--- title: "Backup schedules and triggers" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/backup-schedules category: "Backups" tags: ["backups", "schedule", "battery"] summary: "Each backup set runs as things change, on a schedule, or only when you ask, with optional conditions — only when plugged in, not on a personal hotspot, not during working hours. Missed times are caught up once, and Back up now always works." updated: 2026-10-01T05:31:43.000Z --- # Backup schedules and triggers Each backup set runs as things change, on a schedule, or only when you ask, with optional conditions — only when plugged in, not on a personal hotspot, not during working hours. Missed times are caught up once, and Back up now always works. Each backup set decides for itself when to run. Choose **As things change**, **On a schedule** or **Only when I ask**, and optionally add conditions such as *only when the Mac is plugged in*. Whatever you choose, **Back up now** on the set's card starts a backup straight away. ## Changing it On the set's card, the line under its folders says when it runs — for example *"Backs up as things change"* or *"Every day at 02:00 · only on power"*. Click **Change…** beside it to open **When to back up**, make your choice and click **Done**. The line only appears once the set has a destination and something to back up. Automatic and scheduled runs only happen while **Back up automatically** is on for the set. ## The three modes | Mode | What happens | | --- | --- | | **As things change** | Backs up shortly after you change something in the set's folders. This is the default. | | **On a schedule** | Backs up at the times you choose, and nothing in between. | | **Only when I ask** | Nothing happens until you press **Back up now**. | **As things change** waits for a quiet moment — about a minute and a half after your changes stop — so a burst of saving becomes one version, not dozens. For folders you edit all day, where that quiet moment may never come, tick **Also make one version a day** and pick a time. **On a schedule** offers **Every hour**, **Every few hours** (every 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 or 12 hours, counted from midnight so the times stay the same each day), **Every day** at a time you pick, or **Every week** on a day and time you pick. Minutes can be :00, :15, :30 or :45. The card shows when the next backup is due, such as *"Next backup tomorrow at 02:00"*. ## Missed times and catch-up - **If your Mac is asleep or away at a scheduled time**, it backs up once when it's next able — not once for every slot it missed. - **When Storage Studio starts**, each set that backs up automatically or on a schedule gets one catch-up backup a few seconds later. That picks up anything that changed while the app was closed and finishes a backup that was interrupted. Sets on **Only when I ask** are left alone. - **A catch-up is cheap when nothing changed**, because only new and changed data is stored. ```mermaid %% caption: How an automatic or scheduled backup decides whether to start flowchart TD A[A change settles, a scheduled time arrives, or the app starts] --> B{Is Back up automatically on?} B -->|No| N[No backup] B -->|Yes| C{Are the set's conditions met?} C -->|No| H[The card says what it's waiting for] H --> C C -->|Yes| D{Is the Mac very busy right now?} D -->|Yes| H D -->|No| E[The backup starts at low priority] ``` *Flowchart — How an automatic or scheduled backup decides whether to start. Outline:* - A change settles, a scheduled time arrives, or the app starts - leads to Is Back up automatically on? - Is Back up automatically on? - No: leads to No backup - Yes: leads to Are the set's conditions met? - Are the set's conditions met? - No: leads to The card says what it's waiting for - Yes: leads to Is the Mac very busy right now? - The card says what it's waiting for - leads to Are the set's conditions met? - Is the Mac very busy right now? - Yes: leads to The card says what it's waiting for - No: leads to The backup starts at low priority ## Conditions Under **Only when** you can hold automatic and scheduled backups until the moment suits you: - **The Mac is plugged in** — waits for mains power. A Mac without a battery always counts as plugged in. - **Not on a personal hotspot** — for cloud destinations only, so a backup never uses up a phone's data allowance. It goes by what macOS reports as an expensive or low-data connection. - **Stay out of my working hours** — pick a start and end hour (09:00 to 18:00 to begin with). A period can run past midnight, such as 22:00 to 07:00. When a condition is holding a backup, the card says so in orange, for example *"Waiting for power — you asked for backups to run only when plugged in."* The backup starts by itself once the condition clears. Conditions never apply to **Back up now**, and they're cleared if you choose **Only when I ask**. Storage Studio also holds automatic backups while your Mac is under heavy load — *"Waiting until your Mac is less busy."* See [Backup speed, battery and the network](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/backup-speed-and-power) and [Performance modes](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/performance-modes). - **Can I move my iPhone backups to an external drive on a Mac?** Yes. Finder has no setting for where it keeps iPhone and iPad backups, but Storage Studio can move them to your external drive from What's Using Space: it copies them, checks every file arrived, and only then frees the space on your Mac. Finder keeps backing up to the drive afterwards, so keep… (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **What is purgeable space on a Mac and how do I clear it?** Purgeable space is storage macOS is holding — old snapshots, cached cloud files, optimised media — that it frees automatically when you need room, which is why "free" space can look smaller than expected. Storage Studio reclaims a lot of it on demand instead of making you wait. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **How do I reclaim space from local Time Machine snapshots on a Mac?** macOS keeps point-in-time APFS local snapshots so Time Machine can restore even when your backup drive is away — useful, but they can hold a lot of space. Storage Studio lists every snapshot, shows which are already safely backed up, and reclaims the space you choose in one click. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) See also: [Data Backup](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/data-backup) · [What backup messages mean](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/backup-messages) · [A backup didn't run](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-backup-didnt-run) · [Battery and power](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/battery-and-power) ## What links here - [A backup didn't run](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-backup-didnt-run) - [Backup speed, battery and the network](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/backup-speed-and-power) - [Data Backup](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/data-backup) - [Quiet Hours](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/quiet-hours) - [What backup messages mean](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/backup-messages)