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Using Windows Backup and Restore in Windows 10

These notes are specific to Windows10.  For Windows 7 click HERE.

For an informative article, click HERE.

 Some important caveats:

1) The most important thing to note is  that the default backup settings make assumptions about what files should be backed up.  It does a good job with everything in your C disk My Documents folder and your e-mail but it does not back up everything in the folder one level below My Documents.  The folder probably has a name based on the name your computer has, in my case it is called "Bill". Different computers are set up differently.  Mine has folders like My photos and My Music there that are backed up fine but others like My Webs were not so I would not use that directory to store anything of importance other than My Music, My Pictures and similar files.  In particular do not put anything in there that was not already put there by Windows.
2) For reasons only known to Microsoft, this utility only works with backups made with more recent versions of Windows, I know longer remember how far back the current software supports but the bottom line is this is not a good way to back your files up for ever.  It does go back 2 or 3 versions of windows.
3)  The default assumes you only need to back up your data files on the C: drive. If you have data you want to back up on another drive, as is typically the case if you have a SSD (Solid State Device) for your C: drive, you will need to modify the defaults.  It does backup, Desktop, Downloads, Music and Pictures but not Videos. In particular it does not back up My Documents.

To force it to also backup you data on the D: drive, Schedule>Change Settings>Select what to backup>What files do you want to backup>Let me choose. The default is called Data Files but this is mostly just the data files on the C: drive.  You will need to also check the D drive.  It looks like the only option is all of the D: drive which wastes space but the non-data files on the drive should not change much so it will not continually add more.

Windows Backup:

Windows 10 has two types of backup and some related operations

1.    System Image Backup:  This backs up everything so you can return to the configuration the computer was when you made the image.   If you use the system image to restore your PC you will loose any files created since that date so be careful.

2.   File History:  This backs up your most important files, it is not a system backup so it does not back up things like your programs.   You would normally set it up  to keep your PC backed up all the time.
3.   System Recovery Disk  Kind of a poor man's System image backup but has the advantage that it can be made on a different computer as long as it is the same operating system, i.e. Windows 10 64 Bit.  The file is on the order of 8 to 20 GB.
4.   System Repair disk. This is a bunch of troubleshooting tools on a bootable disk to get your system back up and running.  Like the System recovery disk, it can be made on a different computer.  It fits on a CD.


Making a System Image Backup  updated 5/16/20 windows 10 version 1909

Note, how to get to this function seems to change with each version of windows 10,

 

Note the amount of free space on the disk you are backing up to.  You will need a lot, 80 Gb for a small system but the main reason to note the amount of space is to use it as a check of a successful run.
1) In the lower left tap the stat icon then  the settings icon (the gear)  click on the circle in the lower left of your screen.
2) then "Update and Security" It is the last icon so ypou may have to sroll down to get it.
3) Then select "Backup" in the left hand menu
4) Now choose "Go to Backup and Restpre (Windows 7)" It is in small blue letters.  If you have not already set thingds up it will tell you that "Windows backup has not been set up" so select "Set up backup"  It is is in small blue letters.  It will then give you a list of possable drives to back up to.  Select the one you want. then Next.
5) It then summarizes your settings and advises you that you might need a system repair disk to restore.

6) it worns you it is scheduled to do a system image backup every so many days such as every Sunday at 7 PM. These are incremental sytem image bakus so not huge.  Adust the schedule as deasred.  You may want to not run it on a schedule at all.

7) Click on save settings and run backup"

It creates 3 files, Desktop-OVNU9GC or eqivalet, WindowsImageBackup and MedialD.bin`

A summary of this https://www.windowscentral.com/how-make-full-backup-windows-10

 

The following paragraph has not been edited into the material above.

7)" Now select "Create a system Image"  Next pick the drive to backup to.  It will list what it is backing up.  Make certain it is all the drives you want.  When in doubt back it up.

When the System image is done being created, it will ask if you want to create a rescue disk.  This is a bootable disk that rescues you from a mired of problems so if you have not made one in a while, you might as well.  It fits on one CD.  If you get any error messages be very suspicions of your backup even if it only says it could not back up something that makes no sence to you,.  Check the remaining size of the free space on your backup disk.  Did it decrease a plausible amount.  Checking the size of the backup file, WindowsImageBackup is no use because it always lists as 9 bytes for some reason.  Consider moving WindowsImageBackup to a named folder to keep better track of it.  A new system image backup will erase the old one unless the old one is renamed or moved to a subfolder.  You should also note that, if you check the size of the file, it will show up as zero unless you copy it to a different drive.

 

To set up File History:

Start>Settings (the gear icon)>Update and Security>backup (along the left side)>Add a Drive (Under Backup using File History) then select your backup drive (this option will not appear if one has already been selected, if you want to change it, click HERE for details.  Then  make certain  the option to Automatically back up my files is turned on (Assuming your backup drive is always connected) then select More options.  Some options you may want to change the backup frequency,  the default is every hour, For a home computer, every day should be adequate.  You can set how long to keep the backups, the default is forever, you might prefer to choose "Until space is needed".  Then review the folders it is backing up, you can add additional folders or delete folders it is backing up.  If you have a ram disk for your C: drive, you may be storing your files on the D: drive so there would be a lot of folders on the C: drive that do not need backing up (although they are black so they do not take a lot of space).  Adding folders is not as strait forward as it might seem.  My "Documents" is D:/SOP/Documents. I said to backup D:/SOP but it only backed up the "AppData" folder on SOP.  I changed my settings to specify backing up D:/SOP/Documents and the problem went away.  I suspect that if you were just using the C: drive the defaults would take care of most everything.  If the computer is off when the backup is scheduled, the backup will happen when the computer is next turned on regardless of the time.

