windows 8.1 install and File History

marcw said:

Hi, I was just wondering, after doing a clean install of windows 8.1 on the c540 or any pc, if you setup File History using this method : My Personal Nerd: Windows 8 - enabling file history on a single internal drive...
and the OS suddenly becomes corrupt, is the VHD still accessible to retreive my files off so I can just do another install? Or if I created a partition on the same drive and then shared it for File History use, would that also stay intact and accessible after OS failure?

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Wynona said:

marcw said:

Hi, I was just wondering, after doing a clean install of windows 8.1 on the c540 or any pc, if you setup File History using this method : My Personal Nerd: Windows 8 - enabling file history on a single internal drive...
and the OS suddenly becomes corrupt, is the VHD still accessible to retreive my files off so I can just do another install? Or if I created a partition on the same drive and then shared it for File History use, would that also stay intact and accessible after OS failure?

Click to expand...

Welcome, Marc.

I would say that since a virtual hard drive is set up within Windows, that if your OS becomes corrupted (unusable) that you could no longer access the VHD.

I can't answer the second part of your question; however, I may have a solution for you.

Since you've mentioned partitioning your drive, I would do that, and save my files to the secondary partition (You could probably put File History there).

In my case, I have a 500 GB external drive that I save everything to; thus, if my OS crashes, I don't lose my files. In fact, How to Geek has a great tutorial for File History, but they do recommend an external drive. You can find the tutorial here: How to Use the New File History Feature in Windows 8

In attempting to help you, I'm learning too!

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