Taking backup is always important because data is valuable. You can buy a new PC, but you cannot get your data and files unless you had made a copy somewhere. Today we will talk about how to take regular and incremental backups using an inbuilt feature of Windows 10. It allows you to take backups of files, hard drives, user back to a network drive or any partition you choose on a regular interval, i.e., Weekly, Daily, monthly. In this post, we will share how you can setup backup in Windows 10.
If you have any previous backup already scheduled, and you need to start from fresh, here is what to do.
- Open Task Manager by typing taskschd.msc in the Run Prompt
- Navigate to Task Scheduler > Microsoft > Windows > WindowsBackup
- Right-click on the tasks, and then delete all of the listed tasks.
Now you can create a new backup using the method we have shared below.
How to take regular and scheduled backup in Windows 10
Go to Control Panel > Switch to Classic Mode > Backup and Restore or type Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Backup and Restore (Windows 7) in the run prompt, and hit enter.
You have two options here. The first option lets you take a backup, and the second one enables you to restore. Let us schedule a backup which can be done unattended every day without you invoking it. I
- Click on Set up Windows 10 backup. It will list down the list of partitions and drives along with USB drives.
- Select where you want to store the backup. Make sure that the partition has enough space or you can choose a network driver or any connected drive. I would recommend connecting an external hard drive for this. Take back up in that.
- In the next screen, you have two options
- Let Windows Choose: Here, Windows will backup data files in libraries, on the desktop, default Windows folders, create a system image. These items will be backed up regularly.
- Let Me Choose: Here, you can choose what you need to backup. It lists all the users, and drives.
- In the same screen, you can choose to include a system image of drives, i.e., System Reserved, Primary Derive(C:).
- Next Screen you select How often you want to take backups, What day you want to do it and what the time your backup should start.
- When you click on Save settings and run backup, it will start the first backup.
- By default, Windows 10 backup is incremental, i.e., only the files which changed will be backed up, which includes the new data added.
Here is a thing you should know about Windows 10 Backup. If the drive is removed, the backup will fail to happen. So wherever you plan to store the data, make sure it is available during the scheduled backup time.
How to Restore Windows 10 Backups
Restoring backups are very simple. Just select the backup you want to restore, and you will find its path. If the drive is connected, then Windows Backup will automatically figure it out. You will have two options
- Restore all user’s files
- Select another backup to restore data from an existing backup.
Related Reading: How to use Recovery Mode in Windows 10
