Have never backed up my HP desktop from 2012 -- it did not handle the last Microsoft -- not optional -- update too well, so it may very well be time to think about a new system. If it matters the computer has 1.8 TB of memory with 1.61 TB available -- 195 GB used. In the meantime, I bought a 4TB Western digital My Book external hard drive and followed directions to do a system image and a file history backup. The thing is, I am confused by system image and file history. What are they? Will the image have all my files? Do, I need both of them? Or just one of them? Basically, if the computer dies I want to be able to plug the Western Digital into a new machine and have everything from the old machine transfer over.
This, or some variation of it, might work for you: I’ve got a pair of identical hard drives in each of our pc’s, c: and d:. I’ve created a directory c:\util and added it to the default search directories (places windows will search for an executable without location spec’d). In that directory I’ve created a batch file back.bat, having multiple invocations of the Windows executable ROBOCOPY, which stands for “robust copy”. With suffixes (aka switches) you can do most anything needed, which is largely: Copy specific directories and files from c: to d:. Delete directories and files on d: that have been deleted on c:. Avoid copying identical files. I can post an example dback.bat in a while. To see a full list of ROBOCOPY’s switches I believe the suffix is “ /?”.
^ That. A 'system image' would allow you to restore your operating system and files on a similar computer. We use the C: D: method for some of our older gear. Unfortunately 'similar' is the operating word here and the 2012 'puter is getting a little long in the tooth, We're talking 'iPhone 5 years ago' and you can no longer use those as a phone. SO You're probably REALLY just wanting to save the data (pix, docs, etc...) I always recommend 3 copies, using two technologies, in two places for "can't afford to lose" stuff. 195GB is trivial these days, so whatever you wind up with as a replacement for your time-machine PC you will be able to make a couple of copies of the good stuff using a memory stick and/or card in addition to the SSD. Good Luck!
Sample batch file, and the executive summary of ROBOCOPY. If you add the switch /? you get the verbose version, basically the user manual: @echo off robocopy c:\a d:\a /mir /xo robocopy c:\download d:\download /mir /xo robocopy c:\conv d:\conv /mir /xo robocopy c:\util d:\util /mir /xo robocopy "C:\users\Mendel Leisk\Documents" "d:\users\Mendel Leisk\Documents" /mir /xo robocopy "C:\users\Mendel Leisk\Downloads" "d:\users\Mendel Leisk\Downloads" /mir /xo robocopy c:\backups d:\backups /mir /xo robocopy c:\raws d:\raws /mir /xo robocopy c:\music d:\music/mir /xo ================ c:\util>robocopy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROBOCOPY :: Robust File Copy for Windows ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Started : Thursday, March 20, 2025 6:03:34 AM Simple Usage :: ROBOCOPY source destination /MIR source :: Source Directory (drive:\path or \\server\share\path). destination :: Destination Dir (drive:\path or \\server\share\path). /MIR :: Mirror a complete directory tree. For more usage information run ROBOCOPY /? **** /MIR can DELETE files as well as copy them ! Note: if you're struggliing with the Windows built-in text editor, I'd recommend TextPad. It's shareware with a reasonable price, and can be used without restriction without paying. ==============
If the update only 'fraged' your OS; you can try running a recovery with any bootable USB or DVD. Just reconfigure your computers to go after those first - instead of the main hard drive. Any computer kid can help you with that or some of your local parks n recreations do adult computer learning classes. A scare like this usually gets people thinking about backups. Alternatively you can pull the hard drive from the system and read the data directly from another computer. What I do is use a secondary physical drive to redundantly store my data and backup on a monthly basis - Just my data. That 4TB external hard drive would be perfect for that. My photo albums takes up the majority of the space, but I don't like my stuff floating around on the web either - for those of youse that would suggest using online web storage. Hope this helps.... FWIW; I believe Win10 support ends Oct. 2025 - You can still use it, but no more security updates.
^ EOL is finally what prompted me into throwing my CFO over the wall and into the IOS garden. well.....that and the Windows 8 Fischer-Price interface. Apple is nearly as horrible as Windows when it comes to planned obsolescence (they use a memory tax) but their OS is 'free' and their hardware lasts nearly as long as the premium windows stuff. TECHNICALLY their EOL is even shorter than Windows but in practice far they seem to be updating phones and puters for up to 10 years for security updates. More importantly.....I can use the kids in my family for teir-1 tech support on my CFO's gear......
