How to Back Up and Restore Your Files in Windows 11 using External Drive

Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team

1. Introduction

The File History feature in Windows 11 allows you to automatically back up important files and documents to an external location. You can then recover them in a pinch.

In this guide, you will learn How to Back Up and Restore Your Files in Windows 11.

2. How to Back up and Restore

First, make sure you have a viable drive connected to, or accessible from, your PC. This could be a simple flash drive, an external drive, or a network location on a network-attached storage drive. If your drive plugs into the computer, make sure to connect it before trying anything else.

For a wireless network drive, it must be connected to power and properly mapped. Note that File History will automatically run on a regular basis, so any external drive you use must always remain connected and accessible. 

Set Up File History in Windows 11

In Windows 11, Microsoft removed File History from the Settings screen and moved it to the Control Panel. The quickest way to use the feature is to click the Search icon in the taskbar and search for File History, then select the result for it.

File History searches for any compatible drive connected to your PC and picks one. If you don’t want to use the chosen drive, click the Select drive link and choose the drive you wish to use, then click OK.

At the File History screen, click Exclude folders if you to remove any folders from the backup. Unlike in Windows 10, File History in Windows 11 doesn’t display a prebuilt list of folders for you to exclude. Instead, you have to manually add folders. Click Add and then select any folder you wish to exclude. When done, click Save changes.

Click Advanced settings from the File History screen. Click the drop-down menu for Save copies of files to set how often File History should run, from every 10 minutes to daily.

Then click the menu for Keep saved versions to determine how long the file backups should be kept, from Until space is needed to Forever. Click Save changes when finished.

From the File History screen, click the Turn on button to kick off the initial backup.

Restore Files in Windows 11

To restore a missing or corrupted file or document, return to the File History screen in Control Panel. Click the Restore personal files link.

From the list of backed-up folders, select the folder with the file you wish to recover. Click the file you need and then click the Restore button. If the file still is in its original location, Windows asks if you want to replace it, skip it, or compare both files. If the original file is gone, Windows automatically restores it to its previous location.

If you ever want to change the backup destination, click the Select drive link, choose the new drive, and then click OK. Windows will ask if you want to move the previously backed-up files to the new location. Click Yes to make the move.

You can stop File History from backing up your files at any time by returning to the feature's page in Control Panel and clicking the Turn off button.