If you use a Mac, you need to get an external hard drive and make it into a Time Machine.
The Time Machine system is a great way to back up your computer without needing the cloud. And you won’t have to pay Apple for iCloud+.
This is great insurance if your Mac dies or gets stolen. If you’ve ever had a computer die without a backup, you know that is not an experience you want to repeat. With a recent Time Machine backup, you can buy another Mac and recreate the experience of your old Mac fairly easily.
I don’t use my Mac that much, since my work computer is a Windows machine. But I still backup my Mac every few weeks. And as you can see from the photo above, there are a lot of changes the Time Machine system picks up that I don’t even know about.
As of this writing, you can pick up a decent external hard drive for about $60. Time Machine is free and built into the Mac operating system. In 20 months, your drive is paid for, if you compare that expense to the iCloud plan that is large enough for most computers.
I’ve been doing this very thing for several years now. And when I travel I often unplug the drive and take it with me, in case there’s an earthquake or fire at my house while I’m gone. I guess that, and the possibility of my house being robbed, are good reasons for using the Cloud, but not good enough for me to spend the money.