How to set up Time Machine with an offsite copy

Time Machine alone is one copy in your house. A fire, a theft or a power surge takes the Mac and the disk together. You need a second copy somewhere else.

Set up Time Machine first, then pick one of three ways to get a copy out of the building.

Time Machine first

Apple's setup page, for macOS Ventura 13 or later:

1. Open System Settings, then General, then Time Machine, and click Add Backup Disk.
2. Select the connected drive and click Set Up Disk.
3. If the Mac offers to erase the drive, erase it or choose another.
4. Optionally, turn on Encrypt Backup and set a password.

Apple suggests a USB or Thunderbolt drive with at least twice your Mac's storage, used only for backups. If you encrypt, it says you need the backup password to restore, so store it somewhere that isn't the Mac.

Option one: a second disk that lives elsewhere

No subscription, and the least automatic. Apple's multiple-disk page says Time Machine rotates the backup schedule among the disks, and each disk gets only what changed since it was last used. Apple's own example is working in two locations and keeping a disk in each.

Use that for offsite: one disk at home, one at the office or a relative's. Swap them when you remember. The offsite copy is only as fresh as your last swap, which is the weakness.

Option two: Backblaze

This one runs by itself. Backblaze's personal page lists unlimited storage, with $8.25 a month on the yearly plan (checked November 1, 2026). Our Backblaze review covers the limits.

Time Machine stays your fast local restore. Backblaze is the copy for the day the house isn't there.

Option three: clone with CCC

Bombich's page for CCC 7 says it can create snapshots on the backup, schedule tasks hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or when changes are detected, and "recover your whole Mac." Point it at a disk you keep elsewhere, or at a second disk you rotate.

CCC does not upload to the cloud. Its cloud feature goes the other way: it can temporarily download cloud-only files from iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and Box so they land in a local backup.

Bombich's price, checked November 1, 2026: price unconfirmed. There's a 30-day trial, and one Household license covers every Mac in a household for non-commercial use.

Test it

Restore one file from each copy. Then calendar a reminder for six months out. The Carbon Copy Cloner page has the license details. Our Time Machine alternatives compares more tools, and why a sync folder is not a backup explains what not to rely on.