Windows 8 Bible

Chapter 31

Protecting Your Files

IN THIS CHAPTER

Simple file backups

Using File History to back up files

Recovering lost files

Using System Protection and restore points

Protecting confidential data with BitLocker drive encryption

Some things on your hard drive are valuable. Pictures and videos from digital cameras are irreplaceable. Documents you spent hours creating required an investment of your time. You wouldn’t want to lose those things because of some technical problem or mistake you made, so it’s a good idea to keep backups. That way, if you do lose the originals on your hard drive, you can just restore them from your backup copy.

In addition to the files you create and use yourself, many system files reside on your hard drive. These are files that Windows 8 needs to function properly. If those files get messed up, your computer may not work correctly. So you need some means of backing up those system files as well.

This chapter explains how to back up both your personal files and your system files. Of course, the backups won’t do you any good if you can’t use them when you need them. So, of course, we discuss how to use those backups should the need ever arise to get your system back in shape. We also discuss System Protection, which creates restore points to keep copies of some files around temporarily, to help you fix minor mishaps on the spot, without having to fumble around with external disks.