Backup

Windows 11 provides two ways to back up your documents and other personal files: the folder backup feature we discuss in the OneDrive chapter and a more comprehensive solution called File History that saves multiple copies of your personal files so that you can "go back in time" and recover earlier versions of them if needed.
You should enable File History if you are concerned with the integrity of your documents and other personal files and might need to recover previous versions of those files.
File History works with specific folder locations by default. It will back up all of the files you're syncing with OneDrive, your Desktop, Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos folders, and some other locations. You can remove any of these folders from the backup if you'd like, however, and add others.

Where did it go?
Windows 10 included a front-end to File History in the modern Settings app, but this feature is no longer available in Windows 11. This means that you must instead use the File History control panel, a legacy interface.

Worse, it means you cannot easily add arbitrary additional folders to the list of locations backed up by File History; this feature was only made available via Settings in Windows 10. In Windows 11, File History can only back up folders that are part of a library, another legacy Windows feature that we would otherwise ignore.

A library is a virtual folder that displays the content of one or more file system folders in a single view. And while most people don't use this feature now, Windows 11 actually does include six libraries: CameraRoll, Documents, Music, Pictures, SavedPictures, and Videos.

So here's a workaround: if you want to back up a folder that isn't covered by File History by default, you can add it to one of those libraries first. Then, File History back it up.

To add a folder to a library, open File Explorer (WINKEY + E) and select the "Up one level" button to the left of its Address bar. (It resembles an upward-facing arrow.) Then, double-click the Libraries icon in the main view to display the available libraries. Right-click the one you want, choose Properties, and then use the "Add" button in the window that appears to add the folder you want.
File History is not available with any edition of Windows 11 on Arm.
Get started with File History
Before using File History, you will need a storage device, separate from that used by Windows, on which to store the backups. This is typically a second internal SSD or HDD drive or a removable USB storage device, but it can also be an SD or microSD card or a local network location.

Once this is made available to your PC, open the File History control panel: the easiest way is to find it with Search.

By default, File History will select a compatible storage device for you. But even if that is the correct device, you should examine the various File History options before proceeding. These options are found in the list of links on the lef...