What is the best way to back up a Windows PC?
The short answer
The low-effort gold standard is a cloud backup service (Backblaze or IDrive) running continuously, plus File History to an external drive for fast local restores. Want to restore Windows itself after a disk failure? Add disk-image backups with Acronis or the built-in tools.
In detail
Windows backup has two distinct jobs that people conflate. Job one is files: documents, photos, projects. Cloud backup handles this best because it is off-site (fire, theft, and ransomware cannot reach it) and automatic; Backblaze covers everything on the machine for one flat price, IDrive does the same across several devices. Pair it with Windows File History writing to a cheap external drive and you get instant local restores for the everyday "I overwrote that file" moments.
Job two is the system: Windows, programs, settings. After a dead SSD, file backup alone means a day of reinstalling. Disk-image backup photographs the entire drive so you can restore the whole machine to a new disk; Acronis is the consumer standard (with cloud or local destinations), and Windows' built-in system image plus a recovery USB is the free, clunkier route. For most home users, images monthly plus files continuously is the right rhythm.
The combination sounds heavy and is not. One evening of setup, then it runs itself. What turns a disk failure from disaster into errand is not any single product but the layering, which is exactly what the 3-2-1 rule formalizes.