Backing up a Windows PC: image, files or cloud

A backup is like a spare key: you only find out whether it fits when you are standing in front of a locked door. And the best-known spare key on Windows, the built-in system image, has been on Microsoft's list of deprecated features since Windows 10, version 1709.

The short answer

What is a good Windows 11 system image backup alternative now that Microsoft's own tool is deprecated? Build your backup in layers. For your files, turn on File History with an external drive or a share on a NAS (a storage box on your home network) as the target, and treat OneDrive as sync with a 30-day safety net, not as the backup itself [5][14][15]. For the whole system, create an image with a maintained tool from another publisher, which is exactly what Microsoft advises for full-disk backups [2]. Keep one copy outside your home, store the BitLocker recovery key away from the PC and restore something before you trust any of it. All details are as of 25 Oct 2026. We have not tested the tools we mention.

Three layers, three jobs

Our assessment: File History or an equivalent tool protects your work. The image is what saves you a weekend of reinstalling Windows, drivers and programs.

File History: versions of your files on a drive or NAS

File History saves copies of your files to an external drive or a network location. You find it in Control Panel under System and Security. Connect the drive or set up the network location, then select Turn on [5]. It covers the libraries Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music, any libraries you created yourself and the Desktop. To add another folder, right-click it, select Show more options and then Include in library [5].

To get a file back, open the folder in File Explorer that used to contain it, right-click the folder and select Restore previous versions. On the Previous Versions tab you pick a version, preview it and restore it either in place or to a different location [5]. Restoring in place replaces the current version, and Microsoft notes that this cannot be undone [5]. Our advice: restore to a different location first and compare.

One more detail comes from a Microsoft compatibility note written for Windows 8 and last updated on 17 Nov 2021: File History does not switch on while an active schedule of the old Backup and Restore exists, and Microsoft does not recommend running both at the same time [4].

Windows Backup and OneDrive: handy, but sync is not a backup

The Windows Backup app syncs Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music to OneDrive. It also saves settings such as accounts, Wi-Fi networks and passwords, as well as many installed apps [1]. It needs a personal Microsoft account; work or school accounts don't work. A free account comes with 5 GB of OneDrive storage [1]. Your folders come back when you sign in to OneDrive. Settings and apps are offered when you set up a new PC or reinstall Windows and sign in with the same account [1]. An image of the whole drive is not on Microsoft's list.

For the files themselves, OneDrive's rules apply:

• If you delete a file in File Explorer, it is deleted on your computer and in OneDrive [13]. If you stop the folder backup later, you decide whether the files stay only in OneDrive or only on the PC [12].
• With a personal account you can restore deleted files for 30 days [14]. Previous versions of a file are kept for 30 days, and you restore them one file at a time [15].
• Rolling the whole OneDrive back to a point within the last 30 days, for example after malware, requires a Microsoft 365 subscription [16].
• A single file may be up to 250 GB [17].

Our assessment: OneDrive is a convenient copy of documents and photos outside your home. It is not independent of your PC, though. A deletion syncs, and so does encryption by ransomware, the kind of malware that locks your files and demands a ransom. After 30 days the safety net is gone. Keep at least one copy that OneDrive cannot change, as our 3-2-1 guide explains.

The system image in 2026: what Microsoft says

Microsoft lists the System Image Backup (SIB) solution, also known as the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) legacy control panel, as deprecated since Windows 10, version 1709. Deprecated means that a feature is no longer actively developed and might be removed in a future update. For full-disk backups, Microsoft points you to a product from another software publisher [2]. As of that page's update on 23 Sep 2026, the feature is deprecated but not removed; Microsoft's list of removed features, updated on 25 Aug 2026, does not mention it [2][3]. Microsoft's earlier compatibility note already said that Backup and Restore will not be updated [4].

The command-line tool wbadmin still lists Windows 10 and Windows 11 on Microsoft Learn; the pages were last updated on 3 Feb 2023 [6]. It needs a command prompt with administrator rights. For a backup that can be restored onto an empty drive (bare-metal recovery), Microsoft names the -allCritical switch, and the target must not be one of the volumes being backed up [6]. In this example, E: is an external drive:

wbadmin start backup -backupTarget:E: -include:C: -allCritical -quiet
wbadmin get versions -backupTarget:E:

The second command lists the backups stored on E: [7]. There are two catches. First, a backup to a network share overwrites the previous backup of the same computer. If that run fails, you can end up without a usable backup at all; Microsoft suggests subfolders, which need twice the space [6]. Second, the restore: wbadmin start sysrecovery has to run from the Windows recovery console [8], but Microsoft's current reference for the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), updated on 19 Aug 2026, lists system image recovery for Windows Server editions only [9]. Microsoft's overview of recovery options for Windows 11 and 10 doesn't mention system images at all [10]. Our assessment: on Windows 11, a built-in image is an extra copy at best. If you keep one, prove the restore on a spare SSD.

