WHY NEED FILE BACKUP SOFTWARE?
In a computer, you may see different files, such as, documents, word, excel, PPT, picture etc, which is to meet different needs of our work and life. And many users want to create an exact copy of them in case something bad happens, for example, your computer is infected by virus and some of the important files are deleted.
To avoid this issue, the first though is to copy and paste files to another location. But it is suitable for small amount of files. And you may forget to transfer some of them. In view of these situations, it’s suggested to backup files to external hard drive automatically with a free file backup software.
DOES WINDOWS 10 HAS A FILE BACKUP PROGRAM?
Windows 10 provides you two file backup software, namely Backup and Restore (Windows 7) and File History, and both of them are designed to backup all the user files on the computer. Also, if you know the exact location of files you want to backup, you still choose them in both Windows built-in software. And there are some differences between them in the following chart.
| Backup and Restore (Windows 7) | File History | |
| Backup Items | Backup all the user files, operating system, and other partition(s). | Backup folders save on user account folders as well as files in subfolders. |
| Backup frequency | Backup files in daily, weekly, monthly with a specified date and time. | Backup files from every 10 minutes to daily |
| Backup storage device | Backup to internal or external drive, and network location. | Backup to external drive, home network. |
If all of your files are stored in the user account folder, both of them are a good option to backup files. You can choose them depending on backup frequency and storage device.
Both of them backup only changed files since last backup, but it will not compress backup image. In this case, whether you backup files with a short or long frequency, it will cause different problems, such as, backup disk full, increasing risk of data loss.
BEST FREE FILE BACKUP SOFTWARE FOR WINDOWS 10
Considering the potential problems, you may find that the Windows built-in software is not good option. You need the Best Backup Software to backup files in Windows 10, AOMEI Backupper Standard, for example. And you can enjoy the following advantages:
- Schedule backup files with different frequencies, such as, daily, weekly, monthly. And you can further set backup date, time and intervals.
- Backup only changed files in a scheduled task. By default, this software use incremental backup as method, which backup only changes since last backup, whether it’s a full backup or incremental backup.
- Minimize disk space you will use. This software provides you with multiple disk space savior features, such as, normal or high compression level, automatic splitting, etc.
- Supports various backup destination, including internal or external drive, USB drive, network drive, cloud drive, etc.
Check: Steps to Extend C Drive in Windows 10?
HOW TO CREATE A FILE BACKUP IN WINDOWS 10 STEP BY STEP.
Here you will use File Backup feature in AOMEI Backupper Standard to backup files in Windows 10. Considering the data security, it’s suggested to backup files to external drive, USB drive, cloud drive, network location etc.
- Download, install and launch this software. Then, choose “Backup” and “File Backup” subsequently to backup files in Windows 10.
- Click “Add File” or “Add Folder” to select files to be backed up.
- Click the folder shaped button to select a storage device.
Notes:
- If you want to backup files to external drive, you need to connect it in advance.
- If you want to create Online Backup, you need to install cloud drive and configure it on your computer.
- If you want to backup files to network location, you need to get its IP address, user name, password.
- Click “Schedule Backup” and enable it, then select “Daily”, “Weekly”, “Monthly”. An usually, it’s used with incremental backup to backup only changed files. Optionally, click “Options” and enable high compression under the Advanced tab.
- Afterward, click “Start Backup” to backup files in Windows 10.
CONCLUSION.
This article introduce you to 3 file backup software free for Windows 10 and how to backup files with the best software – AOMEI Backupper Standard. It not only allows you to backup files automatically, but also reduce the disk space usage as much as possible.
By default, this software backup only changed files in a scheduled task. And it will compress backup image with normal compression, and split backup image to smaller one automatically. Also, you can change normal compression to higher or use advanced features, such as, delete old backup image on a regular basis with automatic backup cleanup.