File History works fine for documents, images, etc. I do wish Outlook backed up automatically but it doesn’t. I periodically manually export an Outlook file to a Documents folder to ensure i have a backup. It may be weeks old but that’s better than losing everything. And yes i know the manual Outlook backup in File History works.
While I like File History, the drawback is that it doesn’t support multiple devices. I like to keep a storage device connected for normal backup and then at least yearly I’ll backup to a different device which I’ll store in a fire proof safe. This results in new, full backups when switching devices.
Excellent article but like other explanations I have read: How on earth do I know if File History has not run for whatever reason without regularly deep diving into Settings? Mine has failed on several occasions but I have never had a notification! Anyone help?
This still does not work for me into turning the file history drive. It starts to run like it should then it shuts off and I get a notice that your File History Drive is not working
Reading the comments made in 2015 I don’t see why you take the time to write articles as good as this one is. It’s an “Outstanding” article and has helped me tremendously. Thank You!!!!!! Here it is 2017 and it’s still going strong helping others.
If you want to do a clean file history prior to installing a new OS. File history is lacking an progress indicator for the user to know how long it is going to take to save the file and when it is completed. This would be useful during normal operation as well.
Although the backup schedule is set for daily this does not necessarily occur. It appears to happen at random times, often missing several days. Is there a fix for this? Also does Outlook have to be closed for the history to pick up pst files?
As of fall 2016 Win10 File History slows down my home network dramatically. Streaming media files from my NAS becomes erratic to totally non functional. Very slow file transfers as well. Turn off File History and speeds return to normal.
Also File History is not saving every hour (my setting) so I have to monitor it and hit the Back up Now button if I am creating important files. It seems to only backup at somewhere around 6 hour frequency – if that.
File history is great for recovering an accidentally deleted document, or getting back a prior version. What it’s not great for is a general backup of your system because it has no recovery feature. If my hard drive crashes and I have to re-install Windows, how to I re-load all my user files? One by one?
Another problem is that you can’t limit the number of times a file is backed up. For example, I use the Thunderbird email client. It keeps saved emails in a file, that can get large over time. One of my files is 1.5 GB in size. File history has 753 copies of this file. I can limit the length of time that File History keeps files, but if I cut the time down, then older files won’t be backed up at all.
Upgraded to Windows 10 and lost ability to have operating system recognize external hard drive. Found that File History is easy to use following instructions above. However, my hard drive no longer logs backups so no way to verify that data is actually backed up. Default is to trust that File History has actually performed intended operation.
I believe that you are saying that you can not check the saved File History on your external HD for accuracy. If so, I just go into the saved File History by clicking on it until I see Documents and look there for files that I have changed. If they are there and accurate, all’s well.
I understood that once you had made a backup, when you came back for regular backups, the system would only add what was new, not repeat the process of backing up your while system again? Is that correct?
If not, is there a way to configure the system so that it will do this. This would greatly reduce the time spent backing up the system. I use a removable external drive to do this.
I have a Win 10 machine and at first file history was working just fine. Then it stopped saving updates even though set for 1 hour. Couldn’t get it to save changes so decided to delet the history and start again. After awhile, it saved everything under C except users which is where all the data is so again deleted the useless save and ever since have been trying to get it to work. It does set up the file history folders in my backup drive but, no data at all now. Did find the error messages and quite a few reparse points were identified so deleted those finally after finding a shareware that found and deleted them so those error messages are gone but, a few remain regarding files not related to my backup that it won’t try to backup again unless they are modified which is fine but, no backup??? Really need help as cannot figure out how to make it run. Thanks in advance, Dave
File history is simply not saving documents and despite looking at several sites, I have no idea why. I never had problems before, even on Windows 8. I could not say if the problem is with Win 10 or with File History – but I can, definitively, say that it is not working.
The article title is File History, why and when does this become ‘backup’? I just wanted to ‘save’ copies of certain files!, not backup the whole of my Photo’s/Music/Documents (as I have another program for that). It also seems to ‘add’ other connected drives to the ‘backup’ and I haven’t found away to stop this other than ‘exclude’ these folders (every folder on every drive) ?????
It does not seem to do what it was intended for.
And we’re back to the annoying “Your backup drive is disconnected” issue. No, it’s not. My backup drive is never disconnected. I just double-checked. This happens every time I’m away from my computer for more than a few hours (like, you know, sleep?) Annoying, ridiculous, and no I won’t use One Drive.
