Periodically backing up your computer is always a good idea. You want to make sure your documents, photos, and files are protected in case of hardware failure, software glitches, or malware attacks.

Automated Time Machine backups should be a “set it and forget it” strategy. Once enabled, macOS warns you only when something goes wrong. No alerts, and–almost always–the backups have continued apace.

Backup apps tend to be reliable. But check your backups work. Poke around a bit. Open some files. If everything looks good ...