Consistently backing up your PC can help you avoid a lot of headache (and heartache) later on. I know this firsthand, as my laptop was stolen last year. And while I am aware that Windows has several built-in backup tools, I still used paid third-party backup solutions because of the flexibility and extra features they offered. However, I decided to give Windows’ native backup tools a fair chance, and tested them out to see if they were good enough to replace my third-party backup app.

To no one’s surprise, Windows’ in-built backup features are not nearly as good as something like Macrium Reflect (my backup program of choice), but they are good enough for the backup needs of the average user who simply wants multiple copies of their files and an easy way to restore them. The glaring issue for me was Microsoft’s approach to the backup features on Windows, and not necessarily the tools themselves.

Windows has 3 backup utilities

Which is 2 too many

There are three main backup tools on Windows, and each serves a slightly different purpose.

Windows Backup is a dedicated app that backs up your credentials, settings, preferences, and user library folders to OneDrive. The backup will also remember your apps and app preferences, but it won’t restore those apps, i.e., you will still need to manually install them after restoring a backup. The amount of data you can back up depends on how much storage you have on OneDrive. Naturally, you’ll need a Microsoft account to use this.

File History is probably the most used built-in backup feature on Windows. It backs up your libraries (such as Documents, Pictures, etc.) to an external or network drive. It first creates a copy of your folders, periodically scans for changes in them, and saves copies of any files that have changed. This means you can restore the desired version of your files. However, it doesn’t back up your settings, preferences, or apps.

Although deprecated, you can still use Backup and Restore (Windows 7) in Windows 10 and Windows 11 to create system images, repair discs, and create full backups of your PC, making it an excellent choice for migrating and disaster recovery.

It was much easier than I’d anticipated

You can access Windows Backup by simply searching for it in Windows Search (Windows Key + S), or clicking PC Backup under Settings > Home. The process is fairly straightforward after that: toggle which folders you want to back up from the list, and click Continue.

File History, too, was easy to set up. Open Control Panel and click Save backup copies of your files with File History under System and Security. Then, select the drive you want File History to use by clicking Select drive. Go back and click the Turn on button to enable File History. There used to be an Add folder option too, until Windows nerfed File History: now, the best way to add custom folders is to right-click them in File Explorer > Show more options > Include in library. You can choose how often you want File History to save your files, and how long it should retain them, by clicking Advanced settings.

As of writing this, Backup and Restore (Windows 7) can be used via the Control Panel, under System and Security. For how long, I don’t know, because the tool has been deprecated since the introduction of Windows 8. Yet, Windows users continue to use it because Microsoft announced a screaming void to replace it, i.e., there is no first-party, actively supported alternative for the tool. I used Backup and Restore (Windows 7) to create a full system image: you can do this by clicking Create a system image in the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) Control Panel page. In the system image wizard, you only need to pick the destination drive, and click Start backup.

The fragmentation is the issue

And the fact that Windows won’t let me create incremental system image backups

The problem for me is that Windows’ backup tools are scattered. There’s a separate app for cloud syncing, a separate one for quasi-incremental backups, and a separate one for system images. It’s as if each tool is making up for what the other lacks. I’d have preferred if there was a single backup utility that let me do all 3 things in a single window, instead of having to hop between the Control Panel, the Settings app, and a Windows app.

A paid third-party backup tool like Macrium Reflect, or even a free one like Veeam lets me do all these things in a single interface, with more granular control over what I want.

My particular gripe was with how Windows approached system images. There was no way to create incremental system images, which meant I had to create a brand new one each time I made major changes to my PC. A tool like Macrium Reflect, on the other hand, creates incremental system image backups, which means I have the most recent data available without having to create time-consuming full system image backups periodically.

The best backup program is the one you have

For a seasoned ‘back-upper’ like me, third-party backup tools have a lot of value, but the average user doesn’t need incremental backups of their system image. And I’ll admit, it can be quite overwhelming to see the dizzying number of options and features that most third-party backup tools have. Sometimes, you simply want multiple copies of your most important files so you can get them back after a mishap. For that, Windows’s in-built tools are more than enough.