A good reference is HERE.

For a good reference for what to do when your backup drive is out of space, click HERE.

 

 

If you get a "File History Doesn’t Recognize This Drive" it is probably related to changes you made in the disk you are using for backup.  Click HERE for a fix.

Restoring:  It is good to test this out prior to needing it.  You learn how to use it and you verify our backups really exist.

The easiest way to initiate a file restore is by  opening File Explorer, the the program you use to see the files and directories on your computer, then click "Home" along the top.  This brings up a new menu.  Select "History".  It is a folder like icon towards the right.

 Windows Recovery Environment:  You can boot into this mode to work various recovery issues.  To get to it, Got to Start>Settings(the gear icon)>Update & Security>Advanced Startup (Restart Now).  Another reference said to force a restart 3 times by forcibly shutting down  your computer 3 times by holding the power on button down until the computer shuts down then let it boot normally and it should boot into the recovery mode.  At the first sign of windows type screen is when you shut down again.  If it does not work with 3 it might work with 2.  There is also a way if you have the original windows disk but you probably do not have the windows 10 installation disks.

4.   PC Reset:  Lets you return your computer to the way it was when you purchased it.  At your option, you can also restore it retaining your files and many of your installed programs.

 

Restoring  from a System Image:   (Try a system restore before a complete recovery because a recovery will remove any data files created after the backup point.  I do not fully understand this!
This assumes your PC will not boot up to windows at all.  You have to boot from your rescue disk or a windows installation disk.  To boot from a windows or recovery disk you will probably have to change the boot options so it boots from the DVD drive before the hard disk.  First try to see if it will boot from a hard disk bout it probably will not.  To see how to change the boot sequence you will need to edit the BIOS (UEFI) settings, look HERE to see how.

 

If you can boot (start) your computert normally, you can get to the place where you run the sytem image restore the same way you do a system image backup through step 4, choosing "Go to Backup and Restpre (Windows 7)"

then select "restore".  It will attempt to restore from the drive you baced up to bur if this is a clean hard sisk, you will have to tell it where the bzkup is.

 

 

 

 

Click HERE to see how to restore individual files from a System Image backup  (Warning it is complicated.)

Restoring individual files from the System Image backup.  The System image backup is nor  really intended for  that, normally you would use the File History Backup.  If you do want to use  the System Image backup, see https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/24771-system-image-extract-files-using-disk-management.html. My one bit of extra caution is to do  the recovery from a copy of the System Image Backup.  When  I did it, I could not get the System Image backup back to its original state.  The process is quite involved as the backup was never intended for individual file backups.

 

Restore from File History

 From here on the notes have not been updated for windows 10

You will also have the opportunity to make a rescue disk that can be useful if your computer gets messed up.

To use it:
1)
 Insert the system repair disc into your CD or DVD drive.
2) Restart your computer using the computer's power button.
3) If prompted, press any key to start the computer from the system repair disc. ...
4) Choose your language settings, and then click Next.
5) Select a recovery option, and then click Next.

Next you will want to set up your default backup settings by clicking on "Options" the "Check backup settings"
The more often you schedule a backup, the quicker your backup disk fills up but is not as bad as that sounds.  It only backs up the files that have changed so the more often you back up files, the less files will have a chance to change.  I back up daily as I decided that loosing one day's work is an acceptable risk.
Next make your first backup run.  It will take a very long time, a number of hours so you may want to set it to work when you are done for the day although you can still use your computer while the backup is in operation.  You can not restore individual files from the system image so you are not really covered until you do the first backup.

Restoring Files:

To restore an individual file,

Click on “Restore my files”

If you do not want the latest version, then click on "Choose another date"

Then you can choose a date, then search for files or folders to restore individual files or folders

When you have navigated to the file or folder, click on “Add File” or “Add Folder”, you can then select more files or folders if you want

When done selecting, Check the box next to the files you want and select “Next” at the bottom right of the box.

It  will then ask if you want it restored to the original spot or a new one.  Keep in mind that if you restore it to the original spot it may overwrite the file you have there now.  That may or may not be a problem.

Then Click Restore then End or Exit.

 

Some General notes:

1) Even though it only backs up the changed files, when you do a restore and choose a backup date, you will see all the files that were on the computer at that date, not just the ones backed up on that date.

2)  What size backup hard drive do I need?  Mine is a 2 Terabyte (2,000 GB) internal hard drive.  Lots of people use external drives.  That is about 10 times the size of all the material on my hard disk and it fills up in around a year with daily backups.  When it is full, you can use some options to delete older copies of files or what I usually do is erase the backup hard disk, create a new system image and start the backup process over again.  This means that I have no backup for a short while and I will never be able to restore files to an earlier version.  If you were really paranoid, you could use 2 external backup hard disks swapping them when they get full so you only erase the older one when you need to use it again.

3) How to change backup drive:  https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1013067/

4) How to map network drive: https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/map-network-drive-windows-10

 

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Rev.5/17/20