Best ways to back up your digital life

Imagine that you lost your phone today or that someone stole your laptop. Scary thought, right? It's not hypothetical. People lose their phones or have them stolen more than 52,000 times a day, according to a recent Asurion survey.

Now imagine you didn't back up your data on either device. That means all your wedding photos, the videos of your child's first steps, and maybe even that novel you've been working on could be lost forever.

Don't worry though—there's something simple you can do to keep your data safe. Take it from us. At Asurion, we help you get the most out of your tech, and that includes safely storing your personal information. Here's our guide to how to back up your personal data.

In this guide:

• Why should you back up your data?
• Ways to back up your data
• Back up your data on the cloud
  • Cloud data backup for Apple
  • Cloud backup for Android phones
  • Cloud backup for Windows laptops
• Back up your PC laptop with an external storage drive
• Back up your Mac laptop with Time Machine
• Back up your phone to your computer
  • iPhone
  • Android

Backing up your devices ensures that you don't lose any of the data that's important to you, like:

• Contacts.
• Photos and videos.
• Wi-Fi network information.
• Music.
• Books.
• Apps and app settings.
• Email and texts.
• Passwords.
• Files and documents.

There are several ways to back up your data, including:

• Cloud storage.
• External hard drives.
• Portable devices (like USB flash drives).
• Copying data from one device to another.

Many people use one or more—you can never be too safe. We recommend setting up a schedule to back up your information on a regular basis (daily, weekly, or monthly).

We also recommend testing your backups regularly to confirm they're working. And if you have any documents that you consider especially important, consider printing a paper copy of them and storing them in your safe, just in case.

Don’t ditch it, fix it

No matter the issue, our experts can repair your devices fast. Make an appointment or visit your local uBreakiFix by Asurion today.

Schedule a repair

The cloud is an online service that lets you store files—like your photos and documents—and access them from anywhere, on any of your connected devices. It's easy—all you need is an internet connection to get started.

With Apple® devices, like a MacBook®, iPad®, or iPhone®, you can use its iCloud® service to back up your personal information.

To learn more, check out our guide for how to use iCloud on your iOS® devices.

Have an Android™ phone? One easy solution is to use the Google One™ cloud service.

To back up your Samsung® phone to Google®:

1. Download the Google One app in the Google Play™ Store.
2. Open Settings.
3. Tap Accounts and backup.
4. Tap Back up data. If prompted, enter your Google username and password.
5. Make sure the Backup by Google One switch is on, then tap Back up now.

To back up your Pixel™ phone to Google:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Google, then tap Backup.
3. If prompted, enter your Google username and password.
4. Make sure the Backup by Google One switch is on, then tap Back up now.

Microsoft® OneDrive is a cloud service that lets you store your files virtually, making them accessible from your laptop, phone, tablet or any other device that connects to the internet. Here's how to use it to back up your data on Windows™ 10 and 11:

1. Sign in to your OneDrive account by clicking the white or blue cloud icon in your taskbar.
2. Double-click the cloud, then choose Help & Settings > Settings > Backup > Manage backup.
3. Select the folders you'd like to back up, then click Start backup.
4. Once the backup is finished, you can access your files under OneDrive in your file explorer.

Got an Amazon Fire® or Samsung tablet? Check out our guide for how to back up data on a tablet.

Another option for backing up your data is to use an external storage device. You can go big or small: An external storage drive typically holds more data, while a portable storage device like a USB flash drive holds less.

Here's how to back up your laptop files using an external storage drive:

Windows 10

1. Click Start in your taskbar.
2. Click Settings > Update & Security > Backup.
3. Connect an external storage drive to your laptop, and click Add a drive. Once you plug in the drive, the backup will start automatically.

Windows 11

1. Connect your external storage drive to the laptop.
2. Click Start, then type "File History" and select "Save backup copies of your files with File History" (which opens the Control Panel feature).
3. Click "Turn on" in the File History window. If a drive is not automatically selected, click "Select drive" on the left and choose your connected external drive, then click OK.
4. Once the drive is selected and the feature is turned on, File History will automatically back up your key personal folders (Documents, Pictures, Videos, etc.) to the external drive.

Another option besides iCloud for backing up MacBooks is the built-in Time Machine® feature. You can set it up to make daily backups to your external hard drive.

To back up Mac laptop running macOS 13 or later (Ventura, Sonoma)

1. Connect an external storage device (hard drive or SSD) to your Mac.
2. Click the Apple® icon in the upper-left corner of your home screen.
3. Click System Settings.
4. In the sidebar, click General, then click Time Machine on the right.
5. Click Add Backup Disk.
6. Select the name of your connected external storage device, then click Set Up Disk.
   1. Note: If prompted, you may choose to Encrypt Backup (recommended for security) and may be asked to Erase the disk if it’s not already formatted correctly.
7. The first backup will begin automatically, or you can click the Time Machine menu icon in the menu bar and choose Back Up Now to start immediately.

To back up Mac laptop running macOS 10.15 through 12 (Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey)

1. Connect an external storage device to your Mac.
2. Click the Apple® icon in the upper-left corner of your home screen.
3. Click System Preferences.
4. Click Time Machine.
5. Click Select Backup Disk.
6. Select the name of your external storage device, then click Use Disk.
7. The backup will begin shortly, or you can choose Back Up Now from the Time Machine menu icon ($\text{⟳}$) in the menu bar.

If you want to back up your phone on your computer, the process is simple. Here are steps for both iPhone and Android devices.

On a Mac running macOS® Mojave 10.14 or earlier or a PC, you'll use iTunes® to back up your iPhone. Here's how:

1. Open iTunes.
2. Connect your device to your computer with a cable. Enter your passcode if prompted.
3. Click on the iPhone icon in the upper-left corner.
4. Click Summary > Back Up Now.

On a Mac running macOS Catalina 10.15 or later, you'll use Finder® to back up your iPhone. Follow these steps:

1. Open Finder.
2. Connect your device to your computer with a cable. Enter your passcode if prompted.
3. Click on your device under Locations in the left column.
4. Click General, then select Back up all of the data on your iPhone to this Mac.
5. Click Back Up Now.

To back up your Android phone to your Windows PC or Mac, you must first prepare your phone for file transfer.

Phone preparation (required for both PC and Mac):

1. Connect your phone to your computer (PC or Mac) with a USB cable.
2. On your phone, scroll down the notification menu (pull down from the top of the screen) and tap the notification that says Charging this device via USB (or similar).
3. Under Use USB for, select File transfer/MTP (or Android Auto).

To back up your Android phone to your Windows PC, follow these steps:

1. On your phone, scroll down the notification menu and tap Charging this device via USB.
2. Under Use USB for, select File transfer/Android Auto.
3. On your Windows PC, open This PC in your folders or explorer.
4. Find your phone, and double click it.
5. Look for the files you want to back up. Highlight and right-click them and select Copy.
6. Create a new folder to store your files, and open it.
7. Right-click on any empty space, then select Paste.

To back up your Android phone on a Mac:

You'll first need to install the Android File Transfer app. This app can be glitchy, so make sure your files made the trip.

1. Connect your Android phone to your Mac with a USB cable.
2. On your Mac, open Android File Transfer.
3. Create a new folder, and drag the files you want to back up into it.