Discussion Windows Backup - anyone used it, is it any good ?

[yoji]

So a general question for people... what is the new'ish "Windows Back up" app like (windows 10.. or Windows 11).?
It gives you options to back up
"Folders" - SO I presume you can select as many folders of data you want, pictures, documents etc?
"Apps" - I presume its just apps you have downloaded from the MS app store? it wont backup things like firefox or the million other applications we might have installed?
"Settings" - says windows settings and preferences.. so does it do a good job?
"Credentials" - so passwords in Edge? (but not other browsers etc?).. and wifi pass.. and "other passwords".. so how good?

So if, for example. you used this... did a clean install of Windows 10... logged back in and recovered it all... how close would you get to state of your old install? i.e. is it a viable back up solution?

What are peoples experiences?
(I am slightly and forever scarred by MS promises.. I will never forget their Win 7 backup, which could not recover to a hard drive that was not EXACTLY the same size as the original drive....)

 

[USAFRet]

There are much better tools for this.

Yes, they now cost money. But vastly better.
Macrium Reflect
EaseUS ToDo
Acronis
etc, etc....

For the cost of a single game license, you can get a very comprehensive backup application, that you can use for years.

 

[NedSmelly]

In Windows 11, Microsoft nerfed File History by getting rid of the “add folder” option that was present in the Windows 10 version. It limits you to the Libraries folders (last I checked anyway). mS is currently pushing their OneDrive Backup, at the neglect of local personal backup.

Acronis stopped selling the perpetual standalone licence since I think 2021? They never supported the standalone for Win11 and have moved to the subscription model. Acronis True Image is also full of cruft, and created a lot of conflicts with Adobe Creative Suite on my workstations.

I'm currently using Perfect Backup (which is free) and FreeFileSync (also free). Not as fully featured as Acronis, but less processing overhead. The provenance of Perfect Backup is questionable though - there’s no solid info about the company on their website. At least freefilesync does a good impression of rsync, is lightweight, and it’s very clear what you get and don’t get.

 

[yoji]

Thanks but still interested in peoples real experiences, so others, please chip in if you have used this. I am interested as there is nothing worse than being let down when you think you have a backup,... and then it does not work as you were lead to believe and you get left high and dry.
@USAFRet - yes, I know... I use Acronis at the moment.. and am not likely to move away for the time being.. but still interested in the built in options capabilities (and shortfalls?)
@NedSmelly - I use Acronis and have been stuck on ATI 2020 as I was not playing their "subscription only" game. But interestingly they just last month offered people stuck on perpetual licenses an offer to upgrade to their 2024 offering as a perpetual licence.. which I have done. TBH, I cant see any real difference to the core backup tool/features (the only ones I interested in.. not interested in the cloud/ransomware/antivirus bits) over the 2020 version.. but at least I am on a supported version for a year.. so may be if Win 12 comes out in a year.. I will get a version that supports that.
Be interesting to see if they start to offer perpetual again more widely (though unless 2024 breaks... I probably wont need upgrade again for another 4 years or so).

 

[NedSmelly]

Thanks but still interested in peoples real experiences [snip]
@NedSmelly - I use Acronis and have been stuck on ATI 2020 as I was not playing their "subscription only" game. But interestingly they just last month offered people stuck on perpetual licenses an offer to upgrade to their 2024 offering as a perpetual licence.. which I have done.

Interesting. I have an ATI 2021, 2016, and 2014 perpetual licence and never received this offer. As for direct experience of Windows Backup: never attempted a full system restore from blank, but used File History to try and recover some files a few times. Gave it the flick after it failed this task a couple of times. I don't trust it at all. Now use a combination of file mirroring and differential backups on three separate disk arrays.

 

[yoji]

Interesting. I have an ATI 2021, 2016, and 2014 perpetual licence and never received this offer. As for direct experience of Windows Backup: never attempted a full system restore from blank, but used File History to try and recover some files a few times. Gave it the flick after it failed this task a couple of times. I don't trust it at all. Now use a combination of file mirroring and differential backups on three separate disk arrays.

I first saw the offer as a popup from the Acronis icon in the systray.. and it was also pinned in that icon as well (at top, where you would normally see the status of all your recent backups).
I went to the Acronis forums to ask about it... one of the mods there said that Acronis are planning to send an email to all old perpetual license users "in the next few days".... that was about 3 weeks ago.. and I still not had the email. They also working on a a FAQ document as well apparently.