How To Backup Files on Computer/Laptop? Here Is The Guide

Do you know how to back up files on your computer in Windows 10/8/7? And what is the best way to backup files on a computer or laptop? On this page, we'll provide a complete guide to show you how to select the best method to backup computer files on your own. 

Let's start now.

Where to Back Up Files - Choose the Backup Destination

The first thing is to select the destination - where you want to backup files from your computer. The reason is that the ways of backing up files to different locations vary. 

So, now, you need to select the backup destination:

#1. How to Back Up Files to A Local Computer Drive

To backup files, the easiest and simplest way is to apply Microsoft's File History, follow the tutorial guide to back up your files now:

Method 1. Back Up Files on Computer with File History

Step 1. Click Windows start icon > "Settings" > "Update & Security".

Step 2. Click "Backup" > "Add a drive".

Step 3. Select an empty drive on your computer to save the file backups.

Step 4. Click "More Options" > Under the Back up these folders to check what will be backed up on your computer.

You can also click "Add a folder" to select files on your computer to be backed up.

Step 5. Click "Back up now" to start backing up files.

#2. How to Back Up Files to External Hard Drive

Here, we collected 2 ways to back up files to your drive:

Which is the best way? For beginners who look for a secure and efficient way to back up files to an external hard drive, File History is recommended.

Follow the desired method to start backing up files now:

Method 1. Back Up Files to External Hard Drive via File History

Note that, to use File History to back up files to your external hard drive on a computer, you must keep the external hard drive connected to the PC all the time. 

Step 1. Click Windows start icon > "Settings" > "Update & Security".

Step 2. Click "Backup" > "Add a drive".

Step 3. Select your external hard drive marked as "Removable disk" and click "OK".

Step 4. Click "Advanced Settings", set the frequency to back up files to the external hard drive. Click "Run now".

Method 2. Manually Copy and Past Files to Back Up to External Disk

Step 1. Connect the external hard drive to your computer.

Step 2. Double-click This PC, open the external hard drive and create a folder named "Backup".

Step 3. Open folders or hard drive volumes to copy files, folders that you need to back up and paste them all into the external disk.

Wait patiently and the process could take longer if you have too many files to backup.

#3. How to Back Up Files to Cloud Drive

As cloud storage allows users to share and make use of backups at any time, many people prefer to save their file backups into Cloud. And here we collected two ways that can back up files to Cloud dive.

Which is better? For a complete solution to back up computer to cloud, file backup software - EaseUS Todo Backup is more recommended.

Method 1. Back-Up Computer Files to Cloud using Backup Software

Step 1. To begin the backup process, click the Select backup contents button.

Step 2. Four data backup categories are listed: File, Disk, OS, and Mail.

Step 3. Lists of both local and network files are shown on the left-hand side of the screen. Expanding the directory so that you can choose the files to back up.

Step 4. Follow the guidance on the screen and choose the place where you want to store the back up.

Make sure that the backup is encrypted and set the backup schedule by clicking Options in Backup Options. You can also choose to start the backup at a certain time in Backup Scheme by clicking Options. There are many other customizable options that you can look into.

Step 5. You can store the backup file either on your computer, in EaseUS's cloud service, or on a network-attached storage device (NAS).

Step 6. EaseUS Todo Backup enables customers store backup copies of their files on a third-party cloud drive or on the company's own cloud storage.

If you want to back up your data on a third-party cloud drive, select Local Drive and scroll down to add Cloud Device. Then fill in your account information.

Click EaseUS Cloud, then sign up and log in with your EaseUS account if you wish to store backup files to EaseUS' own cloud storage service.

Step 7. Click on Backup Now to start a backup.  When the backup process is done, it will display as a card on the left-hand side of the screen. A right-click will let you see more about how to handle the backup job in more depth.

Method 2. Upload and Back Up Computer Files to Cloud

Using OneDrive:

Step 1. Click OneDrive icon on your PC, select "Help & Settings" > "Settings".

Step 2. At the Backup tab and click "Manage backup".

Step 3. On the Manage folder backup window, select folders to backup to OneDrive. And click "Start backup".

Using Google Drive:

 Step 1. Open Google Drive > Log in with your account > Click "Storage" to check the available space.

If your storage is not sufficient, click "Get more storage" to upgrade your plan.

Step 2. Download and install the Backup and Sync app.

Visit https://www.google.com/drive/download/ > Click "Download" > Click "Agree and Download" on the popup window.

Step 3. Choose files and folders to backup from the computer to Google Drive. Click "Next" to continue.

• Launch Backup and Sync > Sign in with your account.
• At the My Computer section, Desktop, Documents, Pictures folders are selected by default.
• You can also click "CHOOSE FOLDER" to select more folders and click "Select Folder" to add to the backup list. 
• If you need to backup photos and videos from the computer to Google Drive, check "High quality".

Step 4. Uncheck "Sync My Drive to this computer" > click "Start" to back up selected folders from computer to Google Drive.

Using Dropbox:

Step 1. Download and install the Dropbox desktop app. 

Step 2.  Launch Dropbox, click "Backups" > "Set up".

Step 3. Click "Add folders" to select folders and files to backup and click "Save" to confirm.

The Desktop, Documents, Downloads folders are selected by default. 

Step 4. Click "Set up" to start back up files from the computer to Dropbox.

What Is The Best Way to Back Up Files? File Backup Software + External Disk

On this page, we provided different solutions for you to back up files on a computer. You can back up files on your computer drive, or save the backup files to an external hard drive, or even a cloud drive.

So what is the best way of backing up files? Here is Editor's Choice:

• Select File Backup Software as the backup tool. 
• Choose an external hard drive as the backup destination.

By doing so, you can back up all computer files to an external hard drive at once without taking much storage space on the disk.