Windows 10 and backups question

[Gidney N Cloyd]

I could use some advice from folks well versed in Win10 on how to set up a backup routine for my personal files.

Quick background: I bought a Win 10 laptop about 2 and a half years ago. Last month it crashed and I lost everything I'd created (writing, graphics, photos, etc) since I bought it plus files I'd copied over from older computers to organize and lots of stuff I'd scanned from hard copy. After 20 years of being the guy at work telling people to back their stuff up, I retired and got sloppy.
I got the computer up again with a new ss drive and fresh OS install but I had to send the old drive out for recovery.

The files are now on route back to me and I want to set up a backup plan for when they get here. Win10 seems to have options built in, including OneDrive and configurations for external drives. I'd rather stay away from cloud storage except maybe as a backup of a backup, but I'll listen if you want to sell me on the virtues of it.

My preference would be to make my internal drive the main one to work from and a new external drive for frequent, hopefully automated backups.

So my main question is, lets say I've hooked the external drive up and I'm holding the thumb drive with my recovered files in my hand, ready to copy-- what's your recommendation for the best way to proceed?

TIA for any thoughts you may have.