Written for Malachain: the essentials, without the noise.
The rule to remember is three copies, on two kinds of storage, with one kept somewhere else. Your working files are copy one. An external drive that you plug in once a week is copy two. A cloud backup that runs quietly in the background is copy three and the off-site copy at the same time, which is what saves you when a bag is stolen or a flat floods.
Automate the parts you would otherwise forget. Set the cloud tool to back up the folders you care about and check its status once a month. Test a restore twice a year by recovering a random document; a backup you have never restored from is only a hope. Keep photos and important papers in the same routine so a single plan covers your whole digital life.
There is more to learn on this subject, and the linked website goes into greater depth. Treat this article as an introduction rather than the final word, and check any important decision against up-to-date, reliable sources before relying on it.
If you try any of these ideas, start small and adjust them to your own situation. What works for one person will not suit everyone, and it is fine to keep only the parts that help. Writing down what you changed, and what happened, makes it much easier to see after a few weeks whether the effort was worthwhile.
The most useful step is usually the first one. Pick a single suggestion, try it for a couple of weeks, and then decide whether it is worth keeping. Small, steady improvements last longer than ambitious plans that are hard to maintain once everyday life gets busy again.