How to Back Up Data

This article shows you how to back up data on your computer or smartphone. Backing up your computer or phone data creates a copy of the data so you can restore it if your computer, phone, or tablet crashes or loses data.

On Windows operating system

How to Back Up Data Picture 1

Connect the external hard drive to the Windows computer. You can do this using one of your computer's USB ports. To back up your Windows computer, you will need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.

The external hard drive must be formatted to suit the computer for effective operation.

You can also use a large capacity flash drive at this step.

How to Back Up Data Picture 2

Open Start . Click the Windows icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.

How to Back Up Data Picture 3

Open Settings. Click the gear icon in the lower left corner of the Start window.

How to Back Up Data Picture 4

Click Update & Security in the Settings window.

How to Back Up Data Picture 5

Click the Backup tab. It's in the upper left of the Update and Security page.

How to Back Up Data Picture 6

Click Add a drive at the top of the page and the screen will display a list of options.

How to Back Up Data Picture 7

Select your external hard drive. Click the name of your external hard drive in the selection list to set it as a backup drive for your computer.

How to Back Up Data Picture 8

Click the More options link below the "On" slider near the top of the page.

How to Back Up Data Picture 9

Click Back up now . It's in the top left corner of the page. This will ask Windows to perform a backup and begin downloading data to the external hard drive.

You will have to click Back up now several times before your hard drive will start backing up.

How to Back Up Data Picture 10

Wait for the backup process to complete. You'll see the message "Backup completed" in the bottom right corner of the screen when the backup is complete; You can now release and remove the external hard drive.

On Mac operating system

How to Back Up Data Picture 11

Connect the external hard drive to the Mac computer. You can do this using one of your computer's USB-C ports. To back up data on your Mac operating system, you will need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.

The external hard drive must be formatted appropriately for the Mac computer to operate effectively.

You can also use a large capacity flash drive at this step.

If your external hard drive has chosen to use a USB 3.0 connection, you need a USB 3.0 to USB-C adapter to connect the hard drive to your computer.

How to Back Up Data Picture 12

Open the Apple menu. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen to open a list of options.

How to Back Up Data Picture 13

Click System Preferences… . It's near the top of the menu.

How to Back Up Data Picture 14

Click the Time Machine app with the green watch face icon and the Time Machine window will appear.

How to Back Up Data Picture 15

Click Select Backup Disk… near the top of the page to open a new window.

How to Back Up Data Picture 16

Select external hard drive. Click the name of the external hard drive in the window.

How to Back Up Data Picture 17

Click Use Disk at the bottom of the window to set the external hard drive as the Time Machine backup drive on your Mac.

How to Back Up Data Picture 18

Click the Time Machine watch face icon in the top right corner of the screen to open a list of options.

How to Back Up Data Picture 19

Click Back Up Now . It's near the top of the selection list. This will ask Time Machine to back up data on your Mac to an external hard drive.

How to Back Up Data Picture 20

Wait for the backup process to complete. You'll see the message "Time Machine has finished." when the backup process is finished; You can now release and remove the external hard drive.

On iPhone

How to Back Up Data Picture 21

Connect iPhone to the computer using the iPhone's USB charging cord.

How to Back Up Data Picture 22

Open the iTunes app with multicolored music notes on a white background.

If you're asked to update iTunes, click Download iTunes and wait for the update to install. You may have to restart your computer after performing this step to continue.

How to Back Up Data Picture 23

Click the iPhone icon (or iPad if you're backing up an iPad) in the top left corner of the iTunes window to open the iPhone's page.

How to Back Up Data Picture 24

Click Back Up Now in the "Backups" section of your iPhone's page.

How to Back Up Data Picture 25

Click Transfer Purchases . If you've purchased some products on your iPhone's iTunes Store, you'll be asked if you want to save these products to your computer. Click Transfer Purchases if you want to save.

How to Back Up Data Picture 26

Click the blue Done button in the bottom right corner of the window.

When prompted, you'll click Apply before continuing.

How to Back Up Data Picture 27

Wait for iPhone to complete the backup process. This usually doesn't take more than 10 minutes. Once your iPhone has finished backing up, you will hear a sound and the progress bar in the window will disappear. At this point, you can disconnect your iPhone from the computer.

How to Back Up Data Picture 28

Back up data using iCloud. To do this, you typically need more than 5 gigabytes of iCloud storage and the device must be connected to Wi-Fi (or connected to a power source, which is also effective). Back up data to iCloud in the following way:

Open Settings _

Tap your name at the top of the page

Select iCloud

Scroll down and select iCloud Backup .

Tap the white "iCloud Backup" slider

Select OK when prompted

Select Back Up Now (Back Up Now)

On Android operating system

How to Back Up Data Picture 29

Open your Android device's Settings by tapping the app with the gear icon or a set of sliders.

You can also use two fingers to swipe the screen from the top down and then select the gear icon in the upper right corner or lower left corner.

How to Back Up Data Picture 30

Scroll down and select Backup and reset . It's near the middle of the Settings page.

How to Back Up Data Picture 31

Select Back up my data under the "Google account" heading.

How to Back Up Data Picture 32

Check the On option to enable automatic backup mode for your Android device.

On some Android phones or tablets, you'll have to tap to toggle the white "Off" slider to the "On" slider.

How to Back Up Data Picture 33

Tap the "Back" arrow in the top left corner of the screen.

How to Back Up Data Picture 34

Make sure your Google account is a backup account. Tap Backup account and find your Gmail address. If you don't see an email address, select Add account and enter the email address and password for the Google account you want to use.

How to Back Up Data Picture 35

Turn on 'Automatic Restore'. Tap the "Automatic restore" slider. This will change the color of the slider to indicate that Automatic Restore mode is enabled. This mode automatically updates your backup settings, apps, and files on any Android device you sign in to.

How to Back Up Data Picture 36

Tap the "Back" button to return to the Settings page.

How to Back Up Data Picture 37

Pull up the screen and select Accounts . It's near the top of the page. The last thing you need to do is make sure your Google account information is backed up.

How to Back Up Data Picture 38

Select Google at the top of the page.

How to Back Up Data Picture 39

Select your Google account. Tap the account you want to back up.

How to Back Up Data Picture 40

Make sure everything is set up for backup. Scroll down to view backup information sources. If you see a white slider to the right of a certain information source, touch it to enable backup mode for that source.

The colored slider next to the information source indicates the data to be saved.

You don't need to back up all your data, just make sure the things you care about are backed up.