Have you ever lost your valuable files and documents during the system crash or hard drive failure? It happens due to having a poor data backup quality, not-competent enough data recovery tactics, or unfair data disaster management. In order to avoid such an issue, Windows backup is always considered as an effective way. But the question arises, is there any way that can back up your Windows easily? In this article, we are going to introduce such a reliable back up software that provides the data security and disaster recovery solution for your PCs. Its name is MiniTool ShadowMaker.
This is a professional backup program that backs up your Windows OS, essential files and documents, selected partitions, and even the entire disk. It is one of the most reliable backup tool using which you can easily restore your data when a disaster occurs, like a system malfunction, hard drive crash, and more. This application uses two methods to make the file protected i.e. backup & sync. And both methods support auto backup.
Back up your Files and Operating System Automatically
Whether you’re a business or personal user, it is always recommended to have a data recovery plan on your machine. It backs up your valuable data available on the system hard drive to somewhere protected like a disc, network drive, etc. In such cases, you can quickly let your computer restore to a normal state and refrain from the important data loss. However, files may change at any time and you need to be prepared for back up when they are updated. Thus, it can be a little bit complicated.
On the other hand, setting up an automatic backup is always worth a shot even if you have forgotten to back up your computer. It can relieve you from the regular backup activity.
As you might be aware, Windows 10 comes with a built-in application that backup your device and files automatically. Using this inbuilt tool, you can use the scheduled backup to back up your operating system effectively. But sometimes it happens when the Windows automatic backup doesn’t work.
In such a scenario, is there any other left option? Well, in this guide, we come with quite remarkable and powerful third-party application i.e. MiniTool ShadowMaker. So, let’s begin and see how it works –
How to Create Automatic Backup using MiniTool ShadowMaker
To create an automatic backup to the external hard drive, you first need to download the MiniTool ShadowMaker software on your Windows device. Once it completes, follow the below guideline –
- Go to the download location and run the executable file.
- During the installation period, it requires you to choose the Setup language you want to use and then follow the on-screen instructions.
- After the proper installation, click on its desktop icon to launch the trial edition of the software.
- At this time, a popup window prompts on the screen where you can either upgrade to an advanced edition or simply choose Keep Trial button to proceed.
- On the next screen, you will have to choose the backup mode based on your actual needs. Therefore, select either Local backup or the Remote backup and then click the corresponding Connect button to enter the Home interface.
- Once you’re in the app interface area, you will see some tools feature at the top of the screen. So, let’s get started and see all these features one by one.
Let’s know the important features that you can avail of using this professional tool –
1] System Backup
The one thing we can’t afford to miss these days is our data. This can be anything including photos, office files, important documents, and others. If you care not to lose your personal files or folders, you should definitely opt for MiniTool ShadowMaker. Here’s how to use this software to create a disk backup –
- Launch this software and go to the Backup tab.
- Select the source partition for which you want to create a backup. Henceforth, choose the destination folder and click the “back up Now” button.
- That’s it, the tool starts backing up your data.
Note: There are several in-between options that you may consider while generating the system backup.
Schedule
Using this option, one can schedule daily, weekly, monthly, or custom system backup.
Options
This is the most useful section on MiniTool ShadowMaker software. Clicking the “Options” button will launch a new window titled “Drive Image Options Dialog”. Here is the list of important functions that it presents –
- Image Creation Mode – Under this, users receive two backup modes i.e. Only used sector backup, and Sector by sector backup. The first one creates a backup of only system files, resulting in reduced image size and so does the time. Whereas, the second one creates an exact copy of the partition, hence takes huge space and time (for creation).
- Compression – If you want to compress the file size, go for this. However, doing so may increase the overall backup time. You may go for either Medium (recommended), high, or None compression.
- Comment – You may add a text to the backup to remind you back while using this any time in the future.
- Password – Use this functionality, only if you use a shared PC or you don’t want anyone accessing the image file.
- File Size – We don’t recommend using this feature as this will pose a limit under which the backup must finish. However, if space is an issue by your side, you may go for this option. There are a total of three choices available for the users – Default, Custom, and Fixed.
Scheme
Under the backup scheme, users get access to three different functionalities. They are –
- Full – Selecting this scheme will retain the number of backup image files you specified.
- Incremental – In this backup, successive copies will contain only the portion that has changed as compared to the last backup.
- Differential – Opting this will save only the differences in the data since the last full backup.
2] Sync
This is similar to what we observe while syncing our accounts on different devices. One can check whether the stored data sync with the recent backup or not.
3] Restore
Using this section, users may use the stored backup to restore their PCs to an earlier state.
4] Logs
This presents a list of recent as well as old backups. Jump into this tab and see all of your recent activities on this tool.
5] Tools
Under this tab, one may access additional tools and settings which serve unique purposes.
Here is the list of some of the important tools of MiniTool ShadowMaker software –
- Media Builder – In case, you want to restore the Windows 10 OS, use this tool to create a WinPE bootable disc. Thereafter, go back to the Restore tab and perform a system recovery.
- Clone Disk – Using this, one can create a clone of his/her entire PC.
- Add Boot Menu – Users may add a Windows start-up menu option for the MiniTool recovery environment.
Overall, MiniTool ShadowMaker is a great backup software and works pretty fast and effectively.
MiniTool ShadowMaker Backup Vs System Restore
System Restore is no doubt one of the best Windows backup tools that can restore your PC to an earlier state when everything was running pretty normal. However, at times, we either forget to generate new backups or simply start relying on the first-ever restore point. Additionally, this is a time-consuming process and sometimes even results in different errors like – 0x807800C5, 0x80070005, etc.
This is where backup software like MiniTool ShadowMaker makes it easy to restore data in case something went wrong on the computer. Windows Backup utility doesn’t support incremental and different backup, however, this professional tool does. Moreover, one can create a bootable CD/DVD or USB flash drive using its “Media Builder” feature. This bootable media is very effective in case you are not able to boot into Windows 10 normally.