A maintained imaging tool: what to look for

Check four points in the manufacturer's documentation: regular updates, a bootable recovery medium, a way to restore single files, and a clear statement on BitLocker. Three examples, each with its own documentation:

• Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows, Free edition (version 13, build 13.1.1.700). It needs no licence and allows one backup job to a local drive, a network shared folder or a Veeam backup repository [20]. The job runs daily at a set time, on chosen weekdays or on certain events [21], and it backs up the entire computer, single volumes or folders [22]. Direct backup to object storage in the cloud is reserved for the paid editions [20]. Supported are Windows 11 from 22H2 to 25H2 and Windows 10 22H2. BitLocker volumes must be unlocked when a backup or restore starts, and other drive encryption products are not supported [23]. The recovery medium, on a USB drive or as an ISO file, starts the PC when Windows won't and restores onto an empty drive [24]. Single files come back through file-level restore, which mounts the backup under C:\VeeamFLR [25].
• Clonezilla is free and open source. It images whole disks or partitions, handles NTFS and starts from its own boot medium. The project lists its limits openly: no incremental or differential backups, no imaging of a running system, and no way to pull single files straight out of an image [26].
• Macrium Reflect Free still shows up in older guides. Macrium says that version 8.0 was the last one with updates, that security patches ran until 1 Jan 2024 and that the free edition can no longer be downloaded [27].

There are more tools, free and paid. Whichever you pick, run the restore test below before you rely on it.

Where the copies go: drive, NAS or cloud

• External drive: the simplest target for File History and for an imaging tool. Unplug it after each run, so that malware on the PC cannot reach it.
• NAS: File History accepts a network location [5], Veeam's free edition a network shared folder [20] and wbadmin a network path, with the overwrite catch described above [6]. A share that your PC can write to at any time is, from an attacker's point of view, just another folder. Our 3-2-1 guide covers offline and immutable copies.
• Cloud: OneDrive is sync with a 30-day window, as described above. A dedicated computer backup service works differently. Backblaze Computer Backup, for example, costs $99 a year according to Backblaze's pricing page (25 Oct 2026) [28]. You need a licence for every computer [30]. Old versions and deleted files are kept for 30 days by default; one year can be switched on at no extra cost, and keeping them forever costs $0.006 per GB per month for files older than one year [29]. With the default 30-day history, external drives have to be reconnected at least every 30 days, otherwise their backed-up data may be removed [31]. For a NAS or a home server, our guides on offsite backups and on restic or Borg are the better fit.

BitLocker: keep the key outside the backup

If your drive is encrypted with BitLocker, its recovery key is a 48-digit number. It may be stored in your Microsoft account (aka.ms/myrecoverykey), on a printout or as a text file on a USB stick. Microsoft Support cannot retrieve, provide or recreate a lost key [18]. A restore is exactly the kind of moment that asks for it: Microsoft lists moving a protected drive into a new computer, changes to the NTFS partition table and a new motherboard with a new TPM, the security chip BitLocker relies on, among the events that trigger recovery [19]. So keep the key on paper or in your password manager, not only on the PC you are backing up.

The restore test: the step that turns a copy into a backup

1. One file from File History. Pick a file you changed recently, select Restore previous versions and restore an older version to a different folder. Open it [5].
2. One file from OneDrive. Delete a test file, restore it from the OneDrive recycle bin and open the version history of a document [14][15].
3. The boot media. Start the PC once from your imaging tool's recovery medium and check that it finds the backup drive [24]. Create the Windows recovery drive as well. It does not contain your personal files, and Microsoft recommends recreating it every year [11].
4. The image. With Veeam, mount the latest backup through file-level restore and open five files from different folders [25]. Once a year, or before you change hardware, restore the whole image onto a spare SSD, never over your only working drive.
5. The key. Read the BitLocker recovery key from a second device or from your printout [18].
6. The notes. Write down how long each step took and what you had to look up. Our 3-2-1 guide has the full drill.

A worked example with an invented PC

The PC and all values are invented. They show a plan, not a test.

• The PC: a desktop with Windows 11, version 24H2, a 1 TB SSD encrypted with BitLocker, a 2 TB external USB hard drive, a share on a NAS and a free Microsoft account.
• Files: File History saves to the NAS share. OneDrive syncs only the Documents folder, which stays below the free 5 GB [1].
• System: Veeam Agent Free creates an entire-computer backup on the external drive every Sunday evening [21][22]. Afterwards the drive is unplugged.
• Outside the home: a cloud backup service with one year of version history holds the third copy [29].
• Emergency kit: the BitLocker key is printed and stored in the password manager; Veeam's recovery medium and the Windows recovery drive sit on two labelled USB sticks.
• Tests: every three months one restore from File History and one file-level restore from the image; once a year a full restore onto a spare SSD.

Checklist

• Decide what you need back after a failure: only your files, or Windows with all your programs.
• Turn on File History with an external drive or a NAS share, and add folders that sit outside the libraries.
• Check how much OneDrive storage you use and whether a 30-day window is enough for you.
• Create the system image with a maintained tool instead of relying on Backup and Restore (Windows 7).
• Use subfolders if you point wbadmin at a network share, because the next run overwrites the last backup.
• Create your tool's recovery medium and the Windows recovery drive, label both and renew the recovery drive every year.
• Store the BitLocker recovery key outside the PC and check that you can read it.
• Unplug the external backup drive after each run.
• Keep one copy outside your home.
• Restore a file, mount the image and boot the recovery medium before you call the setup finished, then repeat the test regularly.

Related pages: 3-2-1 backup and restore testing; Offsite backup for a homelab: the third copy; Homelab backups with restic or Borg; NAS / network-attached storage; Windows 10 in 2027: ESU, Windows 11 or Linux?; Moving Windows to a new SSD: clone or reinstall; BitLocker and device encryption.