![]() To restore your files, ensure the external drive you use with File History is connected. When the inevitable does happen, like hardware failure or accidentally deleting important data, you can restore the lost content quickly from File History. Select "Show more options" for the full context menu and then select "Include in library." By adding folders to a library (for example "Documents"), these will get added to the File History backup. To add folders to your backup, open File Explorer and right-click on the folder you want to add. You can't add folders to the backup in this same window, which might leave some of your important files out. Here you can adjust the frequency and length of time documents get kept. You can customize how File History works in Windows 11 by clicking on Advanced Settings. You can trigger a backup of your files by clicking the Run Now button. With the File History settings open, Windows 11 will automatically try to find and select any external drives on your computer.Ĭlick the Turn On button to enable File History. In Windows 11, File History has been kind of buried into the old Control Panel, which is not a good sign. OneDrive and other cloud services are certainly encouraged as a backup strategy, but not at the cost of Microsoft nerfing the OS' built-in feature.Īs before, connect your external drive, press Start and type "File History" into the search bar to find the option. Microsoft pushes Windows 11 users towards their OneDrive cloud storage service for backups by removing some of the functionality that Windows 10 gets, which is unfortunate. Your files are now getting automatically backed up!įrom this window, you can customize the frequency of the backup, how long to keep files, add files to the backup, or change the drive you're backing up to. If you want to customize the frequency of the backups or most importantly what gets included, click more options below the slider for those options.īy default Windows 10's File History backups user account folders such as Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, and Desktop, but you also get a straightforward option to add folders that are not included. To enable File History backups, slide the switch to the right. A slider switch will now appear called Automatically back up my files. Click the plus button beside "Add a drive" to select your external drive.Ī list of available drives will appear with your external drive at the top. You'll need to tell Windows which drive to use for your backups. In the system settings window, look for Update and Security and click on it.įrom the left-hand menu, click on Backup. ![]() To set up File History, click Start and then click the Settings gear. Because external drives are so popular, it's the most straightforward solution. You can set up File History in Windows 10 to use either NAS or an external drive. With your external drive connected, you're ready to set up File History in Windows. If you have the extra budget, consider an SSD external drive for even faster retention, but keep in mind that speed might come at a usable lifetime tradeoff. Getting an external storage drive is relatively inexpensive ( see our best storage picks here, including external drives), and USB 3.0 transfer speeds are fast enough that backing up and restoring won't take all day. It's of little benefit to you if a failing drive takes out your files and their backups. Windows won't let you use any internal drives on your computer as putting your backups in the same place as your originals is bad practice. Setting up File History in Windows 10 and 11īefore setting up File History in Windows, you'll need a place to store your backups. The idea is that Windows will manage this automatically over time and make incremental backups. How many previous file versions get stored depends on your backup device's capacity and how often you make changes to files. If you accidentally delete or wreck a file, you can restore it from a list of previous versions the backup software captured. When you make a change, a copy of the old version gets made for safekeeping. What is File History?įile History actively monitors the files you use for changes. ![]() Let's look at how you can use File History to keep backups of your important stuff. What you may not realize is that Windows 10 and 11 come with basic backup capabilities that make it easy to automate the process, so you don't need to buy or install any extra software. Keeping a backup of the documents, photos, and videos on your computer is essential. ![]() Whether it's a system crash, hardware failure, or accidental deletion, losing important documents is disastrous. We often don't realize a document or photo's importance until they are gone. There's an old expression in the tech world about files: having one copy is the same as having no copies.
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