--- title: "Time Machine With Wasabi via a Mountable Drive and Rclone" slug: "how-to-back-up-macos-using-time-machine-to-a-mountable-drive-and-sync-to-wasabi-via-rclone" updated: 2026-05-31T00:23:47Z published: 2026-05-31T00:23:47Z canonical: "docs.wasabi.com/how-to-back-up-macos-using-time-machine-to-a-mountable-drive-and-sync-to-wasabi-via-rclone" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.wasabi.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Time Machine With Wasabi via a Mountable Drive and Rclone This knowledge base (KB) article describes how to back up a macOS system using Time Machine to a mountable drive and then sync the backup to Wasabi cloud storage using `rclone`. This solution has been validated for use with Wasabi. To use this product with Wasabi, please follow the configuration tips below. For more information about `rclone` usage with Wasabi, see the official documentation: [How do I use rclone with Wasabi?](https://docs.wasabi.com/v1/docs/how-do-i-use-rclone-with-wasabi) *Note: This example discusses the use of Wasabi's us-east-1 storage region. To use other Wasabi storage regions, please use the appropriate Wasabi service URL as described in our*[*Service URLs KB*](https://docs.wasabi.com/docs/what-are-the-service-urls-for-wasabi-s-different-storage-regions)*.* Prerequisites - macOS 12+ (Tested on macOS 15.5) - Sufficient internal disk space (recommended: >1.5x used system space) - Wasabi account with bucket created ([Bucket Creation Guide](https://docs.wasabi.com/docs/working-with-buckets-and-objects)) - Access Key and Secret Key from Wasabi ([Access Keys Guide](https://docs.wasabi.com/v1/docs/creating-a-new-access-key)) - rclone installed ([How do I use rclone with Wasabi](https://docs.wasabi.com/v1/docs/how-do-i-use-rclone-with-wasabi)?) - Terminal with Full Disk Access granted (System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access) ### 1. Prepare a Time Machine-Compatible Mount Drive You can use any mounted [drive that satisfies Time Machine's requirements](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102423): This can be: - External storage device connected to Mac - Mac shared as a network backup destination - Network-attached storage (NAS) device - AirPort Extreme Base Station or AirPort Time Capsule - **A virtual disk image such as a sparsebundle (used in this guide for flexibility and easier cloud sync)** 1.1. To create a sparsebundle (optional): Recommended Disk Size: >1.5x used system space ```plaintext hdiutil create -size -type SPARSEBUNDLE -fs HFS+J -volname "" .sparsebundle ``` Command variables: - `<disk-size-in-GB>`: Size of the virtual disk in GB (e.g., 500) - `<volume-name>`: The name shown in /Volumes/ (e.g., TimeMachineDisk) - `<path-to-folder>`: Folder where the sparsebundle will be saved (e.g., ~/) - `<sparsebundle-name>`: Name of the sparsebundle file (e.g., TimeMachineDisk) Example: ```plaintext hdiutil create -size 500g -type SPARSEBUNDLE -fs HFS+J -volname "TimeMachineDisk" ~/TimeMachineDisk.sparsebundle ``` 1.2. Mount the Drive (if virtual): ```plaintext hdiutil attach .sparsebundle ``` Command variables: - `<path-to-folder>`: Folder where the sparsebundle will be saved (e.g., ~/) Example: ```plaintext hdiutil attach ~/TimeMachineDisk.sparsebundle ``` The volume will be mounted under /Volumes/. ### 2. Set Time Machine to Use the Mounted Drive ```plaintext sudo tmutil setdestination /Volumes/ ``` Command variables: - `<volume-name>`: The name shown in /Volumes/ (e.g., TimeMachineDisk) Example: ```plaintext sudo tmutil setdestination /Volumes/TimeMachineDisk ``` Time Machine will now treat this mount as a backup disk. ![](https://cdn.document360.io/bef0a1ea-7768-4d5a-b520-c4fe2f7fafad/Images/Documentation/base64-converted-image-1780186971431.png) ### 