Why backups fail when you need them most
Most people have some kind of backup — a folder synced to the cloud, or an old external drive that hasn’t been connected in six months. The problem is that neither gives you reliable protection without a deliberate setup. We see the consequences regularly: a failed drive with photos that were “definitely backed up somewhere”, or a ransomware infection that encrypted the cloud sync as well as the local copy.
The good news is that setting up a genuinely solid backup takes about 20 minutes, and then you mostly leave it alone.
The 3-2-1 rule in plain English
The standard guidance from data recovery professionals is the 3-2-1 rule: keep 3 copies of your data, on 2 different media types, with 1 copy offsite. In practice for a home user, this usually means:
- The original files on your computer
- A local backup on an external hard drive
- A cloud backup (offsite)
You don’t need all three to be perfect — two out of three still gives you meaningful protection. But relying solely on a single cloud sync leaves you exposed if the sync corrupts your files.
Setting up backups on Windows
File History (built into Windows 10 and 11) will automatically back up your Documents, Desktop, Pictures, Music, and Videos folders to an external drive. Connect an external drive, go to Settings → Update & Security → Backup, and add the drive. Set it to back up every hour. That’s your local copy.
For offsite, OneDrive is the easiest option for most Windows users — it’s already installed and backs up your Desktop and Documents folder to the cloud automatically. The free tier gives you 5GB; the Microsoft 365 Family subscription includes 1TB per person.
Setting up backups on macOS
Time Machine is the closest thing to a set-and-forget local backup that exists. Connect an external drive, open System Preferences (or System Settings on macOS Ventura and later), select Time Machine, and choose your drive. Time Machine backs up hourly, keeps daily snapshots for a month, and weekly snapshots for as long as the drive has space. It includes everything on your Mac, not just selected folders.
For offsite, iCloud Drive can be configured to keep a copy of your Desktop and Documents in iCloud automatically. On macOS, go to System Settings → Apple Account → iCloud → iCloud Drive, and enable Desktop & Documents Folders. The 50GB plan (£0.99/month) is sufficient for most users with a reasonable document library.
The one thing most people skip: testing a restore
Backups that have never been tested are essentially hypothetical. At least once a year, deliberately restore a file from your backup to confirm it works. With Time Machine, right-click a file in Finder and select “Restore [file] from Time Machine”. With File History, open the backup drive and navigate to a backed-up folder. It takes two minutes and confirms your backup is actually usable.
Set it once, then check monthly
Schedule a monthly reminder — phone calendar, sticky note, whatever works — to glance at your backup software and confirm it ran recently. Time Machine and File History both show the date of the last backup on their respective settings screens. If it’s been more than a few days since the last backup, something needs attention.
If you’ve lost files from a failed drive or accidental deletion, contact us or see our data recovery service for help.