Step-by-Step Guide to Backup C Drive in Windows 10 (4 Ways)

Sometimes you have to backup C drive in Windows 10 to external hard drive to avoid computer issues, such as virus attacks, blue screen Of death (BOSD),  bad sectors,  system crashes, and physical disasters such as floods, earthquakes, storms, etc.

Once you backed up C drive, you can restore system files if the system fails and avoid system reinstallation. Here in this article, we will introduce you to 4 feasible software to backup C drive in Windows 10 and restore it if necessary.

Which C Drive Backup Software Should You Use?

In this article, you will get 4 different software and how to create a C drive backup with them step by step, but which one should you use?

2 built-in tools

Backup and Restore (Windows 7) and Wbadmin are built-in free software to backup drive C drive in Windows 10. Of these two software, Backup and Restore (Windows 7) can backup C drive as well as the user's files by default. A scheduled backup every Sunday at 19:00 and incremental backup will also be enabled.

2 third-party tools

AOMEI Backupper Standard is a free Windows backup software for different backup tasks, such as system backup, disk backup, file backup, etc. You can set it to backup drive C in Windows 10 automatically, from daily to weekly. monthly, etc., even hourly (if you modify files very frequently).

By default, in a scheduled backup task, it will backup only changed files with incremental backup to save time and disk space. Meanwhile, it also provides useful backup options to better serve this purpose.  More surprisingly, it will automatically compress backup images smaller and you can choose a high compression level.

AOMEI Cyber Backup is a centralized backup software for all Windows operating systems and helps to create backup tasks (e.g. system backup) for a bunch of Windows PCs and servers and manage them from one central console. So you don't need to backup C drive in different computers one by one.

How to Backup C Drive in Windows 10

To backup C drive in Windows 10, you can directly copy all files and applications in C drive to another destination, because this way cannot ensure the system will be bootable and may cause data loss.

As a matter of fact, there are four ways to create a system backup in Windows 10:

🔗 If you want to backup C drive in Windows 11, you could refer to create system image in Windows 11.

👍Way 1: Backup C Drive in Windows 10 with AOMEI Backupper 

AOMEI Backupper Standard is professional yet free Windows 10 backup software worth trying. Other systems like Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, and 11(32-bit and 64-bit) are also supported.

AOMEI Backupper

Free C Drive Backup Software for Windows PCs

• Backup C drive without boot issues: Its System Backup will backup C drive and other hidden system partitions in Windows 10 to ensure your computer is bootable after restoring. 
• 100% automatic: It allows users to backup C drive from daily, weekly, monthly, etc., even hourly. Meanwhile, it can wake the computer to run scheduled tasks in case you forget it.
• Set and forget: In a scheduled task, it will automatically enable different features, such as incremental backup, intelligent sector backup, splitting, compression, etc., to save much backup time and space while greatly reducing the size of image files.

Download Freeware Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

100% Secure

Now, you can download AOMEI Backupper Standard to have a try. The guide below will show you how to take backup of C drive in Windows 10 easily. For server users, please try AOMEI Backupper Server.

1. Choose the Backup tab and then select System Backup on the main console of AOMEI Backupper.

2. The C drive and other boot partitions will be selected automatically to ensure this backup image is bootable. You just need to choose an external hard drive to save Windows 10 image files as it is not affected by computer issues.

3. Click Schedule Backup and enable it to backup C drive automatically. The default option is Daily, and you can also select Weekly and Monthly.

4. Press Start Backup to backup C drive and other boot partitions easily and safely.

Click Finish after the backup task is completed and check your C drive backup on external hard drive. You can choose to restore Windows 10 image to new hard drive and boot your computer to see if it's bootable. You can then save your computer from a disaster.

Way 2: Backup Drive C in Windows 10 with Backup and Restore (Windows 7)

1. Connect the external hard drive to your Windows 10 computer and please go to the path:

Start -> Settings -> Update & Security -> Backup -> Go to Backup and Restore (Windows 7) -> Create a system image.

2. Select On a hard disk. It's recommended to backup Windows 10 to external hard drive to avoid any computer issues that may take away your backup images.

3. The C drive, EFI system partition, Recovery partition will be chosen by default. Click the Next button.

4. Confirm the settings and press Start Backup to create system image Windows 10 C drive. By default, the backup task will be performed every Sunday at 7 PM.

You'll also receive a prompt to create a system repair disc, but most recent computers don't support optical drives, so you can skip it. In case of system crashes or other severe computer issues, please try to create a bootable USB with the built-in Recovery Drive feature, or from ISO files. 

Way 3: Take Backup of C Drive in Windows 10 with Wbadmin 

1. Input CMD into the Windows Search box, and run Command Prompt as administrator.

2. Type the below command to backup C drive to D partition:

Wbadmin start backup -backuptarget:D: -include:C:

That’s it.

Way 4: Create C Drive Backup on Multiple PCs with AOMEI Cyber Backup

Unlike the above C drive backup software, AOMEI Cyber Backup is the best free centralized backup software designed for businesses to backup the system partition on multiple Windows PCs, supporting Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7.

You can backup system on a local disk, external hard drive, network share or NAS device, etc., and schedule a backup task to run every day, week, month using the backup method (full/incremental/differential ).

Download AOMEI Cyber Backup now to try it out!

1. Run AOMEI Cyber Backup. Log in with AOMEI Cyber Backup account or Windows account.

2. Click Source Device > Windows > Add Windows Device to add the Windows 10 device that you want to backup. You need to enter the IP address, username and password of it.

3. Create a new backup task.

• Click Backup Task on the left menu bar and select Backup Task > Create New Task.

• Choose System Backup as the Backup Type.

• Edit Task Name based on your need.
• In the Device Name field, click Select + to select the device you just added.
• In the Target field, click Select + and Add a new local storage or Add a new network storage to specify a destination path.

• Change the default schedule settings in the Schedule field.
• Click Start Backup > Add the schedule and start backup now to run your first backup.

Further Reading: Boot Partition vs System Partition

The system partition is an active primary partition that contains the boot load to boot the operating and store the boot sector. The boot partition is the disk partition that contains the Windows operating system and related system files.

Therefore, please open disk management to check if there other hidden system partitions on your Windows 10 computer. If there only one C partition (C:\), back it up now; or you have to back up all the hidden system partitions and C drive to protect your Windows 10.

Brief Summary

This article introduced how to backup C drive in Windows 10, which is an effective way to protect your operating system in case of system failures. Here are 4 ways to help you, and among them, the most recommended software is AOMEI Backupper Standard. For business, try AOMEI Cyber Backup.

AOMEI Backupper Standard is the most flexible software as it not only backup C drive automatically, but also take care of different issues, such as backup frequency, image size, backup time and space, etc. You don't even need to worry about your backup task.