Create a Backup in Windows 10
Edited by Jay
Backing up your PC is something all users should get in the habit of doing. Although computer hardware is improving year-by-year, you never know when a disk drive could crap out or call it quits. When something goes awry, it's nice to have a safeguard in place to minimize the damage. Creating regular backups in Windows 10 is one way to ensure you never lose all of your important files and folders. Windows 10 gives users the option to back everything up on a schedule, and as long as the PC is on and has drive space, you can create backups automatically.
Another way to back everything up in windows 10 is by creating a system image. The difference between a system image and a standard back up is as follows:
- A backup will create another copy of all your files and folders; images, videos, documents, and any other type of file you have saved on your local drives. Standard backups typically take up less space than a system image and also take less time to create.
- A system image also creates another copy of your files and folders, with the addition of all your system and OS files. A system image is a working duplicate of your entire OS, which includes programs and settings. They tend to be more significant in size and also take longer to create. In the event your PC won't boot correctly, a system image can be used to get your machine functioning again.
So as long as you have a way to read your files, a regular backup is fine. If you create and edit files reasonably often, it might be a good idea to run a backup once or twice a week. A system image, on the other hand, can be created less frequently, especially if you have a backup schedule in place. A system image can be made anytime you make any notable changes to your entire system, such as installing new programs or performing significant system tweaks.
In the following tutorial, we'll go through the steps in creating a backup, a system image, and a USB recovery drive. For this article, we used a Sager laptop running Windows 10 Professional.
Create a Windows 10 Backup
Please note that to create a backup, you'll need administrator privileges on your account.
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Delete Windows 10 Backup
If you've set scheduled backups, you may want to delete some older ones to clear up some space on your drive.
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Create Windows 10 System Image
Creating a system image will give you an exact copy of your entire system, which in the event of something significant going wrong, will help you restore your PC with minimal loss.
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Delete a Windows 10 System Image
If you want to free up space on your backup drive, you can delete system images as well.
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Create Windows 10 Recovery Drive (USB)
A Windows Recovery drive can help you restore your PC or troubleshoot problems if something happens and you can't get your system to boot correctly.
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- 6This process will take some time, so please be patient.Your PC will now begin to create your recovery drive.
If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.