Windows 11 backup to external hard drive

In Windows 11, you can backup the entire operating system to an external hard drive.

Once you have made the backup, you can also easily restore this backup. It is always advisable to periodically make a backup of Windows 11. If something unexpectedly goes wrong, you can always go back to a full backup and you do not have to restore all files, apps, etc. separately.

Windows 11 backup to external hard drive

To make a backup, you must first connect your external hard drive to your computer. Make sure the Windows 11 has detected your external hard drive and created a assigned drive letter. You can check this via Windows Explorer.

Now open the control panel. In the “System and Security” click on “Backup and Restore (Windows 7)”.

Now click on “Set up backup” to create a backup.

Windows backup will now start. If your external hard drive is correct formatted if NTFS and is visible in Windows 11, then you will see the external hard drive appear in the backup target. Click on the external hard drive and then click “next”.

Optional: not detecting external hard drive.

You now have two choices for backing up. You can choose to let Windows 11 decide automatically or decide for yourself.

Have it determined automatically

Data files are backed up in libraries, on the desktop, and in standard Windows folders. Windows also creates a system image that can be used to restore your computer. Backups of these items are made regularly.

Decide yourself

You can select libraries and folders, and determine whether to include a system image in the backup. The items you select are backed up regularly.

You will now see an overview of what was included in the backup, depending on your choice. If a schedule is active, you will see the backup schedule. This is standard every Sunday at 19:00 PM. You can change this by clicking on “Change schedule”.

Once you are done, you can start the first backup to your external hard drive by clicking “Save settings and run backup”.

Depending on the connected port, the amount of data and the type of external hard drive, a backup can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours.

In the meantime, please leave the external hard drive connected to your computer. Depending on the set schedule, your external hard drive is also connected to your computer at that time.

To restore the backup, open the “Backup and Restore (Windows 7)” settings again. Click on “Restore my files” at the bottom.

Now click on “Search”, “Browse for Files” or “Browse for Folders” depending on which file or folder you want to restore. You can only restore files that you included in the backup.

Here's how to do one create and restore full system image.

Also read:

• Create Windows 11 backup via WBAdmin.
• Create Windows 11 backup via Macrium Reflect.

I hope to have informed you with this. Thank you for reading!