window.

[IBrakeforPastry]

If you go into Finder, Apps, and double click the Time Machine icon, it might go to the task bar/menu.

You can also access it from System Preferences, fourth row of the main window.

I know how to find it, I was just mentioning that I couldn't find it on the menu bar. It showed up on my desktop, though, among all the photos that I need to sort through. As long as it seems to be working, I can now play around a bit, clean up some folders and files, and take it in for its checkup. I hope they can find a fixable problem so I don't have to buy anything new. Those young sales people seem to think anything over a few years old needs to be replaced

[IBrakeforPastry]

Ah, okay. I don't think I need easy access to it as long as I keep the drive plugged in. It happily does its own thing without any prompting from me.

Again, many thanks.

Now about that Dolce I want to modify

[IBrakeforPastry]

No, reach. And I just can't get comfortable with drop bars. So I bought a Vita. The bike shop guy showed me an "M" bar. Kind of like a mustache bar, but a little narrower. I liked it, and he said he could put it on either bike, and use either trigger or STI shifters. Since I like the Dolce frame a little better, I'll probably try it out on that bike. Then if it works out well, I might replace the STI with trigger shifters. I also want to explore different tire options. I'm not looking for cross or gravel tires, but something a little more tolerant of the rougher roads and fine gravel paths.

[OakLeaf]

I meant that some Apps automatically attach themselves to the menu bar when you open them from the Apps folder. I know Iclean does. My Time Machine went to the menu on its own. It could be that something in System Preferences needs to be set to make it happen, I've never had to do it, though.

Yeah, that's what I meant, too. The checkbox for "Show in menu bar" is at the bottom of the main window when you open Time Machine. If you want it. Good luck with the bike!