Windows 10: Backup Questions Using the Internal or an External Drive

I am trying to use Windows 10 Rescue and Recovery to back up or image my entire HD. I will either backup onto my internal HD or an external HD. The Resue and Recovery does not give the option to use the C drive so it seems to me that if I created another drive or partition on the internal HD I could backup onto it. That raises the question of how much space the backup will take. I have a 256 SSD HD so I don't have a big excess of space. If I have 150 GB on my internal HD how much space would be required for the backup. My alternative is to use and external HD plugged into the USB port. Your advice will be much appreciated.

:)

 

File History does not work

I added a folder on a second internal drive (E to File History, and now it will not work. I went to Backup Options and removed the folder from the "Back up these folders" list. I then took the following steps:

• Stopped using my current back up drive (external USB).
• Safely removed the external USB drive.
• Rebooted my computer
• Plugged in my external USB drive.
• Start Backup

The folder on the E: drive reappears!

When I try to do a backup, it says that the backup has not completed. Indeed, there are no files stored on my external disk. The log give the error message, "Unable to scan user libraries for changes and perform backup of modified files for configuration
C:\Users\Bob\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\Configuration\Config"

Two questions:

• How can I set File Restore back to its factory default settings?
• Is there any way to get File Restore to backup my files from my second internal (E disk to my external USB disk?

 

W10 File History Not Backing Up Internal Secondary Drive.

Here is my issue exactly.

I have two internal drives. One SSD and a secondary 8TB drive containing all my media.

I have one 8TB External drive as well, which is my main backup drive.

I use File History to backup my two internal drives onto my external.

I go into the W10 settings, Backup options. Added my secondary drive (M:\) to the 'Back Up These Folders' option. (also not I added my secondary internal drive to my Library.

Boom, I hit the 'Back Up Now' button. Everything seems like it's operating perfectly. Except the problem is nothing from my internal secondary drives is copying over to my Backup drive. With no warning either.

I even checked my event logs and I see this happening:

File/directory was not backed up due to being encrypted or insufficient permissions:

M:\System Volume Information

If you want it to be protected, remove encryption or ask your system administrator to give you access to this file/directory.

My secondary internal was never encrypted. I simply copied all my previous info from my older drives onto my new internal 8TB.

Long story short. My File History will not backup my internal 8TB drive to my External 8TB. It only sees my OS drive (SSD).

I'm clueless at this point.

Running W10.

Internal OS SSD is Samsung SSD 850 Pro 256BG

Internal 8TB Drive is HGST 8TB Nas Drive

External 8TB Backup Drive is Seagate Backup+

I have full admin control of all my drives.

 

Welcome to the TenForums @JWalker

If you look at the properties of your C:drive and assuming all your programs and data are there it will tell you how much space you need for a backup.

A backup is different than an Image. Most Images are in what I will call a container. You can't cherry pick files, easily, where as a backup you can easily find a file or a folder and restore. Usually you create an Image of your OS and programs and a backup of your data files.

A lot of members here recommend Macrium Reflect for Imaging their drive. It is free, relatively easy to use and reliable. You can then look at Windows Backup and Restore (Windows 7) within 10 for your data backup. There are lots of tools to do this on the market.

Where you put your backup or Image depends on what you are trying to guard against. If it is a simple Windows update you want to fall back from you can create an Image on a separate partition within you system. Whereas trying to guard against a drive failure says it must be on a physically unique drive. If your are guarding your data from something like Ransomware you need to be on a separate drive that is physically disconnected from your machine or at least power down.

I recommend backups and Images be on an external drive and that drive not be located beside your machine. Fire, theft and water all strike within the same proximity.

 

Ken, Thanks for the very helpful explanation. I have been using the Thinkpad Rescue and Recovery for a lot of years but they did not include it on my new laptop so I am having to learn some new things. In the past Thinkpad provided a partition on the internal drive which was one of the the options for storing the image, and that is what I used. On my new laptop Thinkpad did not provide a separate partition on the internal HD for the image. In the past I my HD storage of about 150 GB could be imaged in about 30 GB. Is that what most imaging programs do? Also, does an external HD used for storing the image need to be set up with the same file structure as the HD being imaged? I hope I am using the right terminology. I agree that by not backing up or imaging there will be a loss sooner or later. BTW I gain some help from synchronizing files between computers.

