Will File History restore on a W11 machine what was backed up on a W10 machine?

I now use Aomei , it work and it's easy to use

Haydon said:

As to 'Backup and Restore (Windows 7)' it is disconcerting to hear that it can fail restore to bare metal....

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The biggest failing of a 'Backup and Restore (Windows 7)' system image is that, for no apparent reason, it can suddenly fail to recognise a perfectly sound backup image as being able to be restored. Microsoft themselves deprecated it four years ago and recommend you use something (anything) else.

Microsoft said:

System Image Backup (SIB) Solution
We recommend that users use full-disk backup solutions from other vendors.

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Features removed or Deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

Bree said:

Microsoft themselves deprecated it four years ago

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Ouch, that hurts. Backup and Restore (Windows 7) is still part of the Windows 10 OS and I did not suspect at all that it was deprecated 4 years ago. I feel like an idiot, I have spent many hours in those 4 years maintaining the backups.

After recovery (pun intended) I think that I don't need a disk clone. The few times that I did it, I have voluntarily rebuilt my workhorse from scratch as my first and cleanest choice. What I obviously still need is file backup. I have File History, but having another file backup software may be a good idea. I don't like installing third party software on my workhorse, so ...

... is there file backup software that can be installed on a USB stick or on the external backup medium itself?

Majority of them can be. Macrium for sure, and I'm pretty positive the other big players like Aomei and others can as well.

I know for a fact CloneZilla can as I use it exclusively off USB.

For me when I'm just saving folders to a remote drive I use "TeraCopy". Its a drag and drop app that speeds up your transfer and secures and checks your files in transport. My recommendation. I would be surprised if those in the no haven't hired of or used it. I've been using it for a long time.

Haydon said:

Ouch, that hurts. Backup and Restore (Windows 7) is still part of the Windows 10 OS and I did not suspect at all that it was deprecated 4 years ago. I feel like an idiot, I have spent many hours in those 4 years maintaining the backups.

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There are two quite separate functions in Backup & Restore, the System Image which can restore a replica of your working system in the event of a drive failure, and a files backup. It is the system imaging that was deprecated.

Even when it works the system imaging is awkward to use with little or no user options. There is no easy way to restore individual files from a Microsoft system image, it's all or nothing. As long as it can recognise a system image the restore is reliable though. I used it for years before switching to Macrium Reflect Free.

The files backup is more reliable, but has the disadvantage that (being designed in the days of floppy disks) saves the files to a series of linked .zip files with a master catalogue. There is no way to manually extract files, you need a working PC with Backup & Restore installed.

What I obviously still need is file backup. I have File History, but having another file backup software may be a good idea. I don't like installing third party software on my workhorse, so ...

... is there file backup software that can be installed on a USB stick or on the external backup medium itself?

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One of the many advantages of Macrium (and most other 3rd-party system imaging) is that a Macrium image can be mounted as a virtual drive. You can then explore it with File Explorer to retrieve any file(s) you may need to restore. As such, a system image made with Macrium Reflect Free can be all you need. If you want a selective files and folders backup, then that is in the paid-for version.

You can never have enough backups, so in addition to my Macrium images I have also written a batch file to backup my important folders using the Microsoft command line utility RoboCopy. I also have File History turned on.

If you want a ready made files and folders backup, then I have seen others recommend Karen's Replicator. I've not needed to try it myself as I have my own solution, but it does get recommended frequently.

Thanks for the pointers, guys! Here is what I found so far:

Macrium Reflect

Aomei Backupper

Clonezilla Live

TeraCopy

Karen's Replicator

TeraCopy and Karen's Replicator have similar functionalities, I like the file verification feature of the former, but things like that is of course implementation dependent. Comparison: File History can also be used for weekly 'runs' on a separate backup drive(s)

Keep the discussion going!

Haydon said:

Macrium Reflect
Installation on a USB stick requires a Technician License for $799 + $599/year
Aomei Backupper
Installation on a USB stick requires a Technician Plus license for $699 without upgrades or $899 with lifetime upgrades

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Macrium Reflect Free when installed on a PC can make a bootable recovery USB. When booted from this recovery USB all functions of Reflect Free are available, backup to an image as well as restoring from one. I frequently use this to image my PCs that do not have Macrium installed.

Reflect Home (single license $70, perpetual) adds file and folder backup functions.

Although I have not used it myself, I understand the same is true for Aomei Backupper.

If all your PCs are running Windows, you could also explore using RoboCopy. While you cannot put the app itself on a flash drive, you can write a batch file that will copy the files you want copied from one folder to another, put that on the USB and launch it on any machine running Windows that you plug the USB drive into.

Some links:




It would take some doing, as you'd either have to develop the batch script to allow for user input so you can tell it what to backup where, or set it up so that it looks for specific folders in specific locations on specific machines and makes backups of the files within those folders to your selected locations. It would take some time to set it up correctly, but once set up you'd be good to go.

And for reference, here is an article from LifeWire listing all of the above mentioned software, and tons others, as well, for backups - both file / folder based and system imaging.


For system backups, I use Macrium and CloneZilla. For file backups, I mainly do it manually. But I'm in the process of setting up a machine to use as a NAS to which I'll be backing up files soon enough, probably on a nightly basis.

Bree said:

Macrium Reflect Free when installed on a PC can make a bootable recovery USB. When booted from this recovery USB all functions of Reflect Free are available, backup to an image as well as restoring from one. I frequently use this to image my PCs that do not have Macrium installed.

Reflect Home (single license $70, perpetual) adds file and folder backup functions.

Although I have not used it myself, I understand the same is true for Aomei Backupper.

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You can create a bootable USB stick or optical disk with the free version of AOMEI. They work fine as well. I have always found the disks to be more reliable. Sometimes USB sticks are hit or miss whether they will boot or not.

A built-in optical disk drive is a must for my present (and next) desktop for that important reason, a reliable boot disk although I prepared a boot USB stick as well for use with an on-board USB port. Both have been prepared and tested to work on the same machine (and on the same USB port even, all memorialized in a little handwritten note in the binder where I store them)

The other reason for an optical disk drive is additional archiving of my most important data Obviously, I use other backup media for my main backup with more storage space.

I am a fan of optical disk drives and optical disks for their utilitarian value, may they still be around for the next decade(s) !