Today, March 31 is World Backup Day – a good reminder to check in on your device backups. Even with Apple’s high-quality products, it’s important to backup regularly. No device works flawlessly all the time and there are many scenarios outside of device failure when a backup is crucial like upgrading, accidents, bugs, loss, or theft. Let’s look at a variety of ways to backup iPhone, iPad, and Mac with built-in and third-party options, NAS, and more. Show At the very minimum, it’s key to have at least one backup of your important information, but two or more copies are ideal. And to be fully protected, you want to have at least one backup of your data off-site (with a cloud service, in a bank security box, at a friend’s house, etc.). Below we’ll look at a variety of ways to backup all of 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 to backup iPhone, iPad, and MacBackup iPhone, iPad, iPod touchiCloudThe simplest way to backup an iOS/iPadOS device is through iCloud. In the event something happens to your device or you upgrade, it’s seamless to restore everything with your iCloud backup. Here’s how to check your iCloud backup settings:
Once iCloud Backup is turned on, your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch will automatically backup when it is charging and connected to Wi-Fi with the screen locked. It’s also a good idea to review what you have iCloud backing up with the toggles shown above. One thing to watch out for is running out of iCloud Storage. Apple includes 5 GB for free, but that doesn’t go far. Apple offers 50GB for $0.99/month and up to 2TB for $9.99/month. It may also be worth checking out if an Apple One bundle could save you some money. Under Settings > iCloud, tap Manage Storage. Now you should see “Change Storage Plan,” choose that and you’ll see the current plan that you’re on and the upgrade options. Apple Watch BackupsApple Watch backups happen automatically with iCloud iPhone backups. It’s also backed up when you unpair Apple Watch from an iPhone. For now, there’s no way to manually make an Apple Watch backup like there is with iPhone. Read more about Apple Watch backups here. Backup iOS devices with MacBacking up your iPhone, iPad, iPod with your Mac is simple to do but means you’ll need to remember to plug it in. One benefit here is your iOS backups will then also be saved with your Mac (Time Machine etc.) backups as well.
Backup iPhone and iPad with third-party optionsA popular alternative to backing up your iOS device with Finder/iTunes is iMazing for Mac/PC. You get advanced controls like the ability to save and export Messages, ringtone management, and more detailed backup settings. iMazing offers a free trial and is available from $35 for a lifetime license for one device (2, 3, 5, and 10 device options too) and also can be used with unlimited devices for $45/year. External drives for iOS devices Another handy option to backup iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch is with Lightning/USB-C flash drives like the SanDisk iXpand devices. The iXpand devices use an iOS app that allows them to automatically backup your photos, contacts, and more every time you plug them in. You can also manually manage your data with these devices. And if you have an iPad Air or Pro with a USB-C port, you can use them as external storage with the Files app.
More Other options include apps from your cellular carrier and other third parties like Dropbox, Box, Google, and more. However, third-party apps usually don’t feature backups that are as complete as using iCloud, a Mac/PC, or the other options above. Backup MacTime MachineThis is one of the easiest ways to make sure your Mac is backed up. Time Machine is built-in to macOS and with a drive connected, 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 go for $150+, and the fastest external storage – Thunderbolt 3/4 drives are the most expensive. If you have an issue with your Mac and need to bring back your data, you can either restore everything by using a Time Machine backup or enter the Time Machine app on your Mac to restore individual files.
Time Machine backups with NASAnother way to automatically backup with Time Machine is with a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. Some of the main advantages here include more advanced options and greater flexibility.
Third-party automatic Mac backupsCarbon Copy Cloner If you’re looking for an alternative to using Time Machine for backups that offers more control and advanced options, Carbon Copy Cloner is a good choice. You can create a range of backup tasks to run on a schedule automatically or manually. And you can choose to backup your Mac to external drives as well as other Macs. Carbon Copy Cloner is a one-time purchase for $39.99 for all the Macs in your house. You can also test it out for free with a 30-day trial. Backblaze Backblaze is probably the most popular automatic cloud backup service for Mac (and other platforms too). Plans start from $7/month or $70/year per device for unlimited data. This is an easy way to make sure you’ve got your Mac backed up off-site. Backblaze has a strong track record and also offers a 15-day trial if you want to give it a shot before paying for a plan. Manual backupsOf course, you can always manually backup any of your important data by dragging and dropping to external drives or with cloud services like iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. But this isn’t usually a great option to use as your primary backup strategy since you have to remember to do it regularly and it likely won’t include all of your data. Read more 9to5Mac tutorials:
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news: How do I transfer everything from my iPhone to my Mac?Sync all items of a content type. Connect your device to your Mac. ... . In the Finder on your Mac, select the device in the Finder sidebar. ... . Click the type of content you want to sync in the button bar. ... . Select the “Sync [content type] onto [device name]” checkbox to turn on syncing for that type of item.. How do I backup my iPhone wirelessly to my Macbook?To set up Wi-Fi syncing, first connect your device to your Mac using a USB or USB-C cable. You then turn on Wi-Fi syncing and choose the settings you want. Whenever your device connects to your Mac over Wi-Fi, you can select it in the sidebar and sync it. (You can turn on automatic syncing if you want.)
Why can't I backup my iPhone to my Mac?Make sure your Mac or PC is up-to-date. If you're using iTunes, make sure that you have the latest version of iTunes. Connect your device to your computer with a USB cable, and locate your device on your computer. If your device doesn't appear in Finder or iTunes, learn what to do.
|