Windows 10: File History has stopped allowing cleanup of old versions of backed up files...

We have used File History for years on all our laptops. Recently after Windows 10 updates, none of the laptops can do a cleanup of old versions of backups. We are getting the error message "Could not clean up File History Data Element not Found".I have tried everything suggested that I have found on Microsoft or other websites, nothing helps. Why has this all of a sudden stopped working, especially now since Microsoft is about to stop Win 10 support... perhaps slowly remove all services included in Win 10 and we'll all have to move over to Win 11?

:)

 

File History Cleanup

The first step only deletes unnecessary files, and the second step only deletes the file history database. So it only deletes old versions while keeping the latest version.

It's recommended to back up important files before performing any disk cleanup or system changes, especially when dealing with large amounts of data.

 

How to stop File History on the old drive and start File History on a new drive?

I use the external drive
for File History and have a lot of information there. I want to restart the File History process on a new drive and place the previous File History drive off-site.

Please suggest the steps to stop File History on the old drive and start File History on a new drive.

 

Windows10 File History Stopped Backing Up

Steve. Thanks for the info! Since re-setting the Options in FH seems to have fixed it, I plan to leave well enough alone. But will definitely try your suggestion if it quits working again.

On a more general question: Is there a better Auto Backup application than File History? I don't care about historical versions of any files - only current version in case my hard drive fails. I prefer it to be on my external hard drive (not cloud), and free is always good!