Windows 10 - File History

[ubermax]

I've been using an external hard drive to backup my computer running Windows 10 using file history - I wanted to do a fresh start and so I formatted the external drive to wipe it clean - I then did a backup and immediately went to the restore section where I noticed that this backup along with several previous others were also there - this leads me to think that ,in addition to my external hard drive, backups are also kept in the cloud or in some folder on my computer .

Does anyone know if Windows 10 stores a copy of file history backups in a systems folder or in the cloud ?

[HueyLD]

My files are automatically stored in MSFT One Drive, a cloud storage.

[ubermax]

My files are automatically stored in MSFT One Drive, a cloud storage.

Thanks Huey , that's an option but only 5GB is free and I don't have MS Office 365 with it's 5TB free storage - but back to my original question - if an external HD is formatted & then used for a backup , how is that other backups show up on a restore ??

[rich126]

I honestly try to avoid using Windows but a few years ago I took a Windows Forensics class and also passed the exam for the certification. All that class did was add further evidence to how many places Windows store various history information. Anything from all of the access points (wifi) you've connected to along with information about them to temporary files, files recently opened, etc.

Back to your question, you might want to do a google search on it since it appears that -
https://www.easeus.com/backup-recovery/ ... tored.html

Since I haven't touched windows at home in a while I'm a bit out of date. At work I do a lot of stuff but not so much with Windows 10.

good luck,

[whodidntante]

The file history thingy has a configurable storage location. You can change or view it in the control panel. It's generally an external drive.

[Target2019]

My files are automatically stored in MSFT One Drive, a cloud storage.

Thanks Huey , that's an option but only 5GB is free and I don't have MS Office 365 with it's 5TB free storage - but back to my original question - if an external HD is formatted & then used for a backup , how is that other backups show up on a restore ??

Because you backed up, Windows 10 saves the drive location(s) in a list so that you can restore from that location. When you erased the drive, Windows would not reconcile your action with the saved backup locations. The list remains as is.

So you are not looking at the actual backups, just the pointers to them.

[ebeb]

File History being an incremental fast backup, not sure how reliable that will be in case of an actual disk crash. So safer is periodic full backup using the old Update & Security->Backup->Backup and Restore (Windows 7) tool or Cloud backups which will save all files and can restore a system image. I do file history backup monthly and full Windows 7 backup to external drive maybe every 6 months since it takes several hours.

[Marseille07]

Probably somewhere on the OS drive had incremental backups. It is unlikely File History was uploading to OneDrive unless you configured as such.

If you don't like that, go take a full backup like another poster mentioned. They used to have SyncToys that let you effectively mirror drives, only copying the differential. They discontinued SyncToys but I'm sure there are other tools you can use today.

[ubermax]

Because you backed up, Windows 10 saves the drive location(s) in a list so that you can restore from that location. When you erased the drive, Windows would not reconcile your action with the saved backup locations. The list remains as is.

So you are not looking at the actual backups, just the pointers to them.

All my data files including pictures consume less than 40 GB - after formatting my WD external hard drive Windows 10 shows 131MG used and 931GB of free space - it's a 1 TB external hard drive - that seems reasonable because the WD external probably retains some space in a protected area.

I'm running Windows 10 and so now I go : start /settings / update & security / backup and then navigate to restore at the bottton of the screen - backups for several months appear so that I could restore any earlier version of a file that comprise that 40GB group noted above .

My question is where do those many backup versions reside ? - does Windows 10 push them to the cloud without me knowing for safe keeping ? Each backup stays at roughly that 40GB because I don't add many new files over time but there are many past dates in time with a 40GB backup .

Any insight that anyone can provide would be appreciated .

[ebeb]

My question is where do those many backup versions reside ? - does Windows 10 push them to the cloud without me knowing for safe keeping ? Each backup stays at roughly that 40GB because I don't add many new files over time but there are many past dates in time with a 40GB backup .

As others have said it is highly unlikely that Windows will push them to Cloud without manually configuring it. Even if I disconnect my external drive I still see many number of backups in File History Restore menu. Most likely the restore from the older backups will fail when you actually try to restore. Since you reformatted the external drive only the catalog of files remain not the actual backup files.

[Target2019]

Because you backed up, Windows 10 saves the drive location(s) in a list so that you can restore from that location. When you erased the drive, Windows would not reconcile your action with the saved backup locations. The list remains as is.

So you are not looking at the actual backups, just the pointers to them.

All my data files including pictures consume less than 40 GB - after formatting my WD external hard drive Windows 10 shows 131MG used and 931GB of free space - it's a 1 TB external hard drive - that seems reasonable because the WD external probably retains some space in a protected area.

I'm running Windows 10 and so now I go : start /settings / update & security / backup and then navigate to restore at the bottton of the screen - backups for several months appear so that I could restore any earlier version of a file that comprise that 40GB group noted above .

My question is where do those many backup versions reside ? - does Windows 10 push them to the cloud without me knowing for safe keeping ? Each backup stays at roughly that 40GB because I don't add many new files over time but there are many past dates in time with a 40GB backup .

Any insight that anyone can provide would be appreciated .

Please see ebeb's response. As he menions, the restore will fail.

It will help you to search online for something like, Windows 10 reset file history. You will find articles about the processes which are happening, and there are references which explain how this works.

To not see the file history references you will "reset" file history. Be sure to read a few articles before proceeding.

[tortoise84]

My question is where do those many backup versions reside ? - does Windows 10 push them to the cloud without me knowing for safe keeping ? Each backup stays at roughly that 40GB because I don't add many new files over time but there are many past dates in time with a 40GB backup .

Any insight that anyone can provide would be appreciated .

Read this article:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/549 ... -10-a.html

File History gets cached in this folder: %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory

It does this so that if you're using a removeable or network hard drive, it can continue making backups if you remove it.

[ubermax]

The solution was much easier than I thought - I just basically tried something and it worked - but first off as others pointed out , after formating the external HD and then performing a backup, only that backup could be used to restore files - all the other backups that appeared were just images from a catalog and couldn't be used to restore .

What I did was to disconnect the External HD and then Start/Settings/Update & Security/Backup/More Options - then I scrolled down and clicked the button "Stop Using Dive" - then a computer restart - re-connected the External HD , went back to the Backup section and clicked "Add a Drive" , picked the WD External and then performed a back-up which took a little while since it was a full rather than incremental.

Final check was to try a Restore and , as hoped for , only one backup with the current date appeared .

Thanks everyone for your time and responses - however in the future if I get another laptop I think for me the easiest way to move my data files to a new computer is to use the old stick drive - I have a 64GB Kingston stick that will easily hold all my data files and pictures - there are instructions on line for moving files to a new machine for those who use File History as their backup but it looks to be just a little more tricky than a simple copy and paste with the stick drive.