tmutil Command Examples

Utility for managing Time Machine backups. Most verbs require root privileges. More information: https://keith.github.io/xcode-man-pages/tmutil.8.html.

• Set an HFS+ drive as the backup destination:

sudo tmutil setdestination {{path/to/disk_mount_point}}

• Set an APF share or SMB share as the backup destination:

sudo tmutil setdestination "{{protocol://user[:password]@host/share}}"

• Append the given destination to the list of destinations:

sudo tmutil setdestination -a {{destination}}

• Enable automatic backups:

sudo tmutil enable

• Disable automatic backups:

sudo tmutil disable

• Start a backup, if one is not running already, and release control of the shell:

sudo tmutil startbackup

• Start a backup and block until the backup is finished:

sudo tmutil startbackup -b

• Stop a backup:

sudo tmutil stopbackup