Backing up your Mac computer doesn’t need to be intimidating.

By taking advantage of a user-friendly feature released by Apple several years ago, the entire backup process can be handled almost automatically, preserving your most important files, photos, applications, and emails from cyberthreats and mishaps.

Before starting the backup process, you will need an external storage device that can connect to your Mac with a USB or Thunderbolt cable. External storage devices, which are sometimes called external hard drives, are developed and sold by many different companies, including Lacie, SanDisk, and Western Digital.

If you do not have an external storage device, you must first get one. You should also follow Apple’s recommendation that your external storage device be twice as large as the hard drive of your Mac computer.

To find the hard drive size of your current Mac, open the System Settings app on your computer. On the left-hand rail, click General and then, in the window open to the right, click Storage.

Several statistics and options will be shown.

At the top of the Storage section, the hard drive space is shown. Here, it is 494.38 GB, or 500 GB roughly.

The Mac shown here has 500 GB of internal storage. If we were to back this Mac up, we would need to use an external storage device of 1 TB (terabyte).

Once you have your external storage device, you can begin the actual backup processs.

The simplest way to back up your Mac is with the built-in feature “Time Machine.”

First, connect your external storage device to your Mac.

Then, you need to set up that storage device as your “backup disk.” This means that, from this point forward, your external storage device will have one primary use, and that is as a backup device that syncs with Time Machine. Apple recommends that you do not use your external storage device that you are using with Time Machine for anything other than Time Machine backups.

To set up your storage device as your backup disk, follow these instructions:

Go to System Settings.  

Click on General in the left sidebar.

From here, click on Time Machine in the main window displayed to the right.

From the Time Machine menu, click Add Backup Disk or click the “Add” button (+).

From here, select your external storage device and then click Set Up Disk.

At this point in the process, you may receive two options from Time Machine:

1. If your device has other files on it, you will be asked if you want to erase the device so that it can be used solely as a backup with Time Machine. You can erase the files immediately and then continue the backup process through Time Machine. If you do not want to erase the files, you need to get a separate external storage device that will be used exclusively as a backup with Time Machine.
2. If your external storage device already has backups from a prior computer, you will be asked whether you can to keep those backups and roll them into new backups made with Time Machine. This is up to you.

From here, the backup process is nearly done.

To make a backup, simply click on Back Up Now from the Time Machine menu.

Your first backup could take a long time to complete, but know that you can continue using your computer like normal while the process happens in the background.

From here on, whenever you attach your external storage device to your Mac, Time Machine will automatically ask to make a backup of the changes to your Mac. You can also change the frequency of your backups in your Time Machine Settings.

They say the only backup you ever regret is the one you didn’t make. Starting in Windows 10, the operating system (OS) now comes with a built-in tool to back up your files, themes, some settings, many of your installed apps, and your Wi-Fi information.

First, you’ll need to sign in with your Microsoft account

Go to Start  > Settings  > Accounts  > Your info . Select Sign in with a Microsoft account instead. You’ll see this only if you’re using a local account. If you see Sign in with a local account instead, you’re already using your Microsoft account.

To start the backup process select Start  > Windows Backup.

Select Folders to drop down a list, and select which of your user folders you want to back up by toggling them On or Off. The ones you have already backed up will say Backed up next to them.

Next, you can move forward to back up your settings. You can use the drop down for each category and select the items you want to back up by setting them to On or Off.

First choose your apps:

Then your settings:

Then your credentials:

When you’ve decided on what to back up, click Back up and the backup will be made.

From this point on, Windows will synchronize these backups at regular intervals. If it’s been a while since you made your backups or changed your settings, you can check the status by going to Start  > Settings  > Accounts  > Windows backup.

Current status

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They say the only backup you ever regret is the one you didn’t make. iPhone backups can be used to easily move your apps and data to a new phone, to recover things you’ve lost, or to fix things that have failed.

We’ve published posts on how to back up your iPhone to iCloud, and how to backup an iPhone to a Mac. Another method is to backup using the iTunes app on a Windows system.

Choose whichever backup method works best for you, and will continue to work.

First, connect your iPhone to the Windows system with a cable.

You are likely to see a prompt on your iPhone asking whether it can trust this computer.

To proceed, tap Trust and entering your passcode.

Then open the iTunes app on your Windows device.

In iTunes click the Device symbol in the upper left corner (next to the Music drop down box).

Note: It may take a while before the device icon appears

In the Settings of the iTunes app select Summary.

You’ll see some device data about your iPhone, and below that a Backups menu.

Here you can select either iCloud or This Computer.

To create a local backup select This Computer and click on Back Up Now to create a new backup of your iPhone on your Windows System.

To encrypt your backups, select Encrypt local backup, type a password, then click Set Password.

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We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.