I set up network folder as a backup destination.
File History Backup constantly adds the folders I removed to the backup list (including OneDrive folders) and also won’t let me exclude any folders (I add exclusions but the list is blank). I only wanted to backup my User folders (Documents, Pictures, etc.) but it keeps adding my OneDrive folders as well :/ (I have removed any shortcuts to other folders from the specified backup folders list but it didn’t help. For some reason it always go back to the default folders list… crap
I also have the problems mentioned above….It keeps backing up folders i’ve previously removed and it seems to create new copies of photos that haven’t changed since the last back up. It also manages to selectively back up folders so some with changes are missed??
Very very flakey. I am going to find a 3rd party program as I do not like what it’s doing. Any recommendations please?
Bring back “my briefcase” I say. For simple home back ups that’s all I need.
File history keeps adding folders I’ve previously removed in the settings. I want the whole of my E: backed up and selected folders on C:. I’ve set it up a couple of times now but still it keeps adding other folders.
I’m still not convinced it is actually backing up because only a few folders show on my network backup drive, despite file history still saying that the first time backup is running.
File History work but using the default settings my backup disc is full within 24 hours and I have to delete old copies of files manually to create space on the HD. The process seems very crude to me and needs refining.
I am finding that despite following each step of this tutorial File History still will not backup unless I manually hit “Back Up Now”. Does anyone else have this issue? The backup works fine, but it must be done manually.
I am having a challenge with file history. I clicked “Stop using Drive” button. And then when I went to “Add Drive,” the previous drive that I stopped using is no longer in the drop down menu. The drive still exists, but is no longer an option to select. I went to advanced options as well. Do you know the solution to this?
35 Responses to “How to use File History - Windows 10's backup solution”
File History works fine for documents, images, etc. I do wish Outlook backed up automatically but it doesn’t. I periodically manually export an Outlook file to a Documents folder to ensure i have a backup. It may be weeks old but that’s better than losing everything. And yes i know the manual Outlook backup in File History works.
While I like File History, the drawback is that it doesn’t support multiple devices. I like to keep a storage device connected for normal backup and then at least yearly I’ll backup to a different device which I’ll store in a fire proof safe. This results in new, full backups when switching devices.
Excellent article but like other explanations I have read: How on earth do I know if File History has not run for whatever reason without regularly deep diving into Settings? Mine has failed on several occasions but I have never had a notification! Anyone help?
I can’t turn it on.
I get an error: “The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it”
No one seems to know how to fix it.
The File History Service might be disabled. Read this guide: What are Windows services, what do they do and how do you manage them?. Access Services, find that service and set it to start Automatically.
It seems FileHistory only makes backup when you change a file.
This still does not work for me into turning the file history drive. It starts to run like it should then it shuts off and I get a notice that your File History Drive is not working
Reading the comments made in 2015 I don’t see why you take the time to write articles as good as this one is. It’s an “Outstanding” article and has helped me tremendously. Thank You!!!!!! Here it is 2017 and it’s still going strong helping others.
Also, the frequency keeps resetting to the default of one hour. This whole thing was cobbled together by distracted monkeys.
If you want to do a clean file history prior to installing a new OS. File history is lacking an progress indicator for the user to know how long it is going to take to save the file and when it is completed. This would be useful during normal operation as well.
Yes. I have used it. But, I don’t see how this will prevent a ransomware attack from infecting your backup.
File History doesn’t offer ransomware protection.
Although the backup schedule is set for daily this does not necessarily occur. It appears to happen at random times, often missing several days. Is there a fix for this? Also does Outlook have to be closed for the history to pick up pst files?
As of fall 2016 Win10 File History slows down my home network dramatically. Streaming media files from my NAS becomes erratic to totally non functional. Very slow file transfers as well. Turn off File History and speeds return to normal.
Also File History is not saving every hour (my setting) so I have to monitor it and hit the Back up Now button if I am creating important files. It seems to only backup at somewhere around 6 hour frequency – if that.
You can use Long Path Tool, it really helps me.
File history is great for recovering an accidentally deleted document, or getting back a prior version. What it’s not great for is a general backup of your system because it has no recovery feature. If my hard drive crashes and I have to re-install Windows, how to I re-load all my user files? One by one?
Another problem is that you can’t limit the number of times a file is backed up. For example, I use the Thunderbird email client. It keeps saved emails in a file, that can get large over time. One of my files is 1.5 GB in size. File history has 753 copies of this file. I can limit the length of time that File History keeps files, but if I cut the time down, then older files won’t be backed up at all.
