How to Back Up Your Photos and Files (the Simple Way)

Hard drives fail, phones get dropped in the creek, and laptops get stolen. A backup is the difference between a bad day and losing twenty years of family pictures.

The 3-2-1 rule

It sounds technical, but it’s simple:

• 3 copies of anything important (the original plus two backups),
• on 2 different kinds of storage (for example, your computer and an external drive),
• with 1 copy away from the house (in the cloud, or a drive kept at a relative’s place).

If the house floods or the computer dies, there’s still a copy somewhere safe.

Start with what you can’t replace

You don’t have to back up everything on day one. Start with photos and videos, tax returns and important paperwork, school or work documents, and anything on your Desktop. Programs can be reinstalled; family pictures can’t.

Option 1: An external drive

A USB external drive is cheap and easy. Pick one bigger than the files you’re saving.

• Windows: File History copies your folders to the drive automatically. On Windows 11 it’s under Control Panel → System and Security → File History. Plug the drive in, turn it on, and it keeps copies on a schedule.
• Mac: Time Machine is built in. Go to System Settings → General → Time Machine and add your drive.

Don’t leave the backup drive plugged in all the time if you can help it. If a virus or a power surge hits the computer, it can hit the drive too.

Option 2: The cloud

A cloud backup is your “away from home” copy. Most people already have some free space:

• Google accounts include 15 GB shared across Gmail, Drive and Google Photos.
• Microsoft accounts include 5 GB of OneDrive.
• Apple accounts include 5 GB of iCloud.

If you have a lot of photos you’ll probably need a paid plan, but it’s usually a few dollars a month.

Phones count too

Turn on photo backup on your phone — Google Photos on Android or iPhone, or iCloud Photos on iPhone. One catch: some of these sync instead of back up. If you delete a picture on the phone, it can disappear from the cloud too (there’s usually a “Recently deleted” folder for about 30 days). That’s why it’s smart to also copy your photos to a computer or an external drive now and then.

Test it

A backup you’ve never opened isn’t really a backup. Once a month or so, open the drive or the cloud folder and make sure your newest photos and files are actually there, and that a few of them open.

Don’t forget the drawer

Old phones, memory cards, flash drives and CDs in a kitchen drawer are often the only copy of older pictures. Get them copied while they still work.

If a drive is already failing

If your computer is clicking, freezing, or files won’t open, stop using it and get help. The more a failing drive runs, the less can be saved. I can copy what’s recoverable to a safe drive and set up a backup so it doesn’t happen again.