Windows 10: File History backup stops working & incomplete

File History stops working & incomplete....any ideas. This what I've managed to locate so far and none of works satisfactorily.


OS : Win10 home 2004

Backup Target : Storage Space volume of 2-way mirrored 2x External USB3 Laptop drives.

Backup Source Directories to backup : C:\ Every hour, Keep Forever


Problems:

Initial backup is incomplete missing about 30% of 90 GB, especially C:\Users - a lot missing.


Remediation attempted so far not in this order.

1. Check storage target ...all good

Command: fhmanagew.exe -checktarget


2. Restart Services : Windows Search and File History Service both set to automatic.....no effect

2. Run from command line as administrator...it seemed to pick up more stuff initially, now no longer effective

Command: fhmanagew.exe -backupnow


3. Manually run from Backup Setting, with file history enabled...backup lasted seconds with no "last backup" update or backup data transferred


4. Control Panel > System and Security > System > System protection. on C: drive, click on Configure. Disable system protection then Turn on system protection.....no effect


5. Remove contents C:\Users\<my-user-ID>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\Configuration

Recreate the entire backup definition and rerun...backup lasted a couple of minutes with no "last backup" update or backup data transferred

:)

 

File History restart

Hi Jim,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community forums.



To change the backup drive for File History, the current process should be stopped. I suggest you to try the steps listed below to stop file history on an older drive and restart it on a new drive:



Change File History backup drive:

• Open Settings and navigate to Update & Security > Backup.
  
• Click on More Options, scroll down to locate
  Backup to a different drive section, and choose Stop Using Drive.
  
• Plug in the new storage drive, navigate to Settings > Update & Security > Backup,
  and choose Add a Drive.
  
• Restart File History and configure it by referring to the article
  
  File History in Windows.
  

Hope it helps.

Regards,

 

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!

 

How to remove folders from File History

• I had the same problem, and I solved in this way:
  Control Panel -> System and Security-> File History -> Turn off
  Settings -> Update & Security -> Backup -> More options -> Stop using this drive
  Delete the File History folder in your external drive.
  Start using File History again.
  After performing these steps, I can easily add folders to "Excluded Folders" and they remain excluded. I checked in the actual files and folders saved on the external disk, and it works.
  I did not modify the default settings about how often and how long backup is saved, File History is working ok now. So I guess it is important to click "Stop using this drive" in order to reset File History.
  Hope this will be helpful