We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Easiest way to do a back up on W8.1 before I update it to W10?

Options
OnAndUp
OnAndUp Posts: 981 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
edited 31 January 2016 at 3:36AM in Techie Stuff
Hi all!

I have been using my W8.1 PC for a while now, but don't really have much of importance on it so never done a back up on it! :eek:

I am finally! about to upgrade to W10 so just want to do a back up for those purposes, then I will see what W10 offers inbuilt.

What would be the easiest / quickest way to do this? I have an external HDD and on my old XP PC I do it with Maxblast, I downloaded this on W8 pc, not sure what is wrong but when I choose the back up option it only shows me the external HDD as a choice to select - not the PC HD! Can't figure it out!

Any advice much appreciated!

Thanks!
"Things can only get better.................c/o D:Ream #The 90's :D"

Comments

  • alanwsg
    alanwsg Posts: 800 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper
    Macrium reflect is a good choice.
    Free, easy to use and actually worked when I needed it!
  • I_have_spoken
    I_have_spoken Posts: 5,051 Forumite
    edited 31 January 2016 at 2:08PM
    If you're backing up documents, why not sign up for OneDrive then you'll have it in W10 too?

    If you do a W10 upgrade, you gave the option of rolling back to 8.1 within 30 days.
  • victor2
    victor2 Posts: 8,090 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Another vote for Macrium. I've used it to both backup and restore disk images (to/from an external USB caddy) with no problem.
    The upgrade should leave your data in place anyway, but I'd definitely make a backup first. :)

    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the In My Home MoneySaving, Energy and Techie Stuff boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. 

    All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.

  • JJ_Egan
    JJ_Egan Posts: 20,281 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Personally i would not update but wipe and clean install .
  • victor2
    victor2 Posts: 8,090 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    JJ_Egan wrote: »
    Personally i would not update but wipe and clean install .
    What I did for my main Win 7 machine too. However, you have to do the free upgrade first to get the machine registered. After which, you can do a clean install of Win 10 without needing a registration number.

    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the In My Home MoneySaving, Energy and Techie Stuff boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. 

    All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.

  • OnAndUp
    OnAndUp Posts: 981 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    Thanks for your replies much appreciated, :) will have a go with Macrium then!

    I'm hoping I won't want to change back - I was under the impression that going from W8.1 to W10 was a no brainer!

    I "may" update it and then do the wipe clean and install, I would probably have to come back and ask you all for advice on that though lol! :o :rotfl:
    "Things can only get better.................c/o D:Ream #The 90's :D"
  • grumpycrab
    grumpycrab Posts: 5,025 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Bake Off Boss!
    victor2 wrote: »
    What I did for my main Win 7 machine too. However, you have to do the free upgrade first to get the machine registered...
    Not with the latest build - you can do a clean install straight away - provided you have the Win 7 key to enter when requested.
    If you put your general location in your Profile, somebody here may be able to come and help you.
  • victor2
    victor2 Posts: 8,090 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    grumpycrab wrote: »
    Not with the latest build - you can do a clean install straight away - provided you have the Win 7 key to enter when requested.
    Useful bit of info. Thanks!

    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the In My Home MoneySaving, Energy and Techie Stuff boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. 

    All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.

  • PiratePete
    PiratePete Posts: 224 Forumite
    Good luck I just spent about a week to get my laptop to boot in a reasonable time into windows 10. Keeping Win 7 on the rest of my PC's !
This discussion has been closed.
★ ★ ★ Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 350.7K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 243.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.4K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.8K Life & Family
  • 256.8K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.
Update Your Picture