Nokia Lumia :: 920 Why Backup To PC Of Vital Lumia Phone Information Such As Contacts / Calendar And Messges

Cant understand why the backup to PC of vital Lumia phone information such as contacts, calendar and messges can not be easily and quickly achieved as with the Nokia suite and N8. I believe it is synced automatically to Sky-drive but I cannot find evidence of this. I would like to have control of this data for easy retrieval and stored on my PC. Windows phone software on my PC is sub standard in comparison with Nokia Suite. It is clunky, contacts cannot be backed up, photos have no picture reference when transferred and the overall Windows Phone software on my PC is second rate in contrast to the Windows Phone 8 phone experience. Can anyone enlighten me on how I can easily copy my contacts to PC. No problem getting contacts into the phone. Just unclear on how to get a copy of them out.