Question How much space is needed to back up macOS hard drive using Time Machine ?

[Eddie Castle]

IMac with a 256 GB hard drive, 140 GB used space, 116 GB free. Is a 256 GB flash drive large enough to back up the hard drive using Time Machine?
I have read in places that they recommend twice the storage space of the original hard drive ?

 

[Cj-tech]

IMac with a 256 GB hard drive, 140 GB used space, 116 GB free. Is a 256 GB flash drive large enough to back up the hard drive using Time Machine?
I have read in places that they recommend twice the storage space of the original hard drive ?

You can definitely use this to backup your MacBook. I’ve done so multiple times. If you plan to do backups for an extended period of time, you might want more storage. However, if you are just doing this temporarily, there shouldn’t be any storage issues.