Problems · Repair or replace
How do I back up my laptop before it dies?
Copy the irreplaceable things first: documents, photos, projects, anything not already synced somewhere. Applications can be reinstalled and the operating system can be replaced, so spend the machine's remaining reliable minutes on what cannot be recovered from anywhere else.
If the machine is showing hardware warning signs, do this before any diagnosis, any repair attempt and any reset. A drive that is failing does not get better while you investigate it, and every hour of use is a risk taken for nothing.
First, notice when it happens
The causes, ranked
1. Irreplaceable files first
most commonHow to confirm it
Documents, photos, projects, saved work, anything with no other copy. Usually far smaller than people expect.
The fix
Copy those to an external drive or cloud storage before anything else. If the machine fails mid-way, you want it to fail after this step rather than during it.
2. Things people forget
most commonHow to confirm it
Browser bookmarks and passwords, mail stored locally, application settings, licence keys, authenticator apps, and anything sitting on the desktop.
The fix
Walk that list deliberately. Authenticator apps in particular cause real pain when a machine dies without their recovery codes saved elsewhere.
3. One copy is not a backup
commonHow to confirm it
A single external drive is one failure away from the same situation, and drives that sit in a drawer for years fail too.
The fix
Two copies in two places, one of them off the machine and ideally off the premises. Cloud storage plus a local drive satisfies this easily.
4. Backing up a failing drive puts stress on it
commonHow to confirm it
A drive that is struggling may fail during a long full-image copy, which is why file order matters so much.
The fix
Copy the critical files first and the bulk afterwards. If the drive dies during the second half, you have lost far less.
5. Assuming sync is a backup
commonHow to confirm it
Cloud sync mirrors deletions and corruption as faithfully as it mirrors good files, so it protects against hardware failure and not against mistakes.
The fix
Keep versioned backups or a separate copy. Sync is excellent for availability and is only half of a backup strategy.
6. Waiting for a convenient moment
occasionalHow to confirm it
A machine showing warning signs that is still mostly working, which feels like there is time.
The fix
There may not be. This is the one piece of computer advice where acting slightly too early costs an hour and acting slightly too late costs years of files.
Measure it instead of guessing
Once your files are safe, the test becomes useful again: it tells you whether the machine is worth repairing or whether the warning signs were the beginning of the end. That is a much calmer question to answer when nothing is riding on the answer.
What software cannot tell you here
- We cannot see your files or what is already synced, which only you can inventory.
- We cannot predict when a failing drive will stop, which is exactly why the order above matters.
Asked, in people’s own words
- What should I back up first on a failing laptop?
- Documents, photos and projects with no other copy, then the things people forget: browser passwords and bookmarks, locally stored mail, licence keys and authenticator recovery codes. Applications and the operating system come last, because they can always be reinstalled.
- Is cloud storage a backup?
- Partly. It protects against hardware failure, which is the case here, and it does not protect against accidental deletion or corruption, because it dutifully syncs those too. A versioned cloud service plus a separate local copy is a proper backup; a synced folder alone is not.
- Can I recover files from a dead laptop?
- Often yes, if the drive itself survived: a technician can remove it and read it in another machine, and an enclosure lets you do this yourself on many older laptops. If the drive is what failed, professional recovery exists and is expensive, which is the argument for backing up while the machine still works.