You could have heard that backing up your knowledge with a cloud storage supplier isn’t adequate. After all, can you actually belief companies like Apple iCloud, Microsoft OneDrive, and Google One along with your treasured paperwork and images?

You could recall, as an example, the time that Google Drive briefly wiped out six months of backups for some customers. Then there was the time a software program developer obliterated his entire iCloud library by accident, solely to be saved by Apple after tech bloggers took notice. Similar horror stories abound from people who belief all their knowledge to a single cloud storage supplier.

For these causes, techies typically suggest retaining a number of copies of 1’s knowledge—together with an offline copy if attainable—however this recommendation has one huge downside: Once you’ve saved numerous images, movies, and different knowledge to the cloud, your laptop may not have sufficient free space for storing to sync all of it again down. That in flip makes it tougher to create common copies on an external drive or cloud backup service.

So let’s deal with this concern with a number of methods to again up your knowledge from cloud storage, both to an exterior drive or one other cloud storage supplier.

This column first appeared in Jared’s Advisorator newsletter. Sign up to get extra tech suggestions each Tuesday.

Automatic Google Photos backups

Jared Newman / Foundry

Credit the place due: Google Photos makes it simple to obtain a replica of all of your footage and movies. It also can again them up on to different cloud storage companies on a routine foundation. Here’s how:

• Head to the Google Photos settings page.
• Click the drop-down arrow subsequent to “Export your data.”
• Click the button that claims “Backup.”
• On the subsequent web page, click on “All photo albums included” to decide on which albums your need to again up, or simply click on “Next Step” to avoid wasting all of them. (If you don’t see the album selector, you could want to attend a minute or reload the web page.)
• Use the “Transfer to” dropdown to decide on the best way to get your recordsdata. You can ship recordsdata on to Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, or Box, or get a obtain hyperlink for saving to your laptop.
• Choose to export simply as soon as, or each two months for a 12 months, then hit “Create Export.”

This course of can take some time in case you have numerous images and movies, however you’ll get an e-mail when it’s carried out.

Further studying: PCWorld’s picks for best online backup services 2024

Download your iCloud Photos and Drive recordsdata

Jared Newman / Foundry

Because of how Apple manages storage for iCloud customers, figuring out the place your images are could be difficult. On iOS, it presents an “Optimize Storage” setting, which, if enabled, replaces images on the system with low-quality variations when storage runs low whereas retaining full-resolution copies in iCloud. It does the identical on MacOS when iCloud’s “Optimize Mac Storage” setting is enabled.

If you’re an iCloud person and have enabled these settings, your knowledge gained’t be saved in full in your gadgets, which implies you can’t merely copy it all to an external drive for safe keeping. By distinction, turning off optimized storage on a Mac can shortly refill the pc’s restricted built-in space for storing.

The workaround is to periodically obtain a replica of every part instantly from Apple for protected retaining. You’ll want to do that on a pc, the place it can save you the recordsdata to an exterior exhausting drive.

For iCloud Photos:

• Head to the iCloud Photos website.
• From the Library part, click on on a single photograph, then hit Cmd+A (or Ctrl+A in Windows).
• Click the obtain icon (the cloud with an arrow pointing down).
• When prompted, select the place to retailer your images, which might be saved in a ZIP file.

For iCloud Drive recordsdata:

• Sign into Apple’s Data and Privacy portal.
• Select “Request a copy of your data >”
• Scroll to the underside and verify the field for “iCloud Drive files and documents.”
• Click “Continue,” select a file measurement (I counsel 25GB), then hit “Complete request.”

Note that for iCloud Drive, you might have to attend as much as seven days to get your recordsdata. You also can request a replica of your iCloud Photos by means of this technique, however the identical ready interval applies.

Copy iCloud Photos to Google Photos

Jared Newman / IDG

For a less complicated approach to backup your iCloud Photos library—albeit one which requires extra cloud storage—you’ll be able to copy every part to Google Photos as a substitute:

• Sign into Apple’s Data and Privacy portal.
• Select “Request to transfer a copy of your data ›”
• Use the “Select destination” dropdown and choose “Google Photos.”
• Check the Photos and Videos containers, click on Continue, then click on Continue once more.
• Sign into your Google account, then click on “Confirm Transfers.”

Apple says this will take between three and 7 days, and also you’ll get an e-mail when it’s carried out.

Send cloud recordsdata on to an exterior drive

Jared Newman

I’ve saved my favourite answer for final: With a free program referred to as Air Explorer, you’ll be able to obtain recordsdata in bulk on to an exterior drive from a variety of cloud storage companies, together with Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, and Box. You also can copy recordsdata to a different cloud storage supplier or backup service.

Compared to the options above, Air Explorer has extra of a studying curve, nevertheless it’s additionally extra highly effective and versatile. Here’s the best way to set it up:

• Download the app for Windows or MacOS.
• At launch, you’ll be prompted to attach a cloud storage service. Use the “Accounts” tab so as to add extra companies should you’d like.
• In the “Explore” tab, choose your cloud storage service on the left aspect, and your storage vacation spot (resembling an exterior drive) on the suitable.

Jared Newman / Foundry

• On the left aspect, choose the cloud storage folder you need to again up, or simply go away your entire drive chosen to again up every part.
• On the suitable aspect, navigate to the folder the place you need to save your backup, then click on on it.
• Click the “Synchronize” button and choose “Current Folders.”

At this level, you may have just a few choices for the best way to create the backup. I counsel selecting “Update” as a substitute of the default “Mirror,” because the latter will delete any recordsdata in your exterior drive folder in the event that they’re not already saved within the cloud.

Jared Newman / Foundry

Next:

• Click “OK.”
• On the subsequent display screen, click on “Compare.”
• Click “Start the synchronization automatically when the comparison finishes,” or simply look forward to the comparability to complete and click on “Start” by yourself.

Jared Newman / Foundry

At this level, you’ll see a progress indicator for all of your recordsdata. If all goes to plan, you’ll have a neighborhood copy of all of the recordsdata out of your cloud storage.

Unfortunately, the free model of Air Explorer doesn’t help computerized backups, so that you’ll have to recollect to periodically make backups by yourself. If you need to schedule backups to run mechanically, Air Explorer’s “Pro” model is a $42 one-time purchase.

A notice about NAS

If you’re utilizing a Network-Attached Storage system, it might additionally have the ability to make native copies of your cloud recordsdata. Synology, as an example, offers a Cloud Sync app for its NAS gadgets, whereas QNAP presents the same Cloud Drive Sync instrument in its personal app retailer. I haven’t used these myself, however they need to be just like utilizing Air Explorer with an exterior drive.

This would possibly seem to be rather a lot to take care of, however by making further copies of your knowledge—and your treasured images specifically—you’ll achieve further peace of thoughts that some technical snafu gained’t wipe out your digital life.

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