Unable to Backup / update File History

For a couple of months Backup and File History have not been working, even after a successful update to October which cured some problems. I think I have checked out most possibilities, including accessing and starting Backup both from Settings and via Control Panel.

I usually get the report that data is being backed up and the drives I use have the activity light flicking. But nothing is saved. At one point I thought it might be a problem with the drives themselves, until I found the same result with different drives. My usual procedure is to (1) backup first with a USB flash drive, and if successful I (2) backup again with a higher compacity external USB HDD. Now I don't get as far as stage (1).

In Settings / Backup the drive is often shown as 'Disconnected' even though all other evidence shows otherwise, eg. the drive is listed in My PC and other locations and can be explored etc; in the Control Panel the drive when clicked is shown as running.

I don't use File History much, but would like to have it working as it is supposed to.

clayto said:

In Settings / Backup the drive is often shown as 'Disconnected' even though all other evidence shows otherwise, eg. the drive is listed in My PC and other locations and can be explored etc; in the Control Panel the drive when clicked is shown as running.
I don't use File History much, but would like to have it working as it is supposed to.

I don't use File History much either, but it works away reliably in the background in my 1809, build 17763.379, it should for you too. My primary backup is by Macrium system images, my second is a script I wrote that copies my more important user files to a backup drive. File History is turned on (pointing to a network share) as a third line of defence.


In the context of File History 'Disconnected' doesn't necessarily mean that the drive is not present, it means that is may have been deselected as the drive to be use for File History backups.
I would turn off File History and set it up again from scratch to point to the same drive. You will likely be told there is previous history on this drive and do you want to continue using it? If so, say yes so that any previous history will continue to be available to you.

Select Drive for File History in Windows 10 | Tutorials

File History (FH) sometimes gives me problems. I reset it as follows:

1. Stop FH
2. Delete the FH configuration files at C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\Configuration
3. Restart FH and select to use the same backup drive as before

Thanks for the info. I will try resetting File History when I come back from a trip away, but if it is going to be removed before long anyway it perhaps does not matter too much. Also, I did use Macrium Reflect for the first time a couple of months ago and have just created a new Image after the October update, and will do the same after April when it arrives (sometime mid-summer maybe!). Reflect seems fairly easy to use, though as yet (hopefully never) I have not had to restore with it. In the past I have used UseUs and AOMIE but the latter does not work with my SSD.

While I was doing this I discovered the bootable USB drive I had also created with Reflect was not working, so I created ('built') it again on another USB flash as the trouble is with the drive itself. I suspected the port, but soon got the message that the drive is corrupt and unusable anywhere (not mounted, not available, not connected, please insert etc etc). It is years since I had USB drives dying like this. It means I cannot format it / reuse it, unless there is some way of bringing it back to life I don't know?

I intend to a start a new thread on related questions concerning Restore points.

clayto said:

Thanks for the info. I will try resetting File History when I come back from a trip away, but if it is going to be removed before long anyway it perhaps does not matter too much. Also, I did use Macrium Reflect for the first time a couple of months ago and have just created a new Image after the October update, and will do the same after April when it arrives (sometime mid-summer maybe!). Reflect seems fairly easy to use, though as yet (hopefully never) I have not had to restore with it. In the past I have used UseUs and AOMIE but the latter does not work with my SSD.

While I was doing this I discovered the bootable USB drive I had also created with Reflect was not working, so I created ('built') it again on another USB flash as the trouble is with the drive itself. I suspected the port, but soon got the message that the drive is corrupt and unusable anywhere (not mounted, not available, not connected, please insert etc etc). It is years since I had USB drives dying like this. It means I cannot format it / reuse it, unless there is some way of bringing it back to life I don't know?

I intend to a start a new thread on related questions concerning Restore points.

Fully format the USB drive with default settings (not quick format) and try again. I recommend automating Reflect backups using the scheduling feature. I do a monthly full backup and weekly differential backup.

The drive cannot be formatted, either quick or full ---- that is the problem. The only evidence that there is any connection is that the drive's light comes on. Other than that, nothing eg.no drive letter displayed in My PC or elsewhere, so there is no way to select it for formatting.

clayto said:

...nothing eg.no drive letter displayed in My PC or elsewhere, so there is no way to select it for formatting.

Open Disk Management. Does it appear there? If so, does it show there is a partition without a drive letter? You can right-click on the partition and assign it a drive letter, then it will appear in This PC.