If you need a backup device, look no further. Simply Computing has the solution for you here.
Poll a room of Apple experts about the one topic they can’t stop talking about and many will launch into frustrated rants about how too few people back up. Backups are always important since you can never predict when your Mac or iPhone will be lost or stolen, melt in a fire, or just break. Backups are especially important before you upgrade to a major new operating system or need to take your device in for service. If you’re thinking “What could go wrong?” the answer is, “Lots, and wouldn’t you like to be able to revert instantly if something does?”
Mac Backups
On the Mac side, there are plenty of ways to back up, More generally, backing up with Time Machine ensures that you can not only restore your entire drive if necessary but also easily recover a previous version of a corrupted file. Finally, since a fire or flood would likely destroy your backup drive along with your Mac, we always recommend an offsite backup made via an Internet backup service like Backblaze.
Backing up with Time Machine is the easiest way to ensure your information stays safe. It’s as easy as opening Time Machine settings in system preferences and selecting the disk you’d like to backup your information to. Make sure your backup disk is connected to your computer, click select disk and then click on the name of your backup disk. Your information will automatically backup every time you connect your backup device!
What happens if you don’t back up and your Mac gets damaged such that you can’t access important data? This can happen when upgrading your operating system on your Mac or iPhone or iPad. The installation can fail and the only solution may be to erase the drive. But without a backup, that means data recovery. That’s when things get expensive, and if you have a 2018 MacBook Pro or later, you have even fewer options.
Historically, it was relatively easy to remove a drive from a broken Mac and recover the data from it. Data recovery got harder with solid-state storage, and even more so with the introduction of the first MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, thanks to Apple’s T2 encryption chip, which encrypts data on the drive. To simplify last-ditch data recovery, Apple put a special port on the MacBook Pro’s logic board and provided a custom recovery tool for Apple Authorized Service Providers. With the 2018 MacBook Pro, however, Apple removed that port, making data recovery nearly impossible and potentially very expensive. At Simply Computing, we have three tiers of data recovery - $399; $799 and $1,500, depending on the difficulty of recovery. With the latest Macs and iOS devices, the price is often $1,500.
So please, back up your Mac before something goes wrong. It’s fast, easy, and inexpensive to get started, and we’re happy to help. Check out our range of portable Hard Drives here.
iOS Backups
We’ve all seen, if not experienced, a broken iPhone or iPad. They’re durable little devices, but they won’t necessarily survive a drop onto a sidewalk or into a toilet (yeah, it happens). So a backup is necessary if you don’t want to risk losing precious photos or having to set up a new device from scratch. Plus, just as with a Mac, things can go wrong during major iOS upgrades.
With iOS, though, you don’t need extra software or hardware. Apple provides two ways of backing up your iPhone or iPad, via iCloud or your computer. Neither is necessarily better or worse, and you can—and should!—use both for added safety. We’ve seen situations where an iPhone would refuse to restore its files from iTunes but would from iCloud.
To back up to iCloud, go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud > iCloud Backup, turn the switch on, and tap Back Up Now. For backups to happen automatically in the future, you must have sufficient space in your iCloud account (you get 5 GB for free and can buy more), and your device must be on a Wi-Fi network, connected to power, and have its screen locked.
Computer Backup
Connect your device to your computer. If you have a Mac with macOS Mojave 10.14 or earlier you will open iTunes. For a device with macOS Catalina open Finder.
Then, in the Backups section, click Back Up Now. If you’re prompted to encrypt your backups, we encourage you to agree since otherwise, your backup won’t include passwords, Health information, or HomeKit data. For automatic backups via iTunes, select This Computer. After that, every time you plug into your Mac, it will back up.
If you have sufficient iCloud storage, we recommend backing up automatically to iCloud because its automatic backups work well at night when you’re charging your devices. Then, make extra backups to iTunes whenever you think you might need to restore, such as when you’re getting a new iPhone or iPad, or when you’re about to upgrade to a new version of iOS.
Of course, backing up is a service we also provide at Simply Computing. If you would like to save time and energy, come in-store and let our Technicians do the work for you. Find out more: simply.ca/pages/apple-authorized-repairs
