How to make a backup in Windows 10
Is your whole life on
your computer? So what are you waiting for to protect all your data. Backups,
if done regularly, allow you to keep your photos, documents and installed
programs safe.
Thus, an eventual
hard drive failure or an overwhelming virus attack will not catch you off guard
and it will be very easy for you to recover all your files and configuration
values prior to the computer disaster.
In this article, you
will learn 5 method to create backup copies in Windows 10, both of the files
saved on your PC and the system.
Specifically, we will review several ways to create a backup using the tools offered by Windows 10 - and to a large extent also Windows 7 and 8 - as well as other external services such as cloud platforms or third-party programs.
The tricks that we will show you below may also be useful if you are thinking of restoring the factory settings of your computer , since you will need to save your files separately.
What is a backup? What types of backup are there?
A backup - also known
as backup copy, reserve copy or backup ,
in English - is the process of saving the original data of a device so that it
can be recovered again in case of loss.
There are two main
types of backups:
- Backup files
- System backup
You must bet on one
or the other depending on what you want to protect. That is, you should
choose the first one if you are interested in saving your personal documents to
be able to retrieve them later. The second type will allow you to copy the
entire system of your computer.
Backup files
The file backup
allows you to create a copy of the documents that you have stored on your PC,
either individually or of several files at the same time, to have them on
another device and recover them whenever you want.
This type of copy can
be made for any kind of file you have on your computer: from the important
office documents of a student or a business person, to the infinite personal
gallery of photos, music and videos.
Since, unfortunately,
data losses from a computer are more common than we would like, it is highly
recommended to get an external hard drive whenever we buy a new PC or laptop.
In this way, you can
create a backup from minute one and keep your files safe at all times. In
addition, you can find external storage devices at a great price, like this Toshiba
hard drive for € 50.
System backup
The system backup
allows you to create a copy of the entire Windows operating system that you
currently have on your computer, that is, of all programs, files and
configuration values.
This is perhaps a
somewhat more labor-intensive process than the previous type of copy, but it is
certainly very useful if you don't want to lose everything when you need to fix
a computer that is not working at all well or that does not turn on directly.
Backing up your
system can be time consuming and take up a lot of space - we're talking about
hundreds of GB - which can be a bit annoying if you want to create one often.
Now, there are some
programs that only copy what you have recently changed, added or updated
compared to the previous copy, and that helps you save time and space.
How to backup files in Windows 10?
All version of the
Windows operating system have several built-in tools that allow you to create
both a simple backup of your files and somewhat more complex system backups.
In this section, you
will learning how to make a file backup with the Windows 'File History' tool
and how to restore it, as well as the process to copy your documents with cloud
platforms.
There are also
third-party applications -free or paid- designed for creating backups. In
addition, many of the external hard drives also include their own program, so
you will not need to purchase another.
Back up files with 'File History'
The 'File History'
tool offers you the possibility to schedule and make copies of personal data
from your computer or laptop on a regular basis, to save them on an external
device.
It also allows you to save this backup directly to your PC's hard drive, but this can be somewhat risky, as you will lose it if you experience a hard drive failure or your computer crashes. we recommend that you always have an external copy of your most important documents. Some even choose to have two or three and keep at least one of them in another physical place just in case.
In this sense, there
are those who are governed by the following mantra: "If you only make a
backup copy of your files, then they are not safe at all." So, don't
be invaded by laziness and also take advantage of online storage
services .
To create a file
backup with 'File History' in Windows 10, follow the instructions below step by
step.
1 . Go to the ' Settings ' panel and
select ' Update and security '.
2 . Access the ' Backup ' section in the menu
on the left, locate the ' Backup with File History ' section and click
on ' Add a drive '
3 . When you
click, you will get a menu with the list of external hard drives connected to
your PC. Just select the one you want to use for the backup.
In this way, you will
have activated the automatic backup of your files. You can deactivate it
whenever you want, although as a precaution we recommend leaving it on so that
copies are made on a regular basis.
4 . Then click on
' More options ', followed by ' Make a backup now ' if you want to back
it up now with the default values.
