How Often Should I Back up My Computer Files to External Drives?

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Jerry· Answered on Jan 21, 2026

To avoid the potential loss of important data, perform a daily backup. To make it easy, you can use a backup program like EaseUS Todo Backup that can make an automatic daily backup on a schedule.

Any that poses a significant risk should be backed up as soon as possible after changing. Others don't need to be backed up since they can be replaced just as quickly as they can be restored from a backup or because their value is so low.

The location of the backup device is another problem. You cannot trust a backup device constantly linked to your computer since malware, particularly ransomware, can attack your main hard drive and the backup system.

In the event of a disaster at that location, such as a fire, flood, explosion, tornado, or theft, you could lose everything if your master data and backup files are kept there. Therefore, you should store your backups in various locations according to the 3-2-1 backup rule.

EaseUS Todo Backup can suit you well in all aspects. It is a multi-functional backup and restore tool. It can help automatically back up files, disks, systems, partitions, computer apps, etc.

In addition, it can help you create scheduled, full, incremental and differential backups and save them in diverse locations, such as external drives, local drives, USB drives, NAS, Security Zone, and Cloud. Most importantly, it lets you have 250G Cloud storage for free to back up your files to Cloud.

How often should you back up your files? It depends on your needs. If you want to avoid any potential data loss, create a backup daily. Using professional backup software - EaseUS Todo Backup can help you create an incremental backup regularly. Thus, you do not have to back up data all the time on your own.