Which Free Windows Backup Programs Do We Recommend for 2024

I realize the posters here are savvy on all of this stuff, but many of us are just plane jane owners/ users with limited knowledge. I got tired of the popup directing me to use One Drive for my backups and clicked on it. Of course, it almost immediately wanted to sell me more space. I got out of it and now the backup that Windows 11 tries to do to my external hard drive (Western Digital Passport) now tells me it can't find the link to my photos. I'm guessing One Drive has messed up the path to go to One Drive instead of my external hard drive and I get the error message saying it can't find it. Is there a way to fix what might have been done? If you guys are using other programs, it must mean you consider the Windows 11 backup inadequate. OBTW, it still wants to send things to my external hard drive, the path just seems to be messed up.
I don't want to hijack another member's post, but the discussion is in the right direction to help me too. If this should be in a thread of its own, just say so and I'll make a new post. Thanks.

kodakjack said:

I realize the posters here are savvy on all of this stuff, but many of us are just plane jane owners/ users with limited knowledge. I got tired of the popup directing me to use One Drive for my backups and clicked on it. Of course, it almost immediately wanted to sell me more space. I got out of it and now the backup that Windows 11 tries to do to my external hard drive (Western Digital Passport) now tells me it can't find the link to my photos. I'm guessing One Drive has messed up the path to go to One Drive instead of my external hard drive and I get the error message saying it can't find it. Is there a way to fix what might have been done? If you guys are using other programs, it must mean you consider the Windows 11 backup inadequate. OBTW, it still wants to send things to my external hard drive, the path just seems to be messed up.
I don't want to hijack another member's post, but the discussion is in the right direction to help me too. If this should be in a thread of its own, just say so and I'll make a new post. Thanks.

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To find the location of your Pictures folder, try the following:
Open File Explorer and, in the address bar, type shell:My Pictures.
Click on the File Explorer Up Arrow (on the left side of the address bar), and right-mouse click on Pictures, and then select Properties from the drop-down list.
Click on the Location tab, and this will show you where the Pictures folder is currently located. You can also use this Properties dialog to Restore the Folder Default or Move it to another location.

If you have further questions, I would start your own post on this Forum.

iko22 said:

To find the location of your Pictures folder, try the following:
Open File Explorer and, in the address bar, type shell:My Pictures.
Click on the File Explorer Up Arrow (on the left side of the address bar), and right-mouse click on Pictures, and then select Properties from the drop-down list.
Click on the Location tab, and this will show you where the Pictures folder is currently located. You can also use this Properties dialog to Restore the Folder Default or Move it to another location.

If you have further questions, I would start your own post on this Forum.

Click to expand...

I guess I must not have explained this right. I know where my files are that I want to be backed up, but right after clicking on the One Drive stuff, the normally scheduled Windows backup says it can’t find the files. So, how do I get it doing what it used to do before the One Drive intervention? Lacking a good way to get back to where it used to do just fine, then I guess I would turn off the automatic/ scheduled backup and go to another program to do the same. I’m perfectly fine doing a manual start of a program instead of one that does it automatically on a schedule.
Another thing that happened after One Drive did its thing is if I plug in my Passport and go to File Manager, I now have two drives showing as the F Drive with the same letter designation! Microsoft isn’t doing anybody any favors by constantly pushing their products on an unsuspecting public.

kodakjack said:

So, how do I get it doing what it used to do before the One Drive intervention?

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Take a look at the settings in File History. That would be where the backup service allows you to specify which files to be backed up and where the destination drive is located.

iko22 said:

Take a look at the settings in File History. That would be where the backup service allows you to specify which files to be backed up and where the destination drive is located.

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According to File History, it is pointing toward my Passport. Should the File History be on or off? Again, when I go to File Manager, why am I seeing 2 F- Drives?

kodakjack said:

Again, when I go to File Manager, why am I seeing 2 F- Drives?

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Could be normal Explorer behavior. Like this:

Yes, it's goofy but that's Windows. they are one and the same drive.

starchase said:

Could be normal Explorer behavior. Like this:
View attachment 80014
Yes, it's goofy but that's Windows. they are one and the same drive.

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OK. Should the File History be on or off? I found it off.

My head is spinning from reading comments of what this or that backup software will or won't do, what it backups up or what it won't, and having to use more than one program to perform different functions.. My backup plan is the absolute most important task in my computing life. I make full images only...religiously. I know what works and what has never failed me in the past.

For me, it's just not something I would take a gamble on by using something else that may or may not do what I want it to do and be 100% dependable about doing it. If I have to pay to feel the security I've felt for years, so be it. Some things I just won't compromise on, and this is one of them. I'll leave all the experimenting to the rest of you guys.

glasskuter said:

My head is spinning from reading comments of what this or that backup software will or won't do, what it backups up or what it won't, and having to use more than one program to perform different functions.. My backup plan is the absolute most important task in my computing life. I make full images only...religiously. I know what works and what has never failed me in the past.

For me, it's just not something I would take a gamble on by using something else that may or may not do what I want it to do and be 100% dependable about doing it. If I have to pay to feel the security I've felt for years, so be it. Some things I just won't compromise on, and this is one of them. I'll leave all the experimenting to the rest of you guys.

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You're exactly right, Glassy.

Backup reliability should be the number one priority of any backup application. If you can't trust it, then get rid of it. Why compromise?

I don't even care about speed, as backups on all my computers run on a schedule and back up to my secondary internal drive. When my desktop backups are done, Bvckup 2 automatically copies the backup images to my tertiary internal drive for additional security.

markw51 said:

ReFS is the default format when you create a DevDrive on Windows 11.

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ReFS is a bit of a No no if you need to share with some Linux and other non Windows NAS systems as nobody has "reverse engineered" any Linux drivers to access the file system so you won't be able to share files via SSH'ing to the server and using Linux CLI.

You can though send to a non Windows NAS from ReFS by using a program like FILEZILLA to sftp the files to the server FROM Windows -- however in this case you'll need to install (on Windows) the optional feature OPENSSH-SERVER, enable the service and start it.

As for Linux GUI's - that's got to be nonsense as there's every sort of GUI out there - you can almost make the whole thing more Windows than Windows itself. KDE is fine as is MINT, GNOME etc etc. - there's zillions of wallpapers and themes etc. too.

Linux might not be to everyone's liking but complaining about the lack of decent GUI's is just not valid !!!

As for backups --if you use vhdx files (physical one's or even in a VM) then these can be saved easily enough with bog standard file explorer in Windows -- no extra 3rd party software etc needed and these days you can get huge capacity very cheap "classic spinners" so lack of storage space for vhdx files shouldn't be an issue - and you're not worried about speed.

In any case these days I keep my Windows OS'es very small with most of my user data stored on the cloud and multi-media files on my NAS.

To restore these - even on bare metal -- just boot up any winpe / winre type of media (Macrium stand alone, Windows install disk etc) and restore to target disk -- and if necessary re-install the boot loader via bcdboot. -- Simple, 100% reliable and absolutely no extra 3rd party software required (if you use winpe / windows install media). I've made myself the standard Windows winpe.iso and using the boot.wim file added to my Windows boot menu


OK you don't get the stuff in commercial packages e.g browse images, incrementals etc etc - but if you just want basic simple backup - couldn't be easier. In anycase you can still browse the image -- from the bootable command line just select the vhdx file, attach it and open it as a disk.

cheers
jimbo