The worst-case scenario has befallen even the most careful computer user: a coffee mug spills on your laptop or an update wipes all your files and photos. Despite your best effort, accidents happen. You can take the sting out of any mishap if you have a backup.
Much like flossing, backing up your computer is a regular practice that is crucial to your technological health. While many know it is vital, not many people remember to do so regularly.
Below is an exploration of when backups can be especially helpful to you as well as a step-by-step guide to creating a backup of your Windows computer.
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Ideally, you are regularly backing up your computer. For the rest of us, there are some key moments to back up your computer, such as:
The reason for these key moments is that it gives you the ability to protect your data before you need to preserve it. You may need to reformat your computer to get it back to working condition. If something goes wrong in the process, you will have a copy of your data safely “tucked away” via a backup.
Before I dive into the ways to back up your data, you will need to have a location to save your data.
You’ve got two paths here. The choices are fairly simple: in the cloud or on an external drive. Keeping a backup in the cloud somewhere other than in your real possession, or backing to an external drive that you control. I’ve long ago lost trust in storing anything valuable and meaningful on someone else’s cloud. I still use cloud storage, just not for what’s sensitive and truly important. My assumption is that anything you store on a cloud system is not private.
If you are considering these options, be sure to head over to CyberGuy.com and search “back up your devices” by clicking the magnifying glass at the top of my website.
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Every Operating System version has variations, but the instructions below are outlined for Windows 10.
There are two main types of backups for Windows 10: Image or File Backup.
Both are great to have, with the image backup only being necessary several times a year and usually before any big updates or software installs. The file backups should be done regularly as you are more likely to change or accumulate individual files such as photos and word documents.
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Please note: The backup may take several hours depending on the size of your backup. A best practices approach is to pick a time (perhaps at the end of the day) so you can let your computer back up without interruption or slowing you down.
After the backup is created, you’ll be asked if you want to create a “System Repair Disc.”
File History is a software program that is a component of Windows 10. It is an easy-to-use program to automate regular file backups.
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If you’d like to set up automatic backups for file history or image backups, follow the instructions below:
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If you are already logged-in or able to login to the computer, you can follow the steps below to Restore your computer using a System Image Backup:
If a file or folder goes missing that you’ve backed up, here is the process to retrieve it:
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