Whether it’s the fear of a hard drive being targeted by cyber-criminals, a laptop that’s near its expiration date, a lost device, or simply a smartphone that’s out of storage space, here’s how you can take steps to copy, secure, or move your business and personal data so you won’t lose it.

The challenges outlined below for individual devices increase exponentially in a business environment. It is critical that businesses have a comprehensive backup and recovery plan that protects equipment and data from viruses, malware, or hardware failures. In addition, companies need to have a sound daily backup routine to support basic backup and recovery of individual files, specific computers, or a business system database.

Using iCloud will backup your information to the cloud – meaning the copy is stored online, and is not dependent on a physical piece of equipment. iOS devices come with 5GB of iCloud storage for free, and additional storage can also be purchased. These 5GB are used up fairly quickly in saving contacts, photos, apps, settings, and data, but is done automatically when the phone is connected to power and connected to WiFi, making it incredibly simple to backup everything on your device.
TIP: You can turn off syncing for any apps you don’t want backed up under Settings iCloud Backup to save space in your iCloud account.

Connect the device using a USB cable to a computer with iTunes. iTunes will automatically open, and your device will be listed in the top left corner. The default page (“Summary”) will have a button that says “Back Up Now.” Clicking that will create a backup file for your mobile device on your computer. Unlike iCloud, this backup is not stored online.

More info: Office 365 Migration Services