A backup is a secondary copy of a file. As a precautionary measure against data loss, you can back up many files to external USB storage devices. Windows 11 includes some alternative built-in utilities that enable you to back up files to storage drives in different ways. This is how you can back up your files in Windows 11 with those tools.
How to Create a System Backup With Backup and Restore
As a safeguard for Windows startup issues, you can create a full system image backup. A system backup (or image) is a complete snapshot copy of everything on an entire hard (or SSD) drive. It is the largest backup type that can consume hundreds of gigabytes of storage space. Therefore, you’ll need a suitably sized external USB hard drive to create a system backup.
Backup and Restore is still the most suitable built-in utility for creating full hard drive copies in Windows 11. That’s a Control Panel tool Microsoft introduced in Vista, which Microsoft hasn’t updated in a while. Nevertheless, Backup and Restore remains available in Windows 11.
Here is how you can set up a full hard drive copy with Backup and Restore:
To view the file search tool, press the Windows 11 taskbar button with the magnifying glass icon. Enter Control Panel in your Type here to search box. Click Control Panel in the search tool to view that app. Select Small icons on the View by drop-down menu. Then select Back up and Restore to open that utility. Plug an external USB hard drive into your PC. Click Create a system image on the left of the window. Select the On a hard disk radio button and your USB drive on the menu. Press the Start backup button.
A full system image backup might take a while to finish. If you’re using a laptop, make sure it’s plugged in and wait for the backup process to complete.
You can restore system image backup copies outside Windows from the Advanced Startup Options menu. Our guide on how to access the advanced startup options menu tells you how you can reach that menu.
From there, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options and click See more recovery options. Clicking System Image Recovery will bring up a Re-image your computer tool from which you can select to restore your backup system image.
You can also copy single user folders with Backup and Restore. Click the Setup backup option within the Backup and Restore tool. Choose a storage device or folder to copy the data to, and select the Next option. Select the Let me choose radio button and click Next to view the window directly below.
Click the arrows for the Computer and C: drive checkboxes there to view more folders to select. Then you can choose to copy just your User folder or a more specific directory in it. Press Next again to select the Save settings and run backup option.
How to Back Up User Folder Libraries With File History
File History is a backup tool more specifically designed for copying user file data. The good thing about that utility is that it automatically copies files to connected USB drives at a selected time interval. It also enables users to configure how long saved file copies are kept. So, File History is many users’ preferred utility for backing up user files in Windows 11.
However, some users have been a bit confused by the disappearance of File History options from Windows 11’s Settings app. File History is still fully available within the Control Panel. You can enable that utility to back up files in Windows 11 as follows:
First, open your Control Panel and select Small icons as covered in the first four steps for the previous backup method. Click File History within the Control Panel. Insert a USB flash drive to back up files on. Press the Turn on button to enable File History. Click Advanced settings on the left of the File History tool. Select a time period in the Save copies of files drop-down menu. Choose an option of preference within the Keep saved versions drop-down menu. Press the Save changes button.
File History will now automatically back up all user files from their library folders when your selected external flash drive is connected to your PC. However, you can select to exclude certain user folder libraries. Click Exclude libraries on the left of the File History applet. Then press the Add button, choose a user library to leave out, and click Select Folder. Don’t forget to click Save changes to apply.
You can open backup data by clicking the Restore personal files option within the utility’s Control Panel applet. A new window will open from which you can select a copied file to restore. Choose a file from there, and click the Restore button.
Alternatively, you can look through the File History folder on your backup drive in Explorer. That folder includes the file copies. You can select to open the files from there or move them back to your C: drive.
How to Back Up Folders and Files With Robocopy
Robocopy is a handy command-line utility for copying folders and files. You can quickly back up a whole folder or single file by entering one Robocopy command within the Command Prompt. This is how to back up single a folder to an external USB drive with the Robocopy tool in Windows 11.
Launch Windows 11’s file and app search tool, which is included on the Start menu, and type Command Prompt in that utility’s text box. Open Command Prompt by selecting the matching search result. Enter this Robocopy command with actual folder directories and drive letters included: robocopy “C:\Folder1\Folder2” “X:\Folder1\Folder2” Press Return to back up the folder with Robocopy.
You’ll need to replace the X: in the command specified above with the actual letter of your external drive. Enter the full paths for the source and backup directories. For example, let’s suppose you wanted to back up your whole Users folder on the C: drive to a Backup folder on an external D: drive. The command would look like this:
Secure Your Data by Backing up Folders and Files
You probably won’t need to restore backup copies of files very often. However, that doesn’t mean you will never need backup copies of files since there are numerous potential data loss scenarios. It’s better to be safe than sorry, right? So, it’s recommended to at least back up your folders that include more important user files with the methods above just in case.
