Step 2: The Initial Backup

Have participants install or open whichever tool they’ll be configuring for their device and/or operating system. Introduce them to the basic features, and demonstrate how to conduct a backup, remembering (due to timing) to start with backing up a sample file as opposed to an entire drive.

Give everyone enough time to make their first, test backup, and to get a feel for the interface and features. Once everyone has successfully made their first backup, review the various settings for the backup tool(s), and discuss the option of scheduling backups regularly. If there are other key features for the tool, review these now as well.
Explain that backups, especially for a very full hard drive, can take a substantial amount of time, so are best done when the computer is stationary for a long period of time (for laptops) in a safe place.
If participants are backing up data to external hard drives, they should also encrypt those drives. If encryption has already been covered with participants, trainers may wish to review what their options are for local disk encryption; if it has not, trainers should refer to backups (the same backups even) when leading a session on encryption.