Windows 10: Windows backup / File History - being asked to choose folders?

I was just about to use File History to back up my computer for the first time in two a half years. But under Settings > Backup Options, under the section "Back up these folders", I see about 30 folders that I don't remember choosing. I guess I've forgotten how File History works, but why am I being asked to choose specific folders to back up? They're all on C:\Users\Owner\. I want to back up the entire computer - or at least my data. I want to do a standard full backup. Thanks for any help.

:)

 

Backup These Folders in File History

My Pictures and My Videos folders are inside the My Documents folder. In File History all three folders are listed in the Backup These Folders list. Does this mean that because of this, files in Pictures and Videos are backuped twice? Once when backing up
My Documents and once when backing up My Pictures and My Videos (included in My Documents)

 

Unable to remove folders from File History backups

I have revisited this issue, having abandoned File History for Windows 7 Backup some time ago. It seems like my original issue with File History has been fixed.

Steps I took:

• Switch off File History in Metro Control Panel
• Click "More options"
• Click "Stop using this drive" (Control Panel shuts down at this point)
• Delete all files on backup drive
• Click "Add a drive" in File History in Metro Control Panel and choose your backup drive
• Turn off File History
• Click "More options"
• Remove all folders that aren't Libraries (one by one - tedious). Typically this will be everything except Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Camera Roll and Saved Pictures
• Click the back arrow
• Enable File History
• Click "More options"
• Click "Back up now"

File History will get busy backing up at this point, and "More options" will not load. However once the the backup has completed, "More options" will load, and all the non-library folders will not be re-added. Success!

Similar instructions were posted previously but they did not resolve the issue for me at the time. However, they do now, so it must have been updated.

I have found one important remaining issue: if all folders are removed from the backup, the libraries will be automatically re-added. This in itself is not an issue. What is an issue is that when the folders are automatically re-added, incremental backups
are disabled and every time a backup is run, a full copy of every library will be made and the backup drive space will be exhausted very quickly. This (new) issue needs to be fixed.

 

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,