Here's how to automatically or manually back up your data, and then restore it on your Mac using Apple's Time Machine feature ...

Regularly backing up your Mac with Time Machine can prevent data loss and allow you to restore earlier versions of files.

Time Machine is Apple's backup system that automatically saves your Mac's files. Here's how to use the macOS file protection feature.

We also explain How to back up a Mac and How to use Time Machine and how to restore from a Time Machine backup elsewhere.

It can restore your Mac to a specific time, including its settings and data. If you have backed up the deleted files in Time Machine, you can restore them after emptying the Trash bin.

Apple's Time Capsule was discontinued long ago, but you can still get them to do your Time Machine backups on a modern network. Here's how.

If you deleted someone’s phone number and need to recover it (or if you deleted an entire contact), you can use Time Machine to backtrack and restore the information.

There are some good deals on 4TB SSDs for Prime Day. I use a Samsung T9 for my Time Machine with no issues (so far). That said, I haven't had a need to restore anything.