When we surf the Internet or when we exchange files with other PCs we run the risk of losing our personal files due to a virus (including the fearsome Ransomware, which encrypt the files and make them unusable). If we haven't used the file backup and restore tool in Windows 10 yet, maybe it's time to try it, not only because we can create a backup of important files, but also because it is very easy to use for restoring damaged files. or lost.
This tool works very well if we use another disk (external or network drive) as the destination in the backup.
If you don't have another external disk in which to save a copy of the files, as explained in another article, we can always create a VHD virtual disk on Windows to solve quickly, even if it is preferable to always focus on external USB disks or network to be able to effectively separate backup files from the machine (which can always break!).
READ ALSO -> 10 Best Programs to make automatic and incremental free backups
1) Tools needed for backup
Before proceeding with the actual guide, you need to obtain an external hard disk or a network drive in order to back up your files.
This is necessary because it would not make much sense to save the backups on the same disk or on the same computer where the original is present: in case of viruses or hardware problems, these would also affect the backups!
To obtain usable backups we can buy one of the many portable hard drives available on the market, with various capacities (from 1 TB up) and with very good transfer speeds (thanks to USB 3.0).
The best external hard drives are:
- Toshiba Canvio Basic External HDD, 1 TB (€ 50)
- WD Elements Portable 1TB (€ 50)
- Maxtor Seagate External HDD, 2TB (€ 63)
- WD 4TB My Passport External Hard Disk (111 €)
If, on the other hand, we already have some hard disks (disassembled from our old laptops or desktop PCs), we can transform them into external hard disks using an HDD Enclosure, such as those recommended below:
- Sabrent 6.3 cm SATA to USB 3.0 (€ 9)
- AUKEY External Hard Drive Case 2.5 "USB 3.0 (11 €)
- ELUTENG External Box for SSD / HDD Transparent 2.5 Inch (14 €)
- UGREEN Case Hard Disk 3.5 '' / 2.5 '' USB 3.0 (23 €)
If, on the other hand, we want to use a network drive, I refer you to our guide on NAS -> Purchase a network NAS Storage: what it is used for and how much it costs .
2) How to backup your files
To back up your files in Windows 10, click on the Start button at the bottom right and open the Settings app.
In the new window, go to the Update and security menu, then, in the Backup section, press on Add a drive .
In the small box that will appear we can choose an external disk connected via USB, a network path or a previously configured VHD disk.
As soon as we have added the path, just activate the button under the heading Automatically backup files .
Basically all the user's personal folders are saved (Documents, Downloads, Contacts, Music, Videos and Pictures), but we can customize the folders to be included in the backup by clicking on the More options item and using the Add a folder button.
Always from the Other options menu we can limit the size of the backup, choose how long to keep the old versions of the saved files, how often to back up (we recommend running it every day) and you can also choose which files to exclude from the backup.
If instead we want to use the old backup tool integrated in Windows 7 (and also present on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10), just open the Start menu, click Control Panel, open the System and Security category then click on the History item files .
From this window, simply click on the Activate button to start the backup of the user's personal folders on the drive already displayed (we can always change the drive by clicking on Select drive on the left side).
3) How to restore file backup on Windows
To restore a file saved in the Windows 10 file history backup, click on the Start menu and then look for the "restore file with File History" option.
From the screen that will open, click on Restore files, so you can see all the folders that have been backed up.
You can then navigate in these folders, search for the file to be recovered, see its various modified versions (in the case of documents you can also recover a modified version several times) and, when ready, press the blue reset button to restore the file in its original position.
If it is an old version of an existing file on the PC, the system will ask us how to proceed: simply by replacing the file or keeping the current one, thus creating files with different names.
Another effective method to restore the backup via File History is to right click on the file to restore, click on Properties then go to the Previous Versions tab.
If the file history is active, we will see the various versions of the selected file in the window; we can either open a specific version using the Open button (very useful for checking the differences) or restore it on the current file using the Restore button.
4) Conclusions
What we have shown you is the easiest and fastest way to save your personal files using only Windows 10, without installing any type of external program.
If we wanted to deepen the discussion on backup systems integrated in Windows, I refer you to reading our guides on how to use File History in Windows 10 and 8 and how to set up automatic backup in Windows 10, in which we will also show you how to create an image complete system for restoring the entire operating system (useful in the event of crashes, damaged drivers or viruses that have compromised the ignition or use of the PC).
