The holiday season is one of the worst times to lose photos, documents, or your entire device — but it’s also one of the most common times it happens. Travel, accidents, malware, and failing hard drives all become more frequent this time of year.

A quick backup now can save a lot of stress later.

Here’s how to make sure your computer and phone are protected.

1. Back Up Your Windows PC

You’ve got two easy options:

Option A: OneDrive (recommended)

Most Windows 10/11 systems include it.

• Go to Settings → Accounts → Windows Backup 
• Turn on OneDrive Folder Backup

This protects Desktop, Documents, and Pictures automatically.

Option B: External Drive

Use File History:

• Settings → Windows Update → Advanced Options → Backup
• Choose an external drive

2. Back Up Your Mac

Use Time Machine with an external drive:

• Plug in the drive
• macOS will usually ask if you want to use it for Time Machine
• If not: System Settings → Time Machine → Add Backup Disk

Time Machine is reliable and easy to restore.

3. Back Up Your iPhone or iPad

Two simple options:

• iCloud Backup: Settings → Your Name → iCloud → iCloud Backup → Back Up Now 
• Computer Backup: Plug into a Mac or PC → Finder/iTunes → Back Up Now

4. Back Up Your Android Phone

• Google One backup: Settings → Google → Backup
• Turn on Photos, Messages, App Data, and Device Settings

You can also back up photos separately with Google Photos.

5. Verify Your Backup

A backup only matters if it works.

Check that:

• Your backup completed successfully
• The date/time is recent
• Your storage isn’t full

If your backup keeps failing…

PCRescue can diagnose storage issues, sync errors, and failing drives, and help you set up a reliable backup system before the holidays. Plus we can provide simple, quick backup solutions as part of our subscription plans.