What is a back-up? How to back up your PC

With a back-up you can effectively secure your PC, smartphone or tablet. In the event of a defect, your data and settings are then backed up on an external storage alternative. The contents of your device can thus be quickly restored.

The German translation of the term back-up is security copy. So you back up your data so that in the event of a system failure or data loss, the worst case scenario does not occur: all your data is lost forever.

Smartphone & Computer: This is a backup

The loss of data can be prevented quite easily: If you have made a backup, the backed-up data can be easily transferred again.

• Meanwhile, many smartphones, tablets and PCs automatically create backups. In most cases, the data is backed up in an online storage of the smartphone manufacturer.
• Of course, you can also create a back-up manually. This works either via a free back-up program or via the settings of your device.
• A hard drive, an external hard drive, a USB stick or a cloud is suitable as a storage medium. If you want to make a back-up of a mobile device, you can also save it on the internal hard drive of your PC.

This is why back-ups are so important

Your technical devices are usually home to important data. With the smartphone you shoot valuable souvenir photos, on the tablet videos are stored and on the PC important documents. The loss of such data would be very painful and often leads to a huge amount of work, because work that has already been done has to be repeated. With a back-up, you are on the safe side: a loss of data in the future becomes much less likely.

Downloads, apps & tips on the subject

Create a backup: The best free programs for data backupData recovery free: Restore data with free softwareiPad backup: How to back up your data printing