For Creatives
Mac Backup for
Creatives & Video Editors
Final Cut libraries. Premiere projects. RAW photo catalogues. Design files. Plugin licences. Capsule Backup snapshots your full creative Mac to the cloud — automatically, encrypted, and restorable to any Mac via Migration Assistant.
Why Creatives Need More Than File Sync
Dropbox and iCloud handle small files well. They were not built for the realities of professional creative work.
Project Libraries Are Massive
A single Final Cut Pro library can hit 500 GB. A Lightroom catalogue with 5 years of RAW shoots crosses a terabyte easily. File-sync services struggle with files this large and choke on the volume of small media files inside.
You Need Versioned Snapshots
"Wait, the colour grade was better yesterday." Time Machine keeps an hourly history of your project files for as long as your storage allows. Roll back to any previous state — a single edit, a colour pass, a layer arrangement.
Migration Day Wastes Days
Reinstalling Adobe Creative Cloud, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut, plugins, LUTs, presets, brushes, fonts, action sets — and getting all the licences re-activated — easily costs a billable day. Migration Assistant brings everything back.
Tools and Files We Protect
Capsule Backup covers the entire creative stack on macOS — apps, project files, presets, fonts, and licences.
Video editing
- Final Cut Pro libraries (.fcpbundle)
- Premiere Pro projects + sequences
- DaVinci Resolve project databases
- Motion projects, Compressor settings
- LUTs, plugins, transitions, title packs
Photography
- Lightroom Classic catalogues + smart previews
- Capture One sessions and catalogues
- Original RAW files (NEF, CR3, ARW, RAF, ORF)
- Photoshop edits with layer history
- Develop presets, tone curves, colour profiles
Design & illustration
- Figma local files and Figma desktop cache
- Sketch documents (.sketch)
- Adobe Illustrator and InDesign files
- Procreate / Procreate Dreams libraries
- Brushes, swatches, character styles
System-level assets
- Installed fonts (Font Book library)
- Adobe Creative Cloud installed apps + sync settings
- Plugin licences (in macOS Keychain — encrypted)
- Wacom / tablet driver preferences
- Calibrated display ICC profiles
Tip: exclude render caches, proxy media, and DaVinci's cache directory in Time Machine → Options to keep backups lean.
Three Creative Scenarios Solved
Client wants the v3 grade back
Open Time Machine, scroll back to yesterday morning, restore the project file. Three minutes later you are back to the version the client preferred. No re-grading from scratch.
SSD failure mid-project
Replace the drive. Boot the Mac. Migration Assistant restores everything — project files, plugins, fonts, licence activations, and your full creative environment. Back at the edit suite the same day.
Travelling and laptop is stolen
Pick up a Mac at the local Apple Store. Run Migration Assistant against your Capsule Backup volume over hotel WiFi. By morning you have your working environment, every project, every preset.
Recommended Plans for Creatives
Pro · 5 TB · $35/mo
or Studio · 10 TB · $65/mo
Pro fits most freelance editors, designers, and photographers with one or two Macs and active project archives. Studio (10 TB) is the right pick if you keep multi-year RAW catalogues, hours of finished 4K masters, or share a plan across a small studio team.
Compare All Plans"When my MacBook Pro died, I restored everything to a new Mac via Migration Assistant. Every file, every setting. Incredible."
Creative Workflow FAQ
Will Time Machine back up my Final Cut Pro library or my Premiere project files?
Yes. Time Machine backs up your entire user folder, including the Movies/ folder where Final Cut Pro libraries live and the Premiere project locations you set. Capsule Backup's 1 Gbps fibre uplink and SMB3 transport make hourly incremental snapshots fast even on multi-hundred-gigabyte project libraries — only the changed parts upload after the initial full backup.
Can I exclude my media cache and renders to keep backups lean?
Yes — and you should. In System Settings → Time Machine → Options, exclude paths like Final Cut Pro's render and proxy media folders, Premiere's Media Cache folder, DaVinci Resolve's cache, and any local "scratch" disks. The original camera footage and project files keep getting backed up; the recreatable cache files do not, which can cut backup size by 50–80%.
My RAW photo library is 800 GB. Can Capsule Backup handle it?
Easily. The Pro plan (5 TB at $35/month) gives you comfortable headroom for an 800 GB Lightroom or Capture One catalogue plus version history. The initial backup may take 12–24 hours over a typical home fibre connection. After that, only new shoots and edits upload — usually a few GB per session.
What happens if my MacBook Pro is stolen on a shoot?
You buy or borrow a new Mac, run Migration Assistant against your Capsule Backup volume, and your full system comes back — apps (Final Cut, DaVinci, Photoshop), plugins (with their licences), colour profiles, action sets, brushes, and your project files. You are editing again the same day, not rebuilding your toolkit from scratch.
Can two video editors share the same Capsule Backup plan?
Yes. All plans include unlimited devices. Each Mac creates its own .backupbundle on the shared volume, so two editors with separate machines maintain independent backup histories on the same plan. The 5 TB or 10 TB tiers are typically enough for a small studio of 2–4 editors with active project archives.
Does Capsule Backup work with external drives where I keep raw footage?
Yes. Time Machine can back up external volumes mounted on your Mac. Add the external drive to Time Machine's included sources (it is excluded by default to avoid mistakes), and footage on your external SSDs will upload to your Capsule Backup volume the next backup cycle.
How fast is restoring a 200 GB project library to a new Mac?
On a typical home or studio fibre connection, you should expect roughly 1.5–2 hours to pull 200 GB back from the cloud at sustained download speeds. With Migration Assistant running on a new Mac, you can keep editing on your old machine until the new one finishes restoring.
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Capsule Backup is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple Inc., Adobe Inc., or Blackmagic Design. Time Machine, macOS, Finder, Migration Assistant, and Final Cut Pro are trademarks of Apple Inc. Premiere Pro, Lightroom, Photoshop, and Illustrator are trademarks of Adobe Inc. DaVinci Resolve is a trademark of Blackmagic Design.
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