Forum Discussion

Zioner's avatar
Zioner
Tin Contributor
Oct 08, 2026

File History not working in Windows 11 for system backup. Any good alternative?

I've been trying to use File History on my Windows 11 PC, but it doesn't seem to work properly. Sometimes it fails to back up my files, and other times it doesn't recognize my external drive. What I...
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LucasBrown's avatar
LucasBrown
Iron Contributor
Oct 08, 2026

When File history broke after updating to windows 11, the frustrating part is not knowing whether the next backup will actually contain the files you need. Kopia takes a different approach by creating encrypted snapshots of selected files and folders, with support for local drives, network storage, and several remote or cloud destinations.

The snapshots are incremental, so unchanged data does not need to be stored again each time. Deduplication, compression, automatic scheduling, retention policies, and end-to-end encryption are also built in. For someone dealing with File history broke after updating to windows 11, this gives you much more control over regular file backups and how previous versions are retained.

What It Does Well

  1. Incremental snapshots = Only new or changed file content needs to be added after the initial backup.
  2. Flexible storage = Backups can be kept on local, network, remote, or supported cloud storage.
  3. Encrypted backups = Snapshot contents and file names are protected with end-to-end encryption.
  4. Deduplication = Duplicate content is stored only once, reducing unnecessary storage use.
  5. Flexible recovery = Restore complete folders or select individual files from previous snapshots.

 

Official site: https://kopia.io/

It is free and open source, but it focuses on file and folder backups rather than complete system images.