Techno geek I am...NOT

I can manage my way around a computer fairly easily, but some of the really simple stuff I am clueless.
My hubby has always taken care of backing up my phone and my iPad. However with him being away so much and me thinking it was no big thing I figured I could do it no problem.
WRONG!
OK I figured all I had to do was plug the thing into the laptop and voila back-uped. Nope not the case. So I phoned hubby and he said yep that was all I had to do.
So I played around a bit trying to make it work. He suggested phone our oldest whom also has an iPhone. So I said good night to hubby and called our loving son. He gave me a few suggestions but none of them really worked.
So now I have to wait until one of them comes home.
I wish I wasn't so techno-geek-less. :)
Maybe if I play around a bit longer...