Thank you for the very informative article.
How do you restore files from the previous hard drive after starting a second hard drive?
Upgraded to Windows 10 and lost ability to have operating system recognize external hard drive. Found that File History is easy to use following instructions above. However, my hard drive no longer logs backups so no way to verify that data is actually backed up. Default is to trust that File History has actually performed intended operation.
I believe that you are saying that you can not check the saved File History on your external HD for accuracy. If so, I just go into the saved File History by clicking on it until I see Documents and look there for files that I have changed. If they are there and accurate, all’s well.
I understood that once you had made a backup, when you came back for regular backups, the system would only add what was new, not repeat the process of backing up your while system again? Is that correct?
If not, is there a way to configure the system so that it will do this. This would greatly reduce the time spent backing up the system. I use a removable external drive to do this.
Thanks
Great article! Thank you so much!
🙂
I have a Win 10 machine and at first file history was working just fine. Then it stopped saving updates even though set for 1 hour. Couldn’t get it to save changes so decided to delet the history and start again. After awhile, it saved everything under C except users which is where all the data is so again deleted the useless save and ever since have been trying to get it to work. It does set up the file history folders in my backup drive but, no data at all now. Did find the error messages and quite a few reparse points were identified so deleted those finally after finding a shareware that found and deleted them so those error messages are gone but, a few remain regarding files not related to my backup that it won’t try to backup again unless they are modified which is fine but, no backup??? Really need help as cannot figure out how to make it run. Thanks in advance, Dave
File history is simply not saving documents and despite looking at several sites, I have no idea why. I never had problems before, even on Windows 8. I could not say if the problem is with Win 10 or with File History – but I can, definitively, say that it is not working.
The article title is File History, why and when does this become ‘backup’? I just wanted to ‘save’ copies of certain files!, not backup the whole of my Photo’s/Music/Documents (as I have another program for that). It also seems to ‘add’ other connected drives to the ‘backup’ and I haven’t found away to stop this other than ‘exclude’ these folders (every folder on every drive) ?????
It does not seem to do what it was intended for.
And we’re back to the annoying “Your backup drive is disconnected” issue. No, it’s not. My backup drive is never disconnected. I just double-checked. This happens every time I’m away from my computer for more than a few hours (like, you know, sleep?) Annoying, ridiculous, and no I won’t use One Drive.
I have come to the conclusion MS just wants everyone to sighup to One Drive. I can recommend EaseUS as a local backup solution.
I set up network folder as a backup destination.
File History Backup constantly adds the folders I removed to the backup list (including OneDrive folders) and also won’t let me exclude any folders (I add exclusions but the list is blank). I only wanted to backup my User folders (Documents, Pictures, etc.) but it keeps adding my OneDrive folders as well :/ (I have removed any shortcuts to other folders from the specified backup folders list but it didn’t help. For some reason it always go back to the default folders list… crap
I also have the problems mentioned above….It keeps backing up folders i’ve previously removed and it seems to create new copies of photos that haven’t changed since the last back up. It also manages to selectively back up folders so some with changes are missed??
Very very flakey. I am going to find a 3rd party program as I do not like what it’s doing. Any recommendations please?
Bring back “my briefcase” I say. For simple home back ups that’s all I need.
Nerobackitup is a decent program for backing up to an external drive and 5 free gigs of cloud too if you want it.
File history keeps adding folders I’ve previously removed in the settings. I want the whole of my E: backed up and selected folders on C:. I’ve set it up a couple of times now but still it keeps adding other folders.
I’m still not convinced it is actually backing up because only a few folders show on my network backup drive, despite file history still saying that the first time backup is running.
File History work but using the default settings my backup disc is full within 24 hours and I have to delete old copies of files manually to create space on the HD. The process seems very crude to me and needs refining.
I am finding that despite following each step of this tutorial File History still will not backup unless I manually hit “Back Up Now”. Does anyone else have this issue? The backup works fine, but it must be done manually.
Same exact symptoms here, after Windows 10 upgrade from 8.1. Any solutions?
I am having a challenge with file history. I clicked “Stop using Drive” button. And then when I went to “Add Drive,” the previous drive that I stopped using is no longer in the drop down menu. The drive still exists, but is no longer an option to select. I went to advanced options as well. Do you know the solution to this?