My file history Drive Crashed–how do I delete the previous Drive and select a new drive. It will not let me select a new drive. I need to clear the files history and start all over.
So you have replaced an external drive with a new one?
If yes, then turn off File History, plug in the external drive and see what letter it gets assigned (most probably it is the same drive letter as you old one), turn on File History and configure it to use the new drive.
Marjorie Wright
9 years ago
My Contacts aren’t being saved on my external drive. Please can anyone tell me how to save these?
Adeel Sami
9 years ago
Does Windows 8 allow to take backup using File History feature for other computer drives as well?
Dave
8 years ago
I purchased a 1 TB external HD and I have about 800 GB of video, photos, music, etc. not operating files, so I know I have plenty of room. I plugged in the drive to start fresh and yes it is going to take a while, so I don’t leave it on continuous, so I turn off, and un connect HD from time to time and when I shut down PC when I leave the house or go to sleep. I noticed that it is making a copy of files in my library but I also noticed some of the files are out of place with a different name. Like I might have a list of movies in my video and on the back up HD, there is a list of many of the movies, but I found some of the movies in a different folder rather than [C] [Users] [ my computer name] [Video] [movie name.mp4] The file is in the folder [$OF] [653] and then the file has this name [6362 (2015_04_25 09_02_51 UTC).mp4]
What does that mean? Also if I manual delete or add files to this HD, does it affect the file history backup? Like if I put a photo from my laptop on the HD, thats not on my PC that I am backing up, will file history delete it. Also if I delete a movie like Avatar on my HD but not my PC, will it confuse file history backup? I am also learning on these things. so I may do a full HD erase and start over. If thats the case will file history know that it needs to start a full backup of my files again since it already did it once. Or does it know I formatted the HD and it needs to do it all over again.? Thank you
Fred Schaeffer
6 years ago
Excellent teaching.
Terry Holovach
4 years ago
File History does not work in Windows 8.1 regardless of how you set it up. I used it for 3-4 years and then it stopped backing up regardless of storage space, configurations or settings. It is not a good BACKUP solution, in fact, real bad.
Chuck
3 years ago
Thank you for the guide, gave me the information I needed to know, in a clear manner.
I did not clear up much space from my file history, as I recognized that something needed to be done to manage the drive shortly after setup.
S. Crawford
1 year ago
This article is wrong and doesn’t work. It may have been correct when published four years ago, but its recommended portal, “CLEAN UP TABS” is no longer displayed as a tab or otherwise. This may be due to Windows Updates, but this article is useless until it’s updated, it would seem.
My file history Drive Crashed–how do I delete the previous Drive and select a new drive. It will not let me select a new drive. I need to clear the files history and start all over.
So you have replaced an external drive with a new one?
If yes, then turn off File History, plug in the external drive and see what letter it gets assigned (most probably it is the same drive letter as you old one), turn on File History and configure it to use the new drive.
My Contacts aren’t being saved on my external drive. Please can anyone tell me how to save these?
Does Windows 8 allow to take backup using File History feature for other computer drives as well?
I purchased a 1 TB external HD and I have about 800 GB of video, photos, music, etc. not operating files, so I know I have plenty of room. I plugged in the drive to start fresh and yes it is going to take a while, so I don’t leave it on continuous, so I turn off, and un connect HD from time to time and when I shut down PC when I leave the house or go to sleep. I noticed that it is making a copy of files in my library but I also noticed some of the files are out of place with a different name. Like I might have a list of movies in my video and on the back up HD, there is a list of many of the movies, but I found some of the movies in a different folder rather than [C] [Users] [ my computer name] [Video] [movie name.mp4] The file is in the folder [$OF] [653] and then the file has this name [6362 (2015_04_25 09_02_51 UTC).mp4]
What does that mean? Also if I manual delete or add files to this HD, does it affect the file history backup? Like if I put a photo from my laptop on the HD, thats not on my PC that I am backing up, will file history delete it. Also if I delete a movie like Avatar on my HD but not my PC, will it confuse file history backup? I am also learning on these things. so I may do a full HD erase and start over. If thats the case will file history know that it needs to start a full backup of my files again since it already did it once. Or does it know I formatted the HD and it needs to do it all over again.? Thank you
Excellent teaching.
File History does not work in Windows 8.1 regardless of how you set it up. I used it for 3-4 years and then it stopped backing up regardless of storage space, configurations or settings. It is not a good BACKUP solution, in fact, real bad.
Thank you for the guide, gave me the information I needed to know, in a clear manner.
I did not clear up much space from my file history, as I recognized that something needed to be done to manage the drive shortly after setup.
This article is wrong and doesn’t work. It may have been correct when published four years ago, but its recommended portal, “CLEAN UP TABS” is no longer displayed as a tab or otherwise. This may be due to Windows Updates, but this article is useless until it’s updated, it would seem.