Can Windows 7 Backup and File History Co-exist?

Are Windows 7 Backup/Restore and File History intended to coexist or are they mutually exclusive?

File History runs totally independently of backup and restore.

I used to use both and actually quite liked Windows own disk imaging utility (probably one of the few on here that did), however Microsoft are not developing or updating the utility and today I would recommend you use other alternatives. I switched to AOMEI and use there 'Backupper' program which performs both imaging and something similar to File History.

mfaklis said:

Are Windows 7 Backup/Restore and File History intended to coexist or are they mutually exclusive?

@Mooly, I think mfaklis is asking about the files backup function of Backup & Restore, not specifically the system imaging. If so, yes - you can use both together, they work completely independently. However, I've never liked the way backup and restore puts its backups in a multitude of .zip files. It is virtually impossible to manually restore a file from such a backup, you are relying on having a working Backup & Restore feature in order to be able to read them in the future.

Thanks Bree I wasn't 100% sure tbh on the question. Guess we'll have to wait and see what the OP is trying to do.

mfaklis said:

Are Windows 7 Backup/Restore and File History intended to coexist or are they mutually exclusive?

They are independent. I found File History unreliable and it only backs up user files. I now rely on Macrium Reflect scheduled backups for backing the system and user files on all my PCs.

I redirect my user files to my server's "redirected folders", so few items can be found in the local user folders. The major exception is the ApplData hidden folder where many applications hide files. I'm concerned if File History still sees redirected files as stored locally. If File History backed up a file, will Windows 7 Backup still see it as a changed file when doing incremental backups.

My Windows 10 machine is backed-up once a day, and my servers are backed up twice a day. The Windows Server Essentials have a feature for the server to backup clients' backup and/or File History, but I prefer doing backups locally. So far, I've ignored the File History function, both locally and via the server. I've been wondering if that is a mistake or an oversight on my part.