# How to Back Up Your PC with Windows Backup & File History

URL: https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/backup-pc-windows-backup-file-history/
Published: 2026-05-20 | Updated: 2026-08-10 | Author: Ankit Kumar
Tags: Windows 11, Data Recovery, Files, Security
Summary: Set up File History and Windows Backup on Windows 11 so a deleted file or dead drive can't wipe out your photos, documents, and settings. Step-by-step.
Recommended app: RecoverPro — https://www.mytechnician.tech/apps/data-recovery-pro/ (Microsoft Store: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9MZ613NS5TNN?hl=en-us&cid=mytechnician-web). Optional; every step below uses built-in Windows tools.

## The Problem
People call after the drive starts clicking, or after ransomware, asking to recover years of photos. By then the options are expensive and uncertain. Windows 11 includes backup tools most people never switch on—**File History** for documents and photos, and **Windows Backup** for settings and app lists. Ten minutes of setup beats a four-figure recovery attempt.

> **Already deleted something?** Stop writing to that drive and read [recover deleted files in Windows 11](https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/how-to-recover-deleted-files-windows/) first. Backup is for next time.

## What Each Tool Actually Does
| Goal | Tool | Protects against |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly versions of Desktop, Documents, Pictures | **File History** to an external drive | Deletion, overwriting, drive failure |
| Settings, Wi-Fi profiles, app list | **Windows Backup** to your Microsoft account | Getting a new PC set up |
| Files available anywhere, versioned | **OneDrive** | Deletion, device loss |
| A restorable copy of the whole system | **System image** or third-party imaging | Drive failure, needing the exact machine back |

None of these is a complete solution alone. File History does not restore Windows itself. A system image does not protect a file you deleted three weeks ago. OneDrive syncs a deletion straight to the cloud (though its Recycle Bin holds it for 30 days).

## Step 1: Set Up File History
### Get a drive
An external USB drive at least twice the size of the data you care about. Leave it connected at a desk, or plug it in weekly on a laptop.

### Turn it on
1. Press `Win + R` and run `control /name Microsoft.FileHistory`.
2. Click **Turn on** and select the external drive.
3. Click **Advanced settings**:
   * **Save copies of files:** Every hour is the default and is sensible.
   * **Keep saved versions:** **Until space is needed**, or 1–2 years if the drive is large.
4. Click **Exclude folders** to leave out large, replaceable things—game libraries, video caches, virtual machine images.

By default File History covers your libraries: Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, Contacts, and Favourites. If you keep work in a folder elsewhere, add it to a library (right-click the folder → **Show more options** → **Include in library**) so File History picks it up.

### Restoring a file
* **A single file:** right-click the folder it lived in → **Properties** → **Previous Versions** → pick a date → **Open**, then drag the file out.
* **Browsing by date:** open **File History** → **Restore personal files**, and use the arrows to move through time.

Copy the older version out rather than clicking Restore over a newer good copy.

## Step 2: Turn On Windows Backup
This does not back up your files—it backs up the settings that make setting up a new PC painless.

1. **Settings** → **Accounts** → **Windows backup**.
2. Turn on **Remember my apps** and **Remember my preferences**.
3. Under **OneDrive folder syncing**, choose which of Desktop, Documents, and Pictures sync to the cloud.

Be aware that the free OneDrive tier is 5 GB, and a Pictures folder will exhaust that quickly. Treat this as convenience, not as your backup.

## Step 3: Add a System Image (Optional but Worthwhile)
For "restore this exact PC after the SSD dies":

1. **Control Panel** → **Backup and Restore (Windows 7)** → **Create a system image**.
2. Choose the external drive, confirm which partitions to include, and let it run—it can take hours.
3. Also create a **system repair disc** or a Windows installation USB, since you need something to boot from to restore the image.
4. Store the drive disconnected.

Microsoft has deprecated this tool, so for a machine you depend on, consider third-party imaging software (Macrium Reflect, Veeam Agent) which is actively maintained.

## Step 4: Test the Restore
An untested backup is a hope, not a backup.

* Restore one file from File History today and confirm it opens.
* Once a year, check the external drive is actually still being written to—**File History** shows the date of the last backup run, and a drive that quietly stopped working in March is depressingly common.

## The Rules That Actually Matter
**3-2-1:** three copies of anything you cannot lose, on two different media, with one off-site. In practice for a home PC: the original, an external drive, and a cloud copy.

**One copy must be offline.** Ransomware encrypts every drive it can reach, including a permanently connected backup drive. Rotating two USB drives, with one unplugged, defeats this entirely—see [what to do if hit by ransomware](https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/what-to-do-if-hit-by-ransomware/).

**Automate it.** A backup you have to remember to run is a backup you will not have. See [set up automatic backups so you never lose files](https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/set-up-automatic-backups/).

## Common Mistakes
* **RAID is not a backup.** It protects against a drive failing, not against deletion, ransomware, or fire.
* **A synced cloud folder is only half a backup.** A deletion or an encryption event syncs too. Version history is what saves you, so check your provider keeps it.
* **Backing up to a second partition of the same physical disk.** When the disk fails, both go.
* **Never checking it.** See Step 4.

> **No backup and a drive already failing?** Scan it before giving up: [RecoverPro](https://www.mytechnician.tech/apps/data-recovery-pro/) can pull files off a partition that Windows can no longer read—install it to a different drive.

Related: [organise and back up your important documents](https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/organize-and-back-up-important-documents/) and, before selling a PC, run a final backup and verify it: [wipe a PC before selling or donating](https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/wipe-pc-before-selling-donating/).

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Source: https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/backup-pc-windows-backup-file-history/ — My Technician, free Windows 10/11 troubleshooting guides.
Related tool: RecoverPro (Windows data recovery software to recover deleted files, restore formatted drives, and rescue data from corrupted partitions on Windows 10 and 11.) — https://www.mytechnician.tech/apps/data-recovery-pro/
More guides: https://www.mytechnician.tech/llms.txt