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As promised in my last column, in this column I’ll walk through the most important steps to ensure your data is backed up properly.
Who Watches the Watchmen?
While the cloud is a quick and (sometimes) easy way to back up your data, people often wonder how foolproof it is. Who’s backing up our backups? For this reason, I personally use both “remote” cloud services as well as “local” backup drives. When someone says the word “local” in reference to a file on a computer, it simply means that the file lives on the computer itself, rather than being stored on real computers in secure buildings somewhere else. In this column, we’ll focus on local backups that act as a safety net to your cloud-based backups.
Local backups range from small USB thumb drives to larger external hard drives and even network storage in the home--all of which protect against computer failure, but not against fire, theft, or flooding.
USB Thumb Drives
Thumb drives are small and versatile, and I would use them primarily for file transfer rather than as a true backup. These devices are also called “flash drives” because they rely on flash memory. While that flash memory allows them to store data, it also wears out over time, which is why thumb drives are not a good choice for long-term or ongoing backups. For that reason, external hard drives are a better option for local backups.
External Hard Drives
External hard drives connect to your computer via USB. These days, a good purchase would be a 1 to 2 terabyte (TB) HDD (hard disk drive). You’ll also see SSDs (solid-state drives), which serve the same purpose but use different technology. However, an HDD has a spinning disk inside and SSDs have no moving parts, thus are more shock resistant. HDDs will be cheaper, larger and slower. HDDs, if stored properly, can retain your data for 10+ years, while SSDs need to be powered up (e.g., used) in order to continue to retain your data. For "put it in the drawer and forget it" scenarios, an HDD is the better purchase. For everyday backups, i.e., the drive will be plugged in all the time, SSDs will be more expensive but just as stable and much faster (and quieter!).
Home Network Storage
Less common, but worth a quick mention: in homes or small businesses with multiple computers, a home network storage device (often called “network-attached storage,” or NAS) can act as a central backup location for several machines at once. For most home users, this is more complexity than necessary, but it’s helpful to know this option exists. In some cases, even an older, slower computer with a healthy hard drive can be repurposed to serve a similar role as a network backup destination.
How to Set Up Local Backups
I am all for diversity in the marketplace, but that does mean there will always be at least two sets of instructions for most computer tasks. So, read on for how to set up your local back ups on Microsoft Windows machines or on Apple devices.
Microsoft
In my last column, we already went over the general idea of cloud space. OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud storage service, acting as an online folder where files can be stored, synced, and accessed across multiple devices.
When OneDrive is turned on, any files saved inside the OneDrive folder on a computer are stored both locally on that computer and in the cloud, meaning they are available on other devices signed in to the same Microsoft account.
Conversely, if you would like a physical drive backing up your data, Windows has an app named File History that lets you back up to an external hard drive. Unlike OneDrive, which stores files in the cloud and syncs them across devices, with the File History app, the word "History" is key. File History is a great tool for saving earlier, "historical", versions of your files so you can recover something you accidentally deleted or changed.
To turn on File History in Windows 11, first connect an external drive to your computer. Click the Start button, type Control Panel, and open it. Choose System and Security, then click File History. If Windows detects your external drive, click Turn on. From that point forward, Windows will automatically back up copies of your Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, and Desktop folders on a regular schedule whenever the drive is connected. You don’t need to remember to run it--just keep the backup drive plugged in periodically so File History can quietly do its job in the background.
Apple
Just as Microsoft’s OneDrive stores files in the cloud and keeps them in sync across devices, so too does Apple's iCloud. Like OneDrive, iCloud’s key feature is syncing your data across devices—your desktop computer, laptop, tablet, and phone. Turn it on and then choose what you want it to keep in sync. On a Mac, this is done in System Settings under your Apple ID, where you can enable iCloud and check off items like Photos, Documents, Desktop, and other apps. On an iPhone or iPad, the settings live in the same place, ie under your name at the top of Settings. The key idea is consistency: you’ll want to make the same choices on every Apple device you use. That way, iCloud is actively keeping your devices in sync so the photos, documents, and information you care about are the same no matter which device you’re using.
When a service like iCloud is syncing, it’s keeping the same version of a file across all your devices. That’s incredibly convenient, but it also means changes (and mistakes) sync too. If you accidentally delete a photo or overwrite a document on one device, that change is quickly reflected everywhere else. In that sense, iCloud is more like a shared filing cabinet than a safety deposit box. That’s why Apple also offers Time Machine, which creates a separate, historical copy of your files, one that doesn’t automatically change when you make a mistake. Time Machine is Apple's counterpart to Windows' File History.
To use Time Machine, you connect an external hard drive to your Mac and select it as your backup disk in System Settings. Once turned on, Time Machine runs automatically, quietly saving hourly, daily, and weekly versions of your files. You can also start a backup manually if you want to capture a snapshot before making a big change. For Time Machine to do its job well, the backup drive should be connected on a regular basis. Important note, it’s best not to unplug the drive or shut down the computer while a backup is actively running. Letting backups finish uninterrupted helps keep them healthy and reliable.
Bigger and Brighter Things
In this column, we focused on one simple goal: making sure your files are actually backed up, both in the cloud and on a physical drive you control. In the next column, we’ll shift from protecting your data to protecting yourself, with a practical look at staying safe online. We’ll cover the basics, but also some of the lesser-known scams that are surprisingly easy to fall for.
