OTT Guide: Almost all new versions of Windows have many components that were taken from previous versions of the operating system.
Most of the time is a better version of the old software. Sometimes, like with Windows 8, multiple versions of the same feature are included, and this can make things worse.
OTT Guide for Windows 10 Backup, System Images and Recovery
Finally, some features of earlier versions of Windows are good enough to retain as in the newer version. One example is the backup options. In this article, I’m going to talk about the built-in Windows 10 backup features and how it’s a combination of new Windows 10 features and old Windows 7 backup options.
In a sense, it’s good that you still have all the options you had before, but it’s also more confusing, just like installing IE 11 and Edge at the same time.
Windows 7 Backup Options in Windows 10
In Windows 10, you can still do everything you could do in Windows 7 in terms of backup and restore. If you go to the control panel, you will see an option calledBackup and Restore (Windows 7).
The dialog that appears is almost the same as you see in Windows 7. You canCreate a system image,Create a system repair disk,Set up a backup,or restore a backup file, if any.
If you click Create System Image, you will be able to choose where you want to save the image. Only in Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise can you save the system image to a network location.
Note that you cannot save the system image of every device that is included in the system image. Creating a system image in this way is a manual process. If you want to do this automatically, you need to select theSet up backupoption.
This is the same as Backup and Restore in Windows 7. Basically you choose where you want to back up and then choose a schedule. The only thing to note is that you cannot create a system image if you archive a DVD. You must back up your hard disk or network location to have this option, otherwise it is exhausted.
By default, system images are saved in the following format, where X is your device of choice.
X: \ WindowsImageBackup \ PC_Name \ YYYY-MM-DD Reserves HHMMSS
For example, if I choose to save the system image to an external hard disk (E :), then the location of the archive will be:
E: \ WindowsImageBackup \ AseemPC \ Backup 2018-10-04 083421
Windows 10 backup options
There are two ways to restore your archived data to Windows 10. If you created a system image, you need to loadSystem Restore Optionsin Windows 10 to restore the image. If you have booked using the schedule function and selected files and folders, you can restore the files / folders from the Backup and Restore dialog box (Windows 7).
ClickRestore My Filesand then you can go ahead and choose which files you want to restore from the backup.
It takes a different procedure to restore the system image. Note that restoring the system image is a full recovery, which means that you cannot select and choose what you want to restore; everything will be deleted and replaced with the image. Restoring from a normal Windows backup lets you restore individual files and folders.
To restore the system image, you must load the system recovery options in Windows 10. Then, you must clickRemove.
Then click onAdvanced Options.
Then go ahead and clickSystem Restore Images.
You will then need to select an account and enter the password for this user account. You will then be able to restore from the latest system image or select a specific image that you would do if you saved the system image, for example, to an external USB hard disk, network location, or DVD.
After you select the image, you will have several options on how to restore the image to your computer. Note that you can only restore a disk that is the same size or larger than the disks included in the backup.
Reset this computer to Windows 10
In addition to the options above, you can use a new feature in Windows 10 called Reset this PC. This is basically like installing a fix on Windows XP or Windows 7. All system files are replaced and you essentially lose all programs and settings, but your data remains intact.
This is exactly what Reset does on this computer, but it’s much easier and it really just takes a few clicks. It also allows you to completely delete everything and start over. This is a click-complete full clean installation of Windows 10.
File history
In addition to all the Windows 7 backup and restore options, the Reset this computer option, you also have another new feature called Windows 10File History.
File history is off by default. Also, keep in mind that if you use a Windows 7 archive file with a schedule, the File History cannot be activated! You will see this message:
You must turn off graphics to use file history. This is quite annoying as it means that you will have to manually create system images if you want to have system images for your archives. Once you have disabled scheduled Windows 7 backups, you will see that you can now turn on File History.
It is suggested that you use an external drive or secondary hard drive to save the file history instead of a local hard drive or partition.
You can also use a network location if you wish. In fact, you can’t even select a location on the same physical disk for File History. This is an advantage File history has over Shadow Copies, which is a similar technology to the older version of Windows.
If your device dies, you can reinstall Windows 10, give it the same name as the dead system, and then select the same location for File History as a Dead Machine.
Once you select a location, the power button will be enabled so you can click on it. That’s about it, the story of fate is over! What does this mean and what does it do?
Well, it basically saves versions of files stored in your libraries, favorites, contacts, and several other places like Music, Videos, Pictures, and Desktop. If you return to File History after making multiple copies, you can click on theRestore Personal Filesoption.
You can now view a specific file or folder and navigate back and forth in time using the green blue buttons at the bottom of the screen. Here’s an example of a text document I created and edited with some text.
If I click the left arrow button, I will see version 2 of 3, which has slightly less text than version 3 of 3.
Pressing the green arrow button will allow you to restore this version of the file:
You can replace the file, skip it, or see some file comparison information. Unfortunately, it won’t actually compare the contents of the files, just the date and other information such as size, etc. The file history sounds pretty good, but there are some serious problems in my opinion with many other people, too, obviously.
1. If you rename a file, the history of that file is lost. It basically starts again from scratch. So renaming a file is almost the same as deleting a file and starting it. The old story still exists, only with the old name.
2. After the first point, if you create another file with the name of the original file, the story will join! So if you delete a history file and then create a new file with the same name, you will also get the history of the file that has already been deleted.
3. Each file is backed up with a copy of the entire file. So if you have a 500 MB file that changes three times in a minor way, you will have three 500 MB copies of that file.
4. You cannot back up anything other than files and folders. You will still need to rely on backup and restore (Windows 7) to back up your Windows 10 system.
5. You cannot include folders other than those predefined by Microsoft. This means that if you want to use File History, you will need to move the data to one of the specified folders.
All in all, it’s a complex system of backup options in Windows 10 that are likely to confuse new users. We hope this article sheds light on the various options, their pros and cons, and how you can use them in combination to create a reliable backup plan for your Windows 10 PC.
Finally, you can skip all the built-in options if they are not good enough and just use a third-party tool to clone and display your system.