Getting a new computer or reinstalling? Make this backup first

Changing computers is one of the moments when files get lost the most: the technician copies Documents and Desktop, but nobody remembers the accounting program's folder, the email signatures or the photos on another drive. With Windows 10 support over, many people are at this moment right now.

Signs this guide is for you

• You are buying a new computer or upgrading to Windows 11.
• You are going to reinstall Windows or send the PC in for repair.
• You are going to sell, donate or return a company computer.

Why it happens

• Files are scattered: user folders, other drives, program folders and the hidden AppData folder.
• Programs keep data in their own places (Outlook, accounting software, games, browser bookmarks).
• Once the old computer is wiped or handed over, there is no going back.

How to do it, step by step

1. List the programs you use and find out where each one keeps its data (usually in the program's own options or backup menu).
2. Copy the user folders: Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, Desktop and Downloads.
3. Export anything that has its own export: browser bookmarks and passwords, contacts, Outlook PST files, program license keys.
4. Check other drives and partitions (D:, E:) and the user folder under C:\Users.
5. Back up to an external drive and check by opening a few files from each folder.
6. On the new computer, restore and use both in parallel for a few weeks before wiping or handing over the old one.
7. Before selling or donating the old one, erase the data securely (Windows' Reset this PC option with drive cleaning).

So it doesn't happen again

• With an up-to-date automatic backup, changing PCs becomes just a restore.
• Keep program license keys somewhere outside the computer.
• Keep the moving drive for a few months.

Menu names may vary with your version of Windows. If a file is already missing, do not write anything to the drive where it was before trying to recover it.

No backup is an absolute guarantee: a destination can fail at the same time as the computer, and files that never made it into a backup cannot be restored. That is why the app verifies copies, tests restores and always recommends two destinations.