Today, March 31st, is World Backup Day – a good excuse to check your device’s backups. Even with high-quality Apple products, it’s important to back up regularly. No device works flawlessly all the time, and in addition to device failure, there are many scenarios where backup is critical, such as updates, crashes, errors, loss, or theft. Let’s take a look at different ways to back up iPhone, iPad, and Mac with built-in and third-party options, NAS, and more.
At a minimum, it is important to have at least one backup copy of important information, but ideally two or more copies. And to be completely protected, you want to have at least one backup of your data outside of the office (with a cloud service, in a bank vault, at a friend’s house, etc.).
Below, we’ll look at different ways to back up all your Apple devices, including free built-in options like iCloud and your Mac, as well as more advanced third-party hardware and services.
Tips and tricks for backing up iPhone, iPad, and Mac
Backup iPhone, iPad, iPod touch
iCloud
The easiest way to back up your iOS/iPadOS device is via iCloud. In case something happens to your device or you update it, you can easily restore everything with an iCloud backup.
Here’s how to check iCloud backup settings:
On iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, go to the Settings app. Tap your name at the top, then select iCloud. Now tap “iCloud Backup”. Tap the switch to turn on iCloud backup if it’s not already there. “Back Up Now” button
Once you turn on iCloud backup, your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch will automatically back up when it charges and connects to a Wi-Fi network with the screen locked. It’s also a good idea to view what backups you have in iCloud using the toggles shown above.
One thing to watch out for is running out of iCloud storage. Apple provides 5 GB for free, but it’s not that much. Apple offers 50GB for $0.99/month and up to 2TB for $9.99/month. It might also be worth checking out if the Apple One package can save you money.
In Settings > iCloud, tap Manage Storage. You should now see “Change storage plan”, select it and you should see the current plan you’re on and upgrade options.
Apple Watch backups
An Apple Watch backup happens automatically along with an iCloud iPhone backup. The backup also takes place when you disconnect your Apple Watch from your iPhone. At the moment, there is no way to manually back up your Apple Watch like you do with an iPhone. Read more about backing up your Apple Watch here.
Back up iOS devices with Mac
Backing up your iPhone, iPad, iPod with your Mac is easy, but it means you have to remember to plug it in. One benefit here is that your iOS backups will also be saved with your Mac’s backups (Time Machine, etc.). also.
Connect your device to your computer with a Lightning to USB cable. When prompted, select “Trust this computer”. On macOS Catalina and later, open a Finder window. On macOS Mojave and earlier, open iTunes (same for PC). Find your iPhone in the left sidebar and click it (upper left next to iTunes playback controls). click “Backup now”. You can check the backup status in the sidebar. Click the “Eject” button next to your iPhone before turning it off. You can also change the default backup settings in the middle of the screen (shown below) to always back up your iPhone/iPad/iPod data to your Mac when connected
Backup iPhone and iPad with Third Party Options
A popular alternative to backing up your iOS device with Finder/iTunes is iMazing for Mac/PC. You get advanced controls such as the ability to save and export messages, ringtone management, and more detailed backup settings. iMazing offers a free trial and is available for $49.99 for a lifetime license.
External drives for iOS devices
Another convenient iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch backup option is Lightning/USB-C flash drives such as the SanDisk iXpand devices.
iXpand devices use an iOS app that allows them to automatically back up your photos, contacts, and more every time you connect them. You can also manage your data manually using these devices. And if you have an iPad Air or Pro with a USB-C port, you can use it as external storage using the Files app.
More
Other options include apps from your carrier and other third parties like Dropbox, Box, Google, and more. However, third-party apps usually don’t have the full backups that you get with iCloud, Mac/PC, or the other options listed above.
Mac backup
Time Machine
This is one of the easiest ways to back up your Mac. Time Machine is built into macOS and when a drive is connected, it creates hourly backups for the last 24 hours, daily backups for the last month, and weekly backups for the last year.
You can find 1TB external drives from Seagate and Western Digital for around $50. Faster SSDs often cost over $150, and the fastest external drives – Thunderbolt 3/4 drives – are the most expensive.
If you have a problem with your Mac and need to get your data back, you can either restore everything using a Time Machine backup or log into the Time Machine app on your Mac to restore individual files.
see also
The first time you connect an external drive, macOS should ask if you want to use it with Time Machine. To manually configure Time Machine settings, go to System Preferences > Time Machine (or click the icon in the menu bar > Open). Time Machine Settings) Make sure “Backup Automatically” is checked and also turn on the menu bar. The Time Machine icon is handy for quick access if it’s not already installed. Click “Select Disk” to add a new spare disk (you can use more than one) If you already have more than one disk connected, click “Add or Remove Spare Disk…”. From the menu bar of the Time Machine tool, you can manually start a backup, view the latest, and more.
Time Machine backups from NAS
Another way to automatically back up with Time Machine is Network Attached Storage (NAS). Some of the main benefits here include more advanced options and more flexibility.
Third Party Automatic Mac Backups
copy cloner
If you’re looking for an alternative to using Time Machine for backup that offers more control and advanced features, Carbon Copy Cloner is a good choice. You can create a number of backup tasks to run automatically or manually on a schedule. And you can backup your Mac to external drives as well as other Macs.
Carbon Copy Cloner is a $39.99 one-time purchase for all Macs in your home. You can also test it for free with a 30 day trial.
backblaze
Backblaze is arguably the most popular automatic cloud backup service for Mac (and other platforms). Plans start at $7/month or $70/year per device for unlimited data. This is an easy way to make sure you have an off-site backup of your Mac.
Backblaze has a good track record and also offers a 15 day trial if you’d like to try it out before paying for a plan.
Manual backup
Of course, you can always manually back up any important data by dragging it to external drives or using cloud services like iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. But it’s usually not the best option to use as a primary backup. copying. strategy, as you have to remember that you are doing this regularly and it probably won’t include all of your data.
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