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Back Up cannot find external hard drive

Anonymous
2021-07-28T08:06:23+00:00

Hi,

I'm trying to do a complete back up of my computer on an external drive using Backup on Windows 10.

I've tried 5 different external drives and so far only one (an SSD drive) can be found while the other 4 (not SSD) are not found.

I don't know if the fact that the only drive that Backup manages to find is an SSD drive has any relevance.

It's not a space issue, those drives all have a capacity above 2TB, well above what I need.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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  1. Sumit D - IA 170.7K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2021-07-29T04:09:57+00:00

    I see, let us go back to backups in windows 10. Why I do not recommend the same is, Microsoft may remove that in long run.

    Are the drives you are using formatted with the Mac file system?

    Are you using the File History option or traditional backup?

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-07-29T01:00:17+00:00

    Reflect is way too advanced for me, I just can't wrap my head around all the arcane terminology and what the different options do, or even get it to recognize my external drive as a potential bootable rescue media (can't get around the "GPT format is not supported" restriction). Is there a more basic, user-friendly alternative somewhere?

    Coming from a mac environment, I didn't expect something as simple and essential as creating a bootable copy of my computer would not be supported natively by Windows. What were they thinking?

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  3. Sumit D - IA 170.7K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2021-07-28T11:05:06+00:00

    Thank you for the reply. Yes, you can skip making a rescue media, this is handy if in case Windows fails to start, then the media can help you restore the backup. look for the skip option.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-07-28T10:09:41+00:00

    Hi Sumit and thanks for the reply.

    I have downloaded Reflect. Part 2 of the tutorial does not match my experience installing it so far (the prompts and suggestions that are supposed to show up simply do not appear anywhere), so hopefully I can manage without "creating WinPE rescue media" as I cannot fathom how I'm supposed to do that.

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  5. Sumit D - IA 170.7K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2021-07-28T08:40:57+00:00

    Hi Romain,

    I am Sumit, an Independent Advisor here to assist you.

    Backup tools in Windows 10 are deprecated and are not being actively maintained. I recommend switching to a 3rd party solution like Reflect, which is more flexible and is reliable.

    https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/61026-backu...

    Content on the above blog is written by a Windows MVP so it is safe. However, do watch out for the ads.

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