Many people don't take the time to back up their important files, even though they may need them later. There is no excuse for not making a backup. Protecting our data is something we can all be concerned about, especially when we have important photos, documents, or other sensitive files of any size stored on our computers.

Even if you take precautions to protect your computer from malicious software or other potential dangers that could permanently destroy your data, there is still a chance that a hardware failure can occur. Restoring data without backup is not only inefficient, but also time-consuming. If it is even possible…

Backing up files is a simple process that can help you avoid data loss. It involves making a copy of your important files and storing the copy in a safe place, which can be accessed when the original files are lost.

Windows 10 includes a number of tools to backup and restore your data. File History is the primary backup tool in Windows 10, which can completely backup and restore files from previous versions.

How to Backup and Restore Files in Windows 10

Back up Windows 10 or restore an older version of Windows to Windows 10

Backup and Restore is a utility of Windows 7, but you can also use it to backup and restore your Windows 10 system. If you have a Windows 7 backup, you can also restore it using this utility in Windows 10.

Go to start and click on Settings.

When searching you search for: backup, select Backup settings

Now select the hyperlink that says “Go to Backup and Restore (Windows 7)” and follow the instructions.

If Windows Backup has not yet been configured, you can set it up here. Proceed as follows. Click Set up backup.

Select where you want to save the backup file. Windows recommends your backup to an external hard drive store. Make sure your external hard drive is connected (or inserted), choose it as the backup destination, click “Next,” and follow the instructions.

Create backup by file history

File History is a standard built-in utility in Windows 10.

File History doesn't completely backup your entire PC, but you can; consider using it for backing up your personal files. The file backup also preserves previous versions that you can easily restore later.

By default, folders in your user folders such as Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos and the Desktop are backed up. You can also add other folders on your PC that you want to back up. To add files and folders to file history, go to Backup settings, via search and then “backup”.

Click Back up with file history by clicking “Add a drive”.

Return to the backup menu as in the example above and click on “More options”. Then go left to “See advanced settings”, select your drive and click “Enable”. Now open the backup setup again, here you will find the folders that are backed up to the external drive. If you want to add folders, click on “add a folder”.

To restore files, scroll down and select “Restore files from current backup”.

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How to backup Windows 10 with system images

This feature is also an original Windows 7 tool, which is still available in Windows 10. The tool creates an image file (iso format) of your entire system, including installed programs (apps), system files, personal files, etc. This is useful if the hard drive fails and you want to restore the previous version of Windows without reinstalling the operating system. The process takes time, but it can be helpful.

Go back to the backup window in Windows 10. Search for backup and select “backup settings”. Then click on “Go to Backup and Restore (Windows 7)”.

Go to “Create a system copy”.

Select the location to save the full Windows 10 backup, an external hard drive or USB stick is recommended.

Create backup via Windows 10 OneDrive

This is not a full backup, but worth considering as an option to get your files back. Files you save on OneDrive are stored in your Cloud One drive account, all you have to do is log in to your OneDrive account and choose the stored files you want to access.

To get started with OneDrive, start OneDrive in Windows 10 and follow the instructions, type “one drive” in search and you will find Windows 10 OneDrive.

Enable System Restore and get back files from Windows 10 with System Restore

The System Restore utility creates restore points. A restore point is a collection of important system files saved by System Restore at a specific date and time. System Restore returns everything to a saved restore point, but first a restore point must have been previously created.

If no restore point exists on your computer, System Restore will have nothing to restore. To use this tool, you must create restore points.

To create a restore point, type “restore point” into the search query and click on the result: “Create a Restore Point”.

Click on “Create”, see image below.

Give the backup a name and click OK. A Windows 10 restore point is now created.

Create Windows 10 recovery drive

You can also choose to create a Windows 10 recovery drive. This allows you to restore backups if Windows 10 no longer starts due to a variety of problems.

So if you ever run into problems where Windows 10 no longer starts, a recovery drive will ensure that Windows 10 is restored and starts again.
To create a recovery drive, type “recovery drive” in the search and click on the result: “Recovery drive”.

Now insert a USB drive or external HD into the USB input of your computer. Make sure that Windows also recognizes this recovery USB/drive.

Click next and follow instructions, making sure your USB or External Hard Drive is connected to your computer.

If Windows 10 cannot find an external drive, you cannot create a Windows 10 recovery drive.

Restore Windows Backup with Windows 10 Advanced Boot Options

If Windows cannot start normally, you will see advanced startup options displayed. From here you can restore Windows from the system image you created earlier and choose a few other options.

Search for “Advanced boot options“, and select “Change advanced boot options”.

From the next screen, choose “Restart Now” next to “Advanced Startup Options”

The Advanced Options window appears as follows:

Then click on “Troubleshoot” and select “Advanced options”.

A window will now appear with a number of options to restore your PC. The option you should choose here depends entirely on the startup or other problems you experience with Windows 1o.

You have the choice of; system restore, image restore, startup repair, command prompt (allows you to run commands against Windows), change startup settings, or roll back to the previous version (if system restore was already enabled).

Restore Windows by resetting Windows to factory settings

You can also restore Windows 10 by resetting Windows to factory settings. You can choose whether you want to keep or delete your personal files. This option is especially useful if you have a dirty Windows 10 system, or want to perform a clean installation with data retention.

Go to search in the windows language bar and search for “reset pc”, then select “reset this pc” from the menu.

The screen below will appear, now click on “Get started”.

You will now be given the choice whether you want to keep files or not. Select “Keep my files” to keep your Personal files, your Apps and settings from Windows will be lost. If you want to delete everything such as Apps, personal files and settings, select “Remove All”. Your PC will now restart.

Conclusion:

We all experience data loss at some point. It can be caused by malware on your computer that holds your files hostage, but also by a hardware failure that causes your computer to no longer boot.

If you have a backup, it is nice to be able to restore your files to another device.

So always make backups, and if things go wrong, you can consult this instruction to restore your files in Windows 10.