Backup Instructions
How to do a Manual Backup
Prepare your external device:
- Plug your external device in to a USB port.
- Open File Explorer.
- Browse to the USB drive.
- Create a new folder and give it a name including the current date. For example "Backup 2025−09−26". Put the date in the format year − month − date (yyyy−mm−dd). This ensures that when you have several backups they are listed in date order.
- If your backup device is nearly full, delete the oldest backup.
Locate the files to backup:
- Open File Explorer.
- Browse to your personal files. For most people these are found by clicking This PC − Local Disk (C:) − Users − your username. You should then see a list of folders including Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, OneDrive, Pictures, etc.
Copy the files:
- Select the folders you want to back up (or select all).
- Copy (right-click and chose copy or press Ctrl + C on the keyboard).
Paste to external device:
- Open the external drive from File Explorer and open the folder you created earlier.
- Paste (right-click in the empty space and chose paste or press Ctrl + V on the keyboard).
- Wait for the transfer to complete. This may take several hours depending on the amount of information to be copied and the transfer speed.
Safely remove the external device:
- Click the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the task bar (bottom left corner).
- Click Eject.