This is what Wikipedia has to say
Backup and Restore - Wikipedia
"Backup and Restore became deprecated with the release of Windows 8.0 and File History; all of its functionality was still available, but it would no longer be developed. In Windows 8.1, all user interface functionality excluding system image creation functionality was removed. Windows 10 reinstates Backup and Restore while maintaining the File History feature of Windows 8.0."
And at the end of the article:
"With the release of Windows 10, all Backup and Restore functionality was reinstated in a new Backup and Restore (Windows 7) Control Panel applet. File History, however, is both the default and preferred method to backup content in Windows 10, and it was updated to be included in Settings and to backup additional user locations by default.[21] System image functionality is deprecated with the release of Windows 10 1709 and Microsoft recommends the use of third-party software for the creation of system images.[22]"
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I am still ruminating on the above, but frankly, the file/folder backup aspect does not sound too bad to me, especially with MS' further commitment in Windows 11.
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FWIW, I mucked around with system imaging as in the write-up below.
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I installed Macrium Reflect Free on a spare computer to create a bootable USB stick. The USB stick is used to boot a target computer and create a system image of the target computer. I can confirm that this works for 'plane Jane' target computers.
Unfortunately, this does not work for my main rig which is not 'plane Jane'. My main rig simply refuses to boot from something that contains not only the boot but also something else (like Macrium Reflect Free) I have not tried Clonezilla Live, since it also requires booting from a customized boot. I really don't want to change how I configure (and secure) my main rig (nor do I want to install another third party software on my main rig)
Hence, I need a portable system imaging app (on a USB stick) that does NOT require booting from it.
If the app can also do file/folder backup, then that's a bonus.
Any suggestions?