How to Make a Full Backup in Windows 11 – Guide
A full backup is a great way to protect your current configuration and files from hardware failures, update issues, malware attacks, file corruption, and more. If you don’t have a proper backup, you run the constant risk of losing your files, including images and documents, as well as custom settings that you may have spent many hours configuring.
This backup approach is better to revert to a previous version when you encounter problems after upgrading to a new version of Windows, or recovering the system after replacing the hard drive or encountering a critical failure. You can choose what you want to return up from a range of options. It’s entirely up for you if you come back up all your data or not. You have the option to back up whatever you want and let backup take care of it. You can come back up any type of file, including documents, emails, photos, videos and other media. You can also backup system settings, apps and other important data.
How to Take a Full Backup in Windows 11
Backup System Image Tool in Windows 11 to OneDrive
- Log in to OneDrive
- Click on the three lines in the top left corner of the main screen
- Choose “Back up my data”
- Follow the prompts to back up your data to OneDrive
Signing up for OneDrive is easy. Just use your Microsoft account linked to your Windows. ..
To get started with OneDrive, you need to register. After you register, you can find the settings in the Start menu or press the Windows + I key combination on your PC. ..
If you are not in the system tab, you can visit it by clicking on the system in the left sidebar.
The storage tab in the system window provides a variety of options for managing your computer’s storage. You can choose to store your files in the local hard drive, the cloud, or a third-party storage service.
In the advanced storage settings, you can choose to backup your computer’s files to a remote server, or to store the files on your computer’s hard drive.
Option 1: Backup files to OneDrive
- Choose the option to backup files to OneDrive.
- Select the folders that you want to back up.
- Click on the “Back Up Now” button. Option 2: Back Up Using file history
We are discussing the backup procedure for Onedrive, so click on the first option to learn more about how to back up files on OneDrive.
You will then be asked to sign in to OneDrive. If you don’t already have an account, click on the create account option. However, if you have created the account, you can log into your account by entering your email address.
After logging in with the account, you will be asked to set it up to be able to go back up your data to OneDrive. Follow the onscreen instructions to set up OneDrive and be able to backup data to it.
Once your OneDrive is ready, you will see a window stating: ‘Your OneDrive is ready for you.’ Click open my OneDrive folder. ..
This guide will show you how to backup Windows 11 to OneDrive. By following this guide, you can easily back up your computer and protect your data.
Backup to Storage
5GB is not enough to store your data. So OneDrive might not be an option for you if you don’t have a OneDrive account. If you don’t want to create a OneDrive account, you can back up your data to your storage. We have already discussed How to backup Windows 11 using OneDrive; let’s discuss How to do the same on your PC’s storage.
In the System tab, select storage and under advanced backup options, select backup options.
This will give you two options. We can select the back up files to OneDrive in the above method as we need to backup the data to OneDrive. Alternatively, we can select the back up using file history if we want to backup our data to storage.
Add a drive in the backup using the file history option to keep track of your files and folders.
You can back up your files to any external drive. You can connect an external drive to the back up your files to the external drive.
If you want your system to do backups automatically, you can toggle the auto backup my files feature.
If you want to backup your files, click on more options.
You can back up your files in three folders: Documents, Pictures, and Videos.
Save and exit settings to finish the installation.
Create a system image using the control panel
To create a system image, follow these steps: -Open the System Image Manager. -Select the backup destination and click on the Create System Image button. -Select the backup type and click on the Start button. -Wait for the system image to be created. ..
Open the Start Menu and look for Control Panel. Click Control Panel in the Start Menu search results to open it.
In the File History window, you will see a list of all the files and folders that have been changed or created in your computer.
This will open the System Image Backup window. Click on the blue arrow to the right of the name of your current backup image and select “Create a new backup.” You will be asked to provide a name for your new backup, and then you will be able to choose a location for your new backup. You can also choose to have your current backup automatically created when you first start File History.
In the left sidebar, click Create a system image.
To backup your computer to a hard drive, select “Backup to a hard drive.” To back up your computer to one or more DVDs, select “Backup to one or more DVDs.” To back up your computer to a network location, select “Backup to a network location.” ..
You will be prompted to select the appropriate location for your system to image itself on the next screen. Once this is done, click Next.
Now on the next screen you will see which drives are being supported up and to which location. Once done, click on the Start Backup button button.
After the backup is complete, you can close the window and successfully create a Windows system image.
Final note
This guide will show you how to make a full backup of your Windows 11 computer in case something happens and you need to restore your computer to its original state. ..