“IT’S 10 P.M. DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR DATA IS?”
Alice dropped her computer and lost some files.
Thankfully, Alice works at a company that uses backups effectively and was able to recover them.
This was right before an important meeting. Having the backup saved stress, time, and energy. 
Bob’s office did not use backups, and when he lost his files, the situation was quite serious.
He had to reschedule his week, scramble to reproduce the work he had finished before, and the company’s reputation was damaged because there was no system in place to keep extra copies.
It is possible to take for granted the value of having your files and applications on hand at all times and up-to-date. Losing them can have very dire consequences on your schedule, even your position, as you just saw.
Luckily, if you are a business or individual with no backup system right now, it’s possible to set up a short-term solution quickly. You can set up a backup or two and get it running in about 15 minutes, if you have another drive on site, or access to an internet backup service.
First, something to be mentioned about Cloud services. Cloud services can be a convenient way to store your data, and sync it, but we do not recommend using them as a backup solution. Overall these services do not offer different versions of your files over time. The company running the service may not support your data recovery efforts, especially if you are not a paying customer.
We do not recommend the following services, for these reasons:
Google Drive: Support not offered for users. Data loss and lock out can occur if a password is lost.
Microsoft OneDrive: Not transparent about where your files are stored.
iCloud: Useful for syncing but not backup.
There are two ways that we recommend people back up their data:
The first is a physical backup. It backs up really fast, and as long as you have the drive, you control the access.
The other is an online backup, which is the safer of the two. They complement each other, so we recommend both.
For the physical backup, we have two options- one for PC users, one for Mac users.
If you are using a PC, we suggest downloading Macrium Reflect.
Macrium Reflect Free Guide (click here to expand)
How to Download and Install Macrium
(Multiple backup runs on different computers were used to get the images for this how-to. Your drive names and gigabytes may vary.)
In your browser, type in “https://tinyurl.com/ccalmacrium”.
Once on the page above, click on the “Download” button.
On the next screen, click “Download anyway”.
A mini screen will pop up asking “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?” Click “Yes”. (Do this going forward every time this screen pops up for this how-to.)
A special program will download titled ReflectDLHF. Open it in File Explorer. Then, click on “Download” as shown in the image below.
The download process will take a few moments to finish. When the download is complete, the window should close, and the installer should open up automatically, or in a little while. If you are first prompted to grant the program access, click on “Yes.” (In case it does not show, look for the file name ending in _reflect_setup_free_x64 in the C drive’s Macrium folder.) Click on the “Next” button to continue.
After the process finishes the setup wizard will pop up. Click on “Next” to continue.
In the next window, check the agreement box. Then, click on “Next”.
On the next page, make sure “Personal Use” is selected, then check the box agreeing to it. Click “Next”.
8. In the next window, uncheck the box asking to register the installation. Click on the “Next” button to continue.
In the next window, you can leave all the settings as they are. (You may want to double-check that the install location is correct by clicking on the “Browse…” button.) Click on the “Next” button to continue.
In the next window, click on “Install”. The setup will begin the installation.
Once the installation is complete, click on “Finish” to close the setup. The Macrium software is now installed. It should also open automatically.
How to Backup using Macrium
Open Macrium Reflect.
Click “Backup” in the upper left corner. Then, click “Backup Windows…”
All the drives should automatically be check-marked, but double-check to make sure they are the drives you want.
Also check that your external hard drive is selected as the “Folder” that will be the backup’s “Destination”. You can do so by clicking the folder icon as shown below. Then, click “Next”.
(If your computer has BitLocker, a prompt may appear to tell you to enable “Reflect’s image encryption.” Press “OK”.) Click on the “Add Schedule” button, then select “Full” in the drop-down menu.
The program will then ask you to set up the schedule. Selecting the “Daily” bullet for the backup frequency is highly recommended. Note that the “Start Time” selector uses military time. Click on “OK” when you are done. You will return to the previous screen.
Macrium will then ask you for the retention rules. Make sure that only the box for “Full” is checked, then set the amount of backups you want to keep to “7”. Then, click “Next”.
(A pop-up may appear referring to “incremental.” Ignore it.) The program will ask you to review the settings. Click “Finish” if you are satisfied with the settings you have selected.
You can then start the backup process. You can leave the settings as they are and click “OK”.
—When the backup is done running, it should look something like this:
It is worth noting here that, while this how-to covers the free version of Macrium Reflect, the paid version also includes the ability to encrypt your backups by creating a password. It is a very good decision for most people to protect their backups with a password.
Restoring a Macrium Reflect Backup (click here to expand)
Restoring a Macrium Backup File
Go to File Explorer. The icon should resemble a folder like the one below.
Click on the folder tree- that is, the list on the left side bar- that says “My Computer”, “My PC”, “This PC”, etc.
