

Imagine never needing to re-install Windows and your programs ever again. Third-party backup software is much better.Ī disk image is great for backing up all your software.

BEST HARD DRIVE BACKUP SOFTWARE FOR WINDOWS 10 WINDOWS 10
Windows 10 has File History, which makes backups of individual files and folders, but it's awkward to backup all your personal files in one shot. Your computer could be backing up while you sleep. To make life easier, you want to get third-party backup software, which will make it easy to select files and folders for backing up and to schedule your backups so they happen automatically,Įvery day. The only drawback to copying and pasting is that it gets tedious quickly. Backing up your personal data is a 'file and folder' backup, and it'sĪs easy as copying your Documents, Music, Pictures and Video folders to an external hard drive. Software can always be re-installed, but your personal data is irreplaceable. The most important thing you need to backup is your own data - your documents, music, pictures and videos. Metadata is information stored on a hard disk that describes the technical details of the disk. (To be technically correct, blank space on your hard drive is not copied.) This includes more than just the files and folders on your hard drive it also includes theĭrive metadata. A disk image is more complicated.Ī disk image is an exact copy of your entire hard drive, compressed into a single file. You copy files and folders from place 'A' to place 'B'. There are essentially two types of backup: a 'file and folder' backup and a disk image.Ī file and folder backup is easy to understand. Backing up is a huge topic, well beyond the capacity of a community forum.
