How to restore everything after a complete computer crash

willythecat · 11 Apr 2021

Winver W10 20H2 (9042.867)
Must admit that W10 still baffles me with all of its options, but then hey ho.
I have three hard drives (C, D, and M). Forget the M drive for now, as this just contains items that l want to keep.
Everything is downloaded to the C drive and then copied over to either the D or M drive (if that makes sense).
Hypothetically, if l now switch on the PC, my C drive has now crashed and cannot be accessed!
All I would get is just get a screen that is totally blank.
What, and how, should l be setting this up in W10, AND, how do l restore it from a backup?
A reply in "greengrocer language" would be appreciated as l'm not the sharpest tool in the box computer wise.
Thanks and regards

Samuria · 11 Apr 2021

It depends if c is dead and how you have backed up have you used image or just copied explain.
Any erros on boot?
Best first step is to download latest windows free from https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/soft...load/windows10

Boot from that and see what it says it may say repair or disk is dead.

We dont know what version of windows you have uptodate latest of old version

mngerhold · 11 Apr 2021

Hypothetically: you would boot up from the (imaging software of your choice) USB stick, and recover your C: drive image from the external backup device you had saved it on. Examples of isoyc are Acronis, Macrium Reflect, Minitool partition wizard, O&O, EaseUS Todo etc etc.

dalchina · 11 Apr 2021

I believe you're saying this is hypothetical- so it's not yet to late to try to rescue you.

What you need is something safe which is NOT in your PC from which you could restore (in the first case) your Windows installation

(Technical bit (sorry) - that's 'C:' and 3 other partitions if your installation is 'UEFI' , fewer partitions for older PCs - 'MBR')

Many of us use a program called Macrium Reflect to do this.The free version is usually good enough.
(There are alternatives- e.g. Aomei Backupper looks simpler).

What does this do?
It squeezes up the data on the partitions being copied and creates a file which is better stored e.g. on a USB disk.Using such a program you can have copies of serveral dates, so you can restore your whole O/S and any other disk or partition you have imaged to a previous good state.

Thus, even if your disk fails, you just replace it, boot your PC from a bootable Macrium or Aomei flash disk as appropriate, plug in the USB disk with your image files on it, and restore to the appropriate date.These image files are also a complete backup from which you can extract files.

Note: this is just a very brief outline. Plenty of guides and Youtube videos available.