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Noanhuil's avatar
Noanhuil
Copper Contributor
Oct 11, 2024

Any simple way to backup Windows 11 to external hard drive?

Hi,   I am using Windows 11 on my five years old HP laptop and there are a lot of important data on it. I was told to backup the data in case of any bad things happening. I want to backup Windows 1...
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Yarizon's avatar
Yarizon
Copper Contributor
Oct 11, 2024

About how to backup windows 11 to external drive? First things first, you need an external drive. Make sure it's big enough to hold all your important files and data. Personally, I like using at least a 1TB drive


Connect the Drive: Plug that external drive into your computer. Windows should recognize it automatically. If it doesn't, go to File Explorer and see if it pops up. If you're getting nothing, try a different USB port or cable—those things can be tricky!
Open Settings: Go to the Start Menu and click on Settings (that little gear icon). Then head over to System and look for Storage.
Back It Up:

  • Under Backup, you'll see options like "Backup using File History." Click on that.
  • Turn on File History if it's not already enabled.
  • Click Add a drive and select your external drive from the list. Boom! That's it!

Once you've added the drive, you can play around with the settings, click on More options under the File History section. Here, you can choose how often you want Windows to back up your files (I usually go for hourly—it's nice to be safe) and how long you want to keep the backups.

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