Computer backup has come a long way. It helps you to avert the risk of losing your data due to sudden hardware failure, accidental delete, malware and virus attacks, Windows update failure and more. By creating a backup of your Windows PC you can be tension-free.
The advancement of technology has made it possible to take a full backup of your Windows 10 PC. If you know the right steps, you can get it done without hassles.
If you want to know how to create backup of Windows 10 PC to an external hard drive, you are in the right place. In this guide, we will tell you the steps you need to perform to get it done. Along with that, we will also discuss a few important things.
How to Backup Windows 10 PC to an External Hard Drive?
If you think that creating a backup for your Windows 10 is difficult, then you are wrong. It takes just a few simple steps to backup PC to external hard drive. In this section, we will give you the steps to take a full backup of your Windows 10 PC on an external hard drive.
Here is what you need to do:
1. At first, go to the Settings. Then click on ‘Update & Security’.
2. In the left panel, you’ll see Backup’ option. Click on it.
3. Now click on the option “Add a drive” that is located under Back up using File History.
4. Now, you’ll see list of External Drives available for backup. Click on the external drive name which you want to use for backup.
5. By default ‘Automatically back up my files’ button will turn on. You can adjust backup settings by clicking on ‘More options’.
6. After clicking More options, you’ll see Backup Options on the screen.
7. You can click ‘Back up now’ button to start the backup process immediately.
8. Under Backup Options, you can see backup size, set schedule for backup (every hour, every 12 hours, Daly, etc.), list of folders included in the Backup. You can also add/remove a folder from the Backup.
9. You can also exclude folder(s) from the backup process. Those folders won’t be added in the backup.
10. If you want to stop backup on a particular drive, you can choose ‘Stop using drive’. This won’t delete files from the current backup drive. It will just stop using that drive for backup. You can also use this option if you want to change an External Drive for backup.
11. That’s it! We’ve completed the backup process and backup options.
12. Now, if you want to restore data then click on the button ‘Restore files from a current backup’ at the end of the screen. On the next screen you choose folders of your choice or all and hit the Green ‘Restore’ button.
The backup wizard takes around minutes to a few hours to complete the backup process. The time taken depends on the total amount of data and also on the speed of your external hard drive. To ensure safe and fast backup process, choose an external hard drive with better speed and connectivity port.
Why Windows 10 PC Backup is Important?
Creating a backup of your Windows 10 PC is important for various reasons. You never know what happens to your device. Therefore, you should always backup your data to prevent it from getting lost or deleted.
- Virus and malware attacks are a big thing in the computer world. Your device is always vulnerable to such attacks when you are surfing the internet. If your PC gets infected with a virus or malware, you may end up losing all your important data. This is why taking regular backups of your Windows 10 PC is crucial.
- Computer backups also enable active and fast accessibility of your documents anywhere and anytime.
- Hard disks are the main storage system of any PC. In case, your hard drive starts to malfunction, you may end up losing your data. To prevent this from happening, you must take a backup of your computer.
Tips to Take Windows 10 PC Backup
Here are some useful tips that you should follow:
1. You should use an external hard drive with sufficient space while creating a backup. Make sure that the hard drive is safe and free from any viruses or malware. We recommend you to once scan your hard drive before you start.
2. The external hard drive you are using to create a backup should be empty. What we mean is that you shouldn’t store any other thing other than your computer backup in that particular hard drive.
Creating a backup of a Windows 10 PC is an easy process. You don’t need professional help or any tech knowledge to get it done. Just follow the steps given in the post and you are good to go.
