Windows 10 can fully automatically protect your important files in a backup. That’s great because we often only take action when things have already gone wrong.
Automatic backup
There are several options for making a backup. If you opt for storage on an external hard drive or a USB stick, you can use the automatic backup function in Windows 10. Are you using a USB stick? First check how much memory space is required for the files. 16 GB of holiday photos will not fit on an 8 GB USB stick. Windows doesn’t warn you if it doesn’t fit: it simply doesn’t copy all the files. Not a situation you want to get into.
Back up files
The automatic backup feature in Windows 10 makes it easy for the user. You set it up once and from now on your files will be automatically backed up as soon as the set drive is connected. Set up the backup as follows:
- click on Start > Institutions > Update and Security.
- Click on the left backup.
- click on Add a station.
- Connect the external hard drive or USB stick.
- Under ‘Select a drive’, click on the external hard drive or USB stick.
- Press the button More options.
- You will now see the Windows default settings. Your files are backed up every hour. This period can be adjusted under ‘Back up my files’. ‘Every 10 minutes’ is the shortest possible period; ‘Daily’ the longest.
- Under “Keep my backups” it says “Forever” by default. Windows keeps track of file history. So a new copy is made of each version of a file. If you have limited storage space, it is wise to set this option to ‘Until space is needed’. Even then copies of all versions are saved, but if the USB stick/external hard drive becomes full, copies are overwritten. That’s okay, because usually you only want to keep the latest version of a file.
By default, all files in your user folder are backed up. You can choose not to include some folders. Or, if you store certain files in a different place, you designate folders to include as well. In either case, do the following:
- click on Start > Institutions > Update and Security.
- click on backup > More options.
- Under ‘Back up these folders’ is a list of all folders that will be included in the backup.
- To add a folder, click Add folder, point to the folder and click Choose this folder.
- If you want to delete a folder, click on the relevant folder and then click remove.
Disconnect in the meantime?
After these one-time settings, Windows will automatically perform the backup tasks. Now the question is: do you leave the external hard drive or USB stick connected to the computer or not? If you are concerned about viruses and/or ransomware, you may decide to disconnect. In such a case, Windows will only make a backup when you reconnect the disk/USB stick. So you have to think about that yourself.
Restore a backup
Want to restore the files you backed up? Then do the following:
- click on Start > Institutions.
- click on Update and Security > backup.
- Press the button More options.
- Scroll all the way down and click Restore files from current backup.
- Select the files you want to recover.
- Press the button Restore to original location. That’s the green round button at the bottom of the screen.