Dell backup and recovery basic, the easy way to backup and restore your data.

In a recent article I addressed how you can prevent data loss through frequent data backups. in this articles we will focus on the Dell backup and recovery basic tool. If you are using a Dell computer which came with windows 8, windows 8.1 or windows 10 you already have the application. Dell now ships their computers with Dell backup tool already installed and it does a fairly good job at backing up your files. Data loss happens frequently due to hardware failure, viruses sometimes simple because of human error. So to be safe always know how to backup your data and learn how to properly do it.

Installing Dell Backup and Recovery Basic

First remove the following backup applications if they are still installed on your computer, Dell Backup and Recovery Manager, Dell DataSafe Local, Dell Data Safe Online. If for whatever reason you had removed the Dell backup and recovery tool there is no reason to worry go ahead and get your free download from Dell and follow the instructions below on how to install.

1.  Run the setup file.
2. Click Install
3. Installshield wizard will start.
4. Click Next, then install.
5. After the installation is done, close all other applications and click finish to reboot.

Setting up Dell Backup and Recovery basic

After rebooting, you can go ahead and launch the application. It will take a couple of minutes initalising depending on the speed of your computer. It took about a minute for me. Am using the Dell inspiron 3521 core i3 which is not that fast so it shouldn’t take long. When its done it will open a window like the one on the beginning of the article. Now you are ready to back up your data.

1. Close open programs
2. Click the backup tile.
3. Under where, select were you want the backup to be saved
4. On data backup Select Local (Dell has scrapped out the online data backup function).
5. On data backup creation select the folders which you want back up.

By default, my documents, pictures and music folders are selected for backup. To add more files to the backup just click browse and you can tick on all the folders that you want the backup tool to include. When you click backup now, the program will take a snapshot of all the files and folders you have selected. You can use this backup to restore the files in case data has been corrupted or you have mistakenly deleted them. You can also learn about habits to prevent data loss.

Restore files from Dell backup

In the event that your files get corrupted, deleted or you just want to revert a certain file to how it was in an earlier stage you can use the backups you created.

Simply start the Dell backup and recovery panel

Click on the recovery tile.

There are three main sections here labeled: where, how and what.

Select the files or folders that you want to restore

Where

If you have one backup file leave that as it is. If you have had multiple backups locate the one from which you want to restore from. You will need to insert your flash drive or external hard drive if you had used an external device to save your backups.

How

Rename Duplicate files – This option keeps any files that may contain the same name. If there is a file with the same name in the destination folder the file from the backup will have a number added to it. This option is good if you want to compare the files yourself but it can be very time consuming especially if you are dealing with lots of file.

Keep newer files

With this option the using the time stamp will dictacte how the files are dealt with. Older files will be removed and replaced with files with newer time stamps.

Overwrite All

Proceed with caution on this one as you might unintentionally lose data. This option will overwrite and replace all the data with data from the backup.

Keep older files

All new files will be replaced with files and folders with older dates and time stamps.

What

Here you select the file, folder or folders you want restored

Review you selection if you are satisfied you can click

Restore now.

All your files will be back how they were when you last did your backup.