Happy New Year Everyone!
Joe Hanson
A new year and a new start to get ahead on your "Tech Life!" No kidding, how many of us have resisted the sometimes intimidating task of learning about all the features and requirements of modern Smartphones?!? One of the basics that you simply must address is Data Back-up!
At Gadget Garage I hear it every day - usually a day too late! Your phone gets dropped in the water, on the concrete or just quits working, and the desperate question emerges: Can you get my pictures back??? Not always, is my reluctant response. But, with a few simple steps - you can get your own pictures backed up - safe and sound.
Many people, myself included, prefer a "local copy" meaning: On MY Computer. This is very straightforward and most Smartphone manufacturers provide actual software that makes it as easy as "point n click." Another very popular method today is, "The Cloud." This is a little more dependable as the back-ups you allocate to The Cloud are themselves backed up, over and over at different places - sometimes around the world! The advantage of that is, if your computer dies and all your pics or contacts are on it, your data is safe to download again!
So, the short story is, no matter which way you decide to go, make 2016 the year you take control of your precious data!
Samsung users can download Smart Switch here http://www.samsung.com/us/smart-switch/
iPhone folks can simply turn on iCloud or for a local copy on your PC or Mac download iTunes if you don't already have it and plug your iPhone in and go to the Summary page where you'll see the option to back-up to iCloud or, "on my computer". Right next to that is the, "Back-up Now."
For most other models you can plug directly into your computer and access everything that way. As you can see, this is pretty straightforward stuff and is a Lot cheaper than expensive data recovery services - IF they can be used successfully! So go ahead and start backing up!