Windows 10: Neither File History nor Backup and Restore successfully work

Unfortunately, attemping to backup my files to an external drive using either program doesn't seem to work. Though there is no problem manually copying files over to the drive, the backup options with File History show the size of backup being 0 bytes, regardless of which folders I add or remove to the backup. Attempting to

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File History Restore Not Working

My apologies for my not explaining my problem clearly.

File History would always list my external drive. It would not list the File History backup subfolder, "Computer Name", which contained my backup.

I completed the 5 steps you recommended, and in step (4), using Windows Explorer, I opted to change the name to "File History.old" instead of deleting it. Had I deleted it, all my backup files that I want to reload onto drive C would have been gone.

When I look at the external backup drive in Windows Explorer it now shows 4 folders, $RECYCLE.BIN, FileHistory, FileHistory.old and System Volume Information. Bottom line, FileHistory contains only the backed up data currently on Drive C as a result of step
5, while FileHistory.old contains the data I wish to reload.

Now when I go to Control Panel/File History/Select drive, and select the external backup drive, only the subfolder contained in FileHistory shows up. The subfolder contained in FileHistory.old, which contains the data I wish to restore, is still not listed.
When I select "Restore personal files" it only shows folders associated with FileHistory.

Thanks for your attention and help, but I am now resigned to copying and pasting the files that I need to restore. I totally yield to the higher power that is Microsoft.

Again thanks,

RP

 

Files skipped in Backup using File History

Hi Sumangal,





Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



Which device are you backing up the files to?





Normally, on the successful completion of back up, you will get the pop up saying that the backup operation completed successfully and if any file is skipped, you will be notified about it, however some files due to their length appear to be hidden. If
you try to restore the file using File History it is actually there.



I would suggest to check if the files/folders are in the Excluded folder list. You may also want to check the file history logs to view the recent events errors, the option is available under
Advanced settings of File History.





Finally, I would suggest to restore your personal files and see if the missing files are restored from the file history. Please refer to the following article. The article is for Windows 8, but holds good for Windows 10 as well.



Restoring files from File History



Hope the information is helpful.



Regards,

Peer Samie

Microsoft Community-Moderator

 

File History not working

I have Windows 10 installed on 2 PCs, with setups that are very similar to each other. On No. 1 PC, I have successfully set up File History to back up selected folders. However, although I have set up File History identically on No. 2 PC (and have selected folders for backup), File History does not back up any files. It reports "Size of Backup - 0 bytes", and if I try to restore files, it reports "There isn't any history of your files, folders or libraries".



I wondered whether the problem was related to Services, but both the File History service and the Windows Search service are running on both PCs, and AFAIK these are the only 2 services required for File History to run successfully.


I would welcome any suggestions as to what I may have missed.