How to Backup Computer Before Factory Reset?
About factory reset
Many computers, especially laptops, come with a factory recovery partition that allows you to restore to factory settings when running into issues. For PCs without this feature, Windows 8 or 10 provides two options: Refresh and Reset, which can be used to restore the computer to its original state.
Refreshing a Windows PC will remove all installed desktop programs while saving apps from the Windows Store and personal files, but a full reset or factory reset will completely erase everything on the hard drive and reinstall Windows, so it's recommended to back up the computer before doing so.
What to Backup before reset?
If you only want to keep your files, copying them to another hard drive is a simple solution. However, if you also want to preserve the installed programs, things get a bit more complicated.
Before reformatting your computer, it's essential to create a full backup of your data, as some information may not be stored in file or folder format and therefore cannot be easily copied and pasted. To ensure a comprehensive backup, you can use free software like Qiling Disk Master Standard, which allows you to create system, disk, partition, and file backups, and even enables you to restore a partial backup if needed.
Backup before factory reset with Qiling Disk Master
With Qiling Disk Master, you can create a full backup of your computer without deciding what to backup, and it has high-level image backup compression technology, minimizing the disk space required for the backup.
To backup full computer with Qiling Disk Master:
1. Free download this backup program and run it.
2. To create a backup, click "Backup" on the Home screen and select either "Disk Backup" for a full system and data backup or "System Backup" for just system and programs.
3. To add the computer hard drive(s) in the backup as the source disk, click on the "Add Disk" option. This will allow you to select the hard drive(s) you want to include in the backup.
4. Choose a different location path, preferably on an external hard drive or NAS network drive, to reset as the destination location instead of the hard drive.
5. Click "Proceed" to start the backup process.
Before factory resetting your PC, it's highly recommended to backup your computer to prevent losing important data. You can use Qiling Disk Master to configure a scheduled backup, automatically backing up your computer at regular intervals, or create a clone of your hard drive, protecting everything on the drive without the need for imaging.
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