Your Windows 10 computer has a built-in Backup and Restore Tool that you can make use of to Backup all your Personal Files, Photos and Data. In this article, we are providing you with the steps to Backup Files in Windows 10 using Backup and Restore Tool as available in Windows 10.
Backup and Restore Tool in Windows 10
The Backup and Restore Tool was first introduced by Microsoft in Windows 7. The tool also made its way into Windows 8 but was removed in Windows 8.1.
Luckily, the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) was brought back in Windows 10 and it really makes it easy to backup all your Files and Data to an external hard drive.
In addition to backing up all your personal Files and Data, the Backup and Restore tool can be used to create a “system image,” which can be used to recover your entire computer in case something goes wrong with it.
System image is a snapshot of your entire system including operating system files, all your programs and documents. Hence, it has the ability to recover your entire computer in an instant.
Backup Files in Windows 10 Using Backup and Restore Tool
Follow the steps below to make a complete backup of all your personal files, photos and data, using the “Backup and Restore” Tool as available within the Windows 10 operating system.
1. Right-click on Windows 10 Start button and then click on Control Panel in the menu that appears.
2. On the Control Panel screen, make sure that you are in Category View and then click on System and Security option (See image below).
3. On the system and Security screen, click on Backup and Restore (Windows 7) option.
4. On the next screen, click on Setup Backup option under Backup section (See image below).
5. Next, you may be prompted to enter your Admin Password, in case you are not currently logged into your Admin Account.
6. On the next screen, select the Backup Drive to which you want to Backup Files to and then click on Next (See image below).
Note: You can also Backup Files to OneDrive, Google Drive or Drop Box by clicking on Save on Network… button (See image above)
7. On the next screen, you can either let Windows automatically select the Files/Folders to backup or select “Let Me Choose” option and manually select the Files/Folders to include in the Backup.
In case you let Windows choose, it will Backup your Entire Desktop, all your User Folder Files, and it will also create a System Image, which is a complete snapshot of all your Files and data, including the operating system files.
The “Let Me Choose” option is suitable in case you have limited storage available and you want to include only some selected Folders for Backup. Choose the option that suits you best and click on Next.
8. Once you click on Next, you will see a popup, asking you to wait for Windows to start the process of backing up your Computer.
9. On the next screen, make sure that you are happy with the Backup settings and click on Save settings and run backup button to make your first backup of Windows 10 Computer.
As you can see from the image above, you have setup your computer to automatically start making a backup every Sunday at 7:00 PM. In case this does not suit you, you can change the Backup time and day by clicking on Change Schedule option (See image above).
Restore Files From Backup in Windows 10 Using Backup and Restore Tool
Now that you have made a backup of all your Files and Data, you can use the following steps to Restore your personal Files and Folders, in case you happen to accidentally delete your Files or lose them due to any other reason.
1. Right-click on Windows 10 Start button and then click on Control Panel in the menu that appears.
2. On the Control Panel screen, make sure that you are in Category View and then click on System and Security option (See image below).
3. On the System and Security screen, click on Backup and Restore (Windows 7) option.
4. On the Backup and Restore screen, click on Restore My Files button under Restore section (See image below)
5. On the next screen, click on Browse for Folders button to select the Folders from the Backup that you want to Restore (See image below)
6. After selecting all the Folders that you wanted to Restore, click on Next to start the process of restoring Folders from the backup to your computer (See image above).