Select and open the disk that contains the backup file. (Its filename should end in -00-00. The easiest way to find it is to check for the most recent file with Macrium’s logo in the icon.)
A mini screen will pop up asking “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?” Click “Yes”.
A screen will pop up that says “Backup Selection”. Check the box of the main or C: drive.
(You can then change the drive letter from the default by clicking on it, as shown below, but it is not necessary.)
Click the checkbox that says “Enable access to restricted folders” and click “OK”.
Go back to File Explorer. Check the folder tree you had been to earlier (“My Computer”, “My PC”, “This PC”, etcetera). The virtual drive should appear with the drive letter you assigned it in its name and Macrium’s logo as its icon. (If it’s not in the drop-down list, select “This/My PC”, then look under “Devices and drives”.) Select and open the virtual drive.
From there you can access everything you backed up and copy any file or folder there to any drive.
If you are using a Mac, we direct you to the Time Machine application.
Time Machine Guide (click here to expand)
For Mac OSX versions 10.13 High Sierra or newer, which you should have if your machine is newer than or has been updated since late 2017, the Apple support site, has a good guide for how to use Time Machine depending on your Mac version, just select which one you have from the drop down menu at the top left
If you are unsure of which Mac version you have, click on the apple icon on the top left of your screen and select “About This Mac”
We also have our own guide below if you are on Mac OS 10.15 Catalina.
macOS 10.15 Catalina (click here to expand)
How to Perform a Backup on Mac with Time Machine
*OS is for Mac OS Catalina. Process may be different for different OS
You need an external drive plugged in- be careful, you need to erase whatever is on it to use it for backup.
-Go to Finder. Click Applications on the sidebar, then the Utilities folder, and then find and click on Disk Utility.
-Go to the sidebar and click on the top-level drive name under the External heading. Then, click the Erase icon at the top.
-Change Scheme to “GUID Partition Map”.
-Change Format to “Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)”.
-A Password window will pop up. Create a password, then type it in twice to verify. Note that the key icon leads to a password generator. We recommend storing the password in a database like Keepass.
-Press Choose.
-Then, press Erase on the next window.
-Once complete press Done.
-Click on the Apple icon at the top left of the screen. Select System Preferences from the dropdown menu, and then select Time Machine from the options.
-In the Time Machine menu, click “Select Disk”.
-Choose the external drive that was named earlier.
-Select “Use Disk”.
For the online backup, we recommend using Backblaze for all users.
Backblaze Guide (click here to expand)
Create an account
In your browser, type in “https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup/personal”
In the input field headed “Sign Up Today With No Obligation”, enter your email and a password. Then, press the “Get Started For Free” button.
The next screen should say “Your Backblaze account has been created!”
Go to the downloads section of the browser and select the .exe file that was just downloaded- starting with “install_backblaze_” in its name.
Once you open the installer, your computer will ask you to allow the program to make changes, click yes.
On the following Backblaze installer screen, enter your login information.
Then, press “Sign In to Start”, and then “Install Now”.
Wait for Backblaze to finish analyzing your drive.
Following this, you should get a screen showing the installation is complete and you can hit “OK” to open the Backblaze control panel.
Back in your browser, you can press “Sign in to Backblaze” to get in.
How to set/reset private key
Once you have an account, you can do the private encryption key from the Backblaze Control Panel application, a hidden icon in the taskbar.
Click Settings…
Click on the Security tab.
Click on “Enter Your Private Encryption Key”, and enter your key in twice.
Remember— without the private key, there is no way of restoring what you back up. Backblaze cannot help you retrieve it.
How to use Backblaze date filter
From the home page on the website, after you log in, click “View/Restore Files” on the sidebar. It is found on the left side of the web window under “Computer Backup”.
If you have a private key, and the screen tells you to “Please enter a valid private key”, enter it in the box, then click “Unlock”.
The page will reload. Below the “Continue with Restore” button, use the dropdown text inputs next to “Files uploaded from:” and “to” at the top of the file directory to set the start and end date range for backup files.
Then, press “Go”.
How to restore files on Backblaze
To actually restore your backed-up files, look on the list under Folders. Check the boxes of the ones you want to restore.
Press the arrows to expand, collapse, and see what subfolders are inside the folder.
When done, press “Continue with Restore”.
On the “Zip Restore” pop-up screen, you can change the name of the ZIP file that will hold the files you chose to restore. When you are satisfied, press “Create Restore”.
You will get the message that the restore is “being prepared”. Click on “Check Your Restore Status” to get to the file(s). If it is not finished, you will get an email from Backblaze telling you when it is.
There, in My Restore, click the black “Download” button to the right of your restore. Yours will be at the top with the most recent date in gray.
Go to the downloads section of the browser and select the .zip.
You can also select individual files on the right side of the menu. 
Or, to back up individual files, click on the name, and on the screen that pops up, select “Download”.
