Windows File History icon
Windows File History icon

Windows File History

 6 likes

File History protects files from within the libraries, desktop, favorites, and contacts folders and creates copies of the files. in any event of a system refresh, reset or crash the files that were backed up via File History can easily be restored.

Windows File History screenshot 1

License model

  • FreeProprietary

Country of Origin

  • US flagUnited States

Platforms

  • Windows  8, 8.1, 10
1.7 / 5 Avg rating (3)
6likes
3comments
0news articles

Features

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  1.  Local backup
  2.  Bundled with Windows

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Comments and Reviews

   
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Top Negative Comment
mll
Aug 31, 2018
1

I was finishing a long review but my browser crashed so in short : WFH is not reliable and can not be considered as your main backup solution.

It has mean tendencies to:

  • keep saving copies of files that haven't changed (source)
  • ignore the excluded folders and backup them anyway (source)
  • skip parameters, or stop working at all, upon a windows autoupdate
  • and these bugs have been lingering and not fixed since windows 8 (and even Windows 7 if memory serves), so there's few chances that WFH becomes reliable some day
TBayAreaPat
Mar 16, 2023
0

If you make partitions on your drive with software other than Microsoft like I used to do, you probably should make at least one system image with vs the file history ..lest you are greeted with a denial at time of system repair. The image will be a sort of cloaked compressed drive clone spacehog brick that will neither show its included files nor update, but it should work for you if the system crashes. Mine took like 3 hours and compressed to about 31% the size of all the data on the drive. After you make the image, copy it somewhere. If you are using a new drive, I recommend using slow format. That first image became quickly corrupted somehow. From there I recommend an incremental backup system and a restore disk/usb. .

BJ
Apr 22, 2021
0

Fairly simple to use. However, any file or folder with a pathname length greater than 184 characters will fail to be backed up and you will not be warned about it. Consider yourself lucky that I just did.

What is Windows File History?

File History when enabled protects files from within the libraries, desktop, favorites, and contacts folders and creates copies of the files. in any event of a system refresh, reset or crash the files that were backed up through File History can easily be restored. File History's restore interface has been made easy and simple to find and restore any version of files that were lost or damaged. File History is turned off by default and needs to be turned on manually and configured how it will save copies of files. Also, before using File History you will need an external storage device or network location with enough storage space to save copies or versions of files for all users.

Windows File History information

  • Developed by

    US flagMicrosoft
  • Licensing

    Proprietary and Free product.
  • Rating

    Average rating of 1.7
  • Alternatives

    73 alternatives listed
  • Supported Languages

    • English

AlternativeTo Categories

Backup & SyncOS & Utilities

Our users have written 3 comments and reviews about Windows File History, and it has gotten 6 likes

Windows File History was added to AlternativeTo by avert on Feb 10, 2016 and this page was last updated Aug 5, 2021. Windows File History is sometimes referred to as File History, WFH.