Windows 10 Backup Program

GordonThree.. This backup drive was made with 3 partitions. (1) is for an extensive music library of over 400 plus gb. (2) is pictures only (3) is for backups of files and the one I now want to use for File History but can't.

I found another 60 GB USB portable drive/in enclosure in my shop and it is empty. File history will let me use it.. Guess I will use it monthly and keep it in the drawer unconnected when not in use!

You need a drive equal or great than your c drive as I recall, even if you don't want to back everything. Doesn't not have to be dedicated, none of mine are.

Just curious what's with all these partitions? They had a purpose back in the stone age, now not really.

Thanks to everyone who responded.. Apparently a backup is not what I really needed for keeping files (several generations back) up to date but rather File History.. Again, Win 10 file history function appears to want a drive that is not being used ba any other program to set it up. Here is my new question?? I have a USB Hard Drive attached to my PC with two large (500GB) partitions on it.. which each one less than 25% used..While this drive is in service, can I split one of the existing 500GB partitions into 2 x 250 GB partitions?? thus giving me an un-used drive (partition) to use for File History. I have Googled this question but flooded with responses that urge me to buy this or that partition program.. Maybe the answer is just buy another new drive.. Thanks again for all of your responses.. Making life much easier for me..

I generally use a Western Digital USB 1 TB Passport drive and WD backup/restore. Only connected when backing up or restoring.

Dave

GordonThree wrote:
Another strong recommendation, don't leave the backup drive connected all the time. If the host is compromised, consider any connected backup drive lost or compromised.

Good advice. The practical application that I assume you might be thinking of is ransomware - they will generally encrypt any device the compromised system can access so if your backup drive is attached it would be encrypted, too.

Another strong recommendation, don't leave the backup drive connected all the time. If the host is compromised, consider any connected backup drive lost or compromised.

It is never a good idea to store backups on the same physical media as the active partition. When a failure occurs it would most likely take down the backup drive too! Some backup programs won't allow that either. So use a different media to be safe...

There's File History - which saves old copies of your files, so you can restore if you need to get a previous version.
The is "System Image", which is a snapshot of everything - useful for completely duplicating the hard drive if you need to.
And the "Backup and Restore" - which periodically backsup the folders you tell it to.
In any event - a 1GB USB drive is nowhere near big enough! That is the cause of your message - it is not "usable" because it doesn't have enough room. Time to go shopping for at least a Terabyte (or more) for your backup storage.....that way you can have multiple copies going back in history, to restore if needed.

Doing a "backup" to a partition on the same physical drive is NOT a good plan......because one of the main reasons for the backup is a hardware failure of the hard drive. Maybe the Microsoft software is trying to prevent you from doing that......without any explanation, as is usual for their products.

Are you talking about File History, or something else?

As I recall, W10 has two different backup solutions. The first is file history which records changes to files, documents, etc. And then Backup and Restore which works with System Restore to more or less make a recovery image of your computer.

Backup and Restore

File History

I use file history on my less important machines, and CrashPlan PRO on my more important ones. Crashplan does the same thing as History, but stores the backups off-site. Used to use CrashPlan for everything, but they got really expensive earlier this year, trying to squeeze more juice from their users.