Copy/Move Windows.old Folder to External Hard Drive

Overview

Every time when you re-installing or upgrading Windows 10, the operating system will create a Windows.old folder which holds a copy of your previous Windows installation, including user profiles, installed program & settings and personal files. If something goes wrong during or after the installation, you can restore windows.old to easily and quickly go back to previous Windows version without reinstalling system & installed programs and losing data. So, it is important for you to protect windows.old folder from unexpected data loss disaster. The best way to do this job is to move or copy windows.old to an external hard drive. Here we will show you how to do it in simple steps.

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Why You Need to Backup or Move windows.Old to External Drive

Even windows.old folder is important, but it is not existing on your computer all the time. In some special situations, it might be deleted. First, Microsoft only keeps windows.old folder on your computer for 30 days since your last Windows installation. Now it is minimized to 10 days since you installed the Windows 10 Anniversary update. After the time, windows.old folder will be deleted automatically. And second, as a complete backup of your whole system partition, Windows.old will take much of your disk space and cause low disk space. In this case, you might delete it when you are trying Windows 10 disk cleanup or other tools to free up disk space by deleting system files.

When you lose windows.old folder in these special cases, you won't be able to go back to the previous system without losing data. So we recommended you move or copy windows.old to another drive (here external drive is a better choice). It is the best way to keep and backup windows.old folder for a long time.

Backup windows.old to External Drive with Qiling File Backup Software

To backup windows.old in a safe and easy way, Qiling Windows backup software is your best choice. The software works well to backup file/folder, system, installed applications, partition, and disk for Windows 10/8.1/8/7. Coming with advanced & flexible backup features and intuitive user interface, it can guide you copy or move windows.old folder to another drive, external hard disk, USB flash drive, SD card and another external storage device with ease.