How to windows backup

This article has been viewed 48, times. This wikiHow teaches you how to save a copy of your Windows 10 computer files. Connect your external hard drive or USB drive to your computer. Open Start 3. Click the settings gear. Click Backup 6. Select your drive, then click More options 8. Click Back up now Did this summary help you? Yes No. Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers. Please log in with your username or email to continue. No account yet?

Create an account. Edit this Article. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow.

Download Article Explore this Article Steps. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Attach your external drive to your computer. If you're using a flash drive, plug it directly into the USB slot.

Open the Settings app. Click Backup. This tab is on the left side of the settings app. Click Add a drive. It's a grey button at the top of the Backup page. Doing so will scan your computer for a removable drive—in this case, your external hard drive or flash drive. Select your drive. Click your external drive's name in the Add a Drive drop-down menu.

This will set it as your backup drive. Try to use a fireproof location that's separate from your computer's location. Also, consider encrypting the backup data. Need more help? Expand your skills. Get new features first. Was this information helpful?

Yes No. Thank you! Any more feedback? The more you tell us the more we can help. Can you help us improve? Resolved my issue. Clear instructions. Easy to follow. No jargon. Pictures helped. Didn't match my screen.

Incorrect instructions. Too technical. Not enough information. Not enough pictures. Any additional feedback? Submit feedback. On Windows 10, you can also use its built-in features to create and keep copies of your system by following the steps below.

In this part, we will introduce the built-in Backup and Restore feature on Windows With this feature, you can easily create image backups of your system and store them on a secure storage device. Creating a system image will take up a large amount of space on your device, you should ensure that the external device has enough storage capacity. Another system on the network can also be used to store backups. The main backup method for Windows 10 is to use File History, which creates backups for selected folders on the system.

However, creating and restoring from system images is still supported. The steps below will be using the Backup and Restore tool which was also used on Windows 7. If you have an image backup created with Windows 7, you can also restore it this way.

File History doesn't create a complete backup of your computer system, but rather it focuses on keeping your files safely backed up. Step 1. Step 2. Under the " Looking for an older backup?

Step 3. Connect the external device you want to store the image backup to your computer. Step 4. Click " Create a system image " and follow the on-screen instructions. Ensure that there is enough storage space on your external device. Step 6. Confirm the selection and click " Start backup " to create system images of your drives.

Once the backup process is complete, safely disconnect the external device and keep it protected from damage. Using the image backup we have created, you can restore Windows to its previous state in case of data loss, disk corruption, virus infection, or other situations. As those situations can cause whole drives to be missing from the system, it's crucial that the backup files are not kept on the same device as the original files.

In this case, a securely kept external device will be able to provide backup files reliably no matter the issue. Select the needed backup from the list, and follow on-screen instructions to restore your files.