 

Different Imaging programs compress data at different rates. Some encrypt Image which for most people is a step to far as it just adds another thing that might go wrong or a key that gets forgotten.

Not sure what the Thinkpad was actually storing in this partition. Lots of vendors provide a recovery partition but that partition is basically how your device left manufacturing. So even a device two years old will look like the day you brought it home. Windows will be as of that day, bloatware is placed back on and you are ready to start over.

If you look at Macrium Reflect and tell it to Image your drive it will take care of everything in terms of file structures. You select the partitions you want to copy and restore. In your case I would copy all, as Windows creates what I will call auxiliary partitions that it needs as part of install. You can download product, install it and look.

You may also want to type recovery Drive into Cortana and follow the process. It usually uses an 8GB key. This key will have everything Windows needs to handle a bunch of different scenarios. I like to think of it as a second set of keys to the car. This is just Windows so not a true Image as your programs won't be there nor does it back up data. That said you can boot from it when Windows gets cranky, you can get to command prompt and you can run some "Recovery" routines. Everyone should have a Recovery drive.

Also have a look in the Software and Apps section of the forum. You will find Kyhi Windows Recovery Tools, first sticky. A must for everyone who wants more than the basics.

You should have some sort of recovery option when you boot. Fast Startup may be jumping over it. All vendors provide something. Some also provide software within Windows to create "Recovery Media". Check in your app folders, likely called Thinkpad. You might even see it as you type recovery into Cortana which is just a search.

 

I checked the partition on the internal HD called Recovery on my older Windows 7 laptop and it was empty. All this time I thought it was where the Thinkpad Rescue and Recovery stored my HD images. They must be on the C drive. I really miss that Thinkpad software but Windows 7 was the last version they provided. I have an external USB HD that I can use for backups, or images. I downloaded Macrium Reflect and will try it. I also thought I might add a partition on the internal HD and use it for the image. I really appreciate you pointing me in the right direction.

 

If you image to your lone physical harddrive this can be used to roll back simple problems but will give you zero protection against a drive failure.

Since you have your old 7 machine, and assuming you moved to your new device, you could look at your 7 machine being the test bed. Use Macrium and then restore it. You need to create boot media with Macrium, it will assist, click a couple of buttons, done.

Then you can move to Image your 10 machine with confidence that you understand how to restore. I recommend creating new boot media when you Macrium your 10 device.

 

I have one question after installing Macrium Reflect. The screen to create an image has four things to check for imaging and by default all are checked. I would think that only the C drive which is my only drive is the only one I need to image in order to restore the computer. I do have a CD/DVD drive but it is not one of the four items shown. I installed Macrium Reflect v6.3.1665 [UEF]. Is that the right one for Windows 10 64bit? I will be looking at the tutorials for other questions.

 

Yes to the version. Post a screen shot of what you are seeing. C:\ is your windows drive but the other partitions are used by Windows and need to be copied as well.

Post a screen shot.

We have an excellent tutorial on Macrium

Macrium Reflect - Backup & Restore

 

I have attempted to attach the screenshot and the preview shows that it worked.

 

Yes you want them all. Look at most, they are in MB not GB.

Here is a description of what they do.

UEFI/GPT-based hard drive partitions

If you go back to your old Window 7 you will see "Similar" partions, Like "System Reserved".

 

"...I checked the partition on the internal HD called Recovery on my older Windows 7 laptop and it was empty..."
No, it is not empty; regular Windows does not read that partition. Back it up with Macrium Reflect or anything similar.

 

Thanks. I looked at the partition and under properties it shows 5GB so there is something there but I can't tell what it is.

 

Install MiniTool Partitiion Wizard:
MiniTool Partition Wizard | Best partition magic alternative for Windows PC and Server

Using that you can right click on a partition and select explore and see what is in it, even if it doesn't show in file explorer. It's also a great tool to change your partitions.