3. Run the Initial Time Machine Backup 3.1. [Time Machine](https://support.apple.com/en-us/104984) to complete a full system backup. (System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access) ![](https://cdn.document360.io/bef0a1ea-7768-4d5a-b520-c4fe2f7fafad/Images/Documentation/image-MAD351FY.png) 3.2 Back Up: This may take several hours depending on system size. (System Settings > Time Machine > Right Click the Mounted Drive) ![](https://cdn.document360.io/bef0a1ea-7768-4d5a-b520-c4fe2f7fafad/Images/Documentation/image-OCJC74EJ.png) ### 4. Configure rclone for Wasabi To configure `rclone` to work with Wasabi, follow the [official guide](https://docs.wasabi.com/v1/docs/how-do-i-use-rclone-with-wasabi). Summary of steps: - Run rclone config - Select n for new remote, name it (e.g., wasabi-us-east-1) - Choose storage type S3, then provider Wasabi - Input your access key and secret key - Choose endpoint (e.g., s3..wasabisys.com, [our Service URLs KB](https://docs.wasabi.com/docs/what-are-the-service-urls-for-wasabi-s-different-storage-regions)) - Set ACL to private ### 5. Sync the Backup to Wasabi ```plaintext rclone sync : --progress ``` Command variables: - `<path-to-folder>`: Folder where the sparsebundle is stored (e.g., ~/) - `<sparsebundle-name>`: The sparsebundle name (e.g., TimeMachineDisk) - `<remote-name>`: The rclone remote name you configured (e.g., wasabi) - `<bucket-name>`: The Wasabi bucket name (e.g., time-machine-backup) Example: ```plaintext macbookpro ~ % rclone sync ~/TimeMachineDisk.sparsebundle wasabi:time-machine-buckup --progress Transferred:      42.240 GiB / 42.240 GiB, 100%, 17.736 MiB/s, ETA 0s Transferred:         5415 / 5415, 100% Elapsed time:      37m7.3s ``` This will upload the entire sparsebundle (or any mountable backup folder) to your Wasabi bucket. ### 6. Automate the Sync (Optional) 6.1. Find the rclone full path using: ```plaintext which rclone ``` Example Output:****`<full-path-to-rclone>` ```plaintext /usr/local/bin/rclone ``` 6.2. Then create a scheduled sync task using the full path: Example: Daily sync at 6 PM ```plaintext 0 18 * * * sync /.sparsebundle : ``` Example: Weekly sync at 6 PM every Friday ```plaintext 0 18 * * 5 /usr/local/bin/rclone sync /.sparsebundle : ``` Example: ```plaintext 0 18 * * * /usr/local/bin/rclone sync ~/TimeMachineDisk.sparsebundle wasabi:time-machine-buckup ``` In your crontab command: - `<minute>`: Minute of the hour (e.g., `0` means :00) - `<hour>`: Hour in 24-hour format (e.g., `18` means 6 PM) - `<day-of-month>`: Use `*` for any day - `<month>`: Use `*` for any month - `<day-of-week>`: `0` = Sunday, `1` = Monday, ..., `5` = Friday - `<path-to-folder>`: e.g., `~/` - `<sparsebundle-name>`: e.g., `TimeMachineDisk` - `<remote-name>`: The name you assigned in rclone config - `<bucket-name>`: The Wasabi bucket name 6.3. Use [crontab](https://crontab.guru/) to schedule regular syncs: ```plaintext crontab -e ``` ![](https://cdn.document360.io/bef0a1ea-7768-4d5a-b520-c4fe2f7fafad/Images/Documentation/image-9N6JUCLQ.png) 6.4. Save and Exit Crontab If using `vi` editor: - Press `Esc` - Type `:wq` - Press `Enter` If using `nano` editor: - Press `Control + O` to save - Press `Enter` to confirm - Press `Control + X` to exit Once the crontab command saved, this will automatically sync the entire sparsebundle (or any mountable backup folder) to your Wasabi bucket at the scheduled time. **Tips:** - Ensure no Time Machine job is running during `rclone sync` - If encountering `Permission denied`, check `.sparsebundle` ownership and run with `sudo` - You may compress `.sparsebundle` to `.dmg` or `.zip` for other backup methods