Backup and Restore Windows 7 Data

Backup and Restore—improved for Windows 7—creates safety copies of your most important files, so if you lose something, it won't be lost forever.

Let Windows choose what to back up, or pick individual folders, libraries Easily find the files you're looking for and manage them as if they were in one location—even when they're in different folders or on several PCs. or drives. Windows can back up files on whatever schedule you choose. Just set it and forget it. In Windows 7, you can back up files to another drive, your network, or a DVD. Backup and Restore for your personal PC and attached DVD or external hard drives comes with all editions of Windows.

To back up Windows files

1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.

2. Do one of the following:

   • If you've never used Windows Backup before, click Set up backup, and then follow the steps in the wizard. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

   • If you've created a backup before, you can wait for your regularly scheduled backup to occur, or you can manually create a new backup by clicking Back up now. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Notes

• We recommend that you don't back up your files to the same hard disk that Windows is installed on.

• Always store media used for backups (external hard disks, DVDs, or CDs) in a secure place to prevent unauthorized people from having access to your files—we recommend a fireproof location separate from your computer. You might also consider encrypting the data on your backup.

To create a new, full backup

After you create your first backup, Windows Backup will add new or changed information to your subsequent backups. If you're saving your backups on a hard drive or network location, Windows Backup will create a new, full backup for you automatically when needed. If you're saving your backups on CDs or DVDs and can't find an existing backup disc, or if you want to create a new backup of all of the files on your computer, you can create a full backup. Here's how to create a full backup:

1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.

2. In the left pane, click Create new, full backup.

   Note

   You will only see this option if your backup is being saved on CDs or DVDs.

To set up a backup after upgrading from a previous version of Windows

After you upgrade Windows, you will need to set up Windows Backup, even if you had a scheduled backup in the previous version of Windows. This is because there are several changes to the backup program. Instead of selecting file types to back up, you can have Windows back up data files saved in libraries, on the desktop, and in default Windows folders, or you can choose specific libraries and folders to be backed up. You can also create a system image of your computer. For more information, see How does Windows choose which files to back up?

To set up your backup, follow these steps:

1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.

2. Click Set up backup, and then follow the steps in the wizard. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Resource: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Back-up-your-files

If you have a proper backup of your data then a Windows data recovery software can be used effectively to recover your data completely.