It's not the question of if, but when. Sooner or later the hard drive on your computer will fail, malware may take control of your system, or a critical error may corrupt your data. If you don't make regular backups, you could lose important documents, irreplaceable pictures, and settings that you may have spent hours configuring on your device.
On Windows 10, there are plenty ways to backup your system and data without having to resort to third-party solutions, and the built-in system image tool is one of them.
A system image is a backup that contains everything stored on your computer, including the full installation of Windows 10, settings, applications, and all your files, as well as any additional drives you may have connected. If your computer fails, you can use the system image backup to restore your computer, getting you up and running in a matter of minutes on the same or different hard drive.
How to create a system image backup of Windows 10
While you can store the backup on a secondary drive, network location, and even use blanks DVDs, it's best to connect to external storage, which you can quickly disconnect and store in a safe place.
To create a full backup using Windows 10's system image tool, you need to connect external storage with enough available space and then use these steps. (If you don't know exactly how much space will be needed to store the backup, you can always connect the drive, and the wizard will let you know.) Here's how:
1. Open Control Panel. Click on System and Security.
2. Click on Backup and Restore (Windows 7).
3. On the left pane, click the Create a system image link.
4. Under "Where do you want to save the backup?" select the On a hard disk option.
5. Using the "On a hard disk" drop-down menu, select the storage to save the backup.
6. Click the Start backup button.
Once you completed these steps, the wizard will proceed to create a full backup of your system, including everything that is stored on the main drive, as well as the system reserved partition.
During the backup process, Windows 10 will also use Shadow Copy, a technology that allows you to create a backup while files are still in use, which means that you can continue to work normally as the image is being created.
After the backup is done, you'll be prompted to create a system repair disk to access the recovery options if your computer is unable to boot. While it's recommended to create the repair disc, you can always access the recovery options using a bootable USB drive with the installation files for Windows 10.
How to restore a system image backup of Windows 10
If your computer won't boot, you want to start over with a previous installation, or you're replacing the main hard drive on your device, use these steps to recover from a backup:
1. Connect the external drive with the system image backup to your device.
2. Connect the disk that contains the system repair files (or USB bootable drive with the Windows 10 installation files) to your device.
3. Reboot your computer. On the "Windows Setup" page, click the Next button.
4. Click the Repair your computer link located at the bottom-left corner.
5. Click the Troubleshoot option.
6. Click the System Image Recovery option.
7. Choose the target OS. (In this case, Windows 10.)
8. On the "Re-image your computer" page, select the Use the latest available system image option.
Click Next.
9. If you're restoring a full backup to a new drive, you can also select the Format and repartition disks option. (Use this option carefully, as it will erase any existing partitions and disks on your computer.)
Click Next. Click Finish.
10. Click Yes to confirm that the backup will replace the data on the drive.
After completing theses steps, the recovery process will begin. Remember that the time to finish the recovery will depend upon the amount of data and your hardware configuration.