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No1

N.B. As of 14/11/22 this tool has now been replaced by a brand new backup tool I have created (Backup Assist) - click here for more details.

 

PC Assist Backup Wizard can still be downloaded free of charge from the PC Assist Software website but is no longer supported or updated

 

www.pcassistsoftware.co.uk

 

Once downloaded simply double click the installer to install the backup wizard on your computer

 

If prompted by a User Account Control security message then click Yes

 

No2

To run the PC Assist Backup Wizard double click the icon that appears on the desktop, or click the icon on the start menu or start screen

 

Click Yes when prompted by the User Account Control security message

 

pcassistbackupwizard_icon

No3

The backup wizard will launch showing the screen below

 

If you have applications such as your email, internet browser or Microsoft Office open then it will advise that you close these before proceeding with the backup - failure to do so may mean some files cannot be backed up as they will be in-use and locked by the relevant program

 

Click Next to continue

 

N.B. You can also click Update to check for a newer version of the Backup Wizard - if a new version is available it will then be installed

 

 

pcassistbackupwizard1

No4

Choose the items you wish to backup by ticking the relevant boxes - or click the Select All button to select everything

 

Click Next to continue

 

 

pcassistbackupwizard2

No5

Choose your backup destination by selecting your external hard disk in the box shown below

 

If you haven't yet plugged in your external hard drive do so now and then click the Refresh button before selecting the drive in the list

 

Click Next to continue

 

 

pcassistbackupwizard3

No6

A summary will then be shown of all items you have chosen to backup and the selected backup destination

 

Click Next to continue

 

 

pcassistbackupwizard4

No7

You can now click Start Backup to begin the backup process

 

The progress of the backup will then be displayed - initial backups may take a while, but when you backup in the future to the same external hard disk then only new or changed files will be backed up which will make subsequent backups much quicker

 

To see more information on the backup progress you can click the Show Details button

 

 

pcassistbackupwizard5

No8

N.B. After clicking Start Backup, AVG Internet Security (or whatever security program you have installed) may pop up a warning that a program is trying to access files in your Document / Pictures folder - as shown below

 

You need to click Allow App if not the Backup Wizard will be blocked from being able to complete the backup for you

 

pcassistbackupwizard_avgwarning

No9

Once the backup is complete you will see the screen below which will confirm whether the backup completed successfully, or tell you if any errors occurred (this is normally because files were in use and could not be copied)

 

You can click Finish to exit the wizard or Show Log to view the backup report

 

 

pcassistbackupwizard6

No10

If you clicked Show Log then you will see the screen below which lists all files that have been backed up - along with any errors encountered, and an explanation of the error, in most cases a file is not backed up because it is zero bytes e.g. empty, so nothing to backup up, or because it is in use, if so make sure all other programs such as Outlook and Word are closed before performing a backup

 

 

pcassistbackupwizard7

No11

Your backed up files can be located at X:\Backup\Users\Username\

 

Where X is the drive letter of your external hard drive and Username is the name of your Windows user account

 

Example image below shows a backup done on my computer

 

So the drive "External Drive" has a drive letter of F: and my user account is darre, so files are located at F:\Backup\Users\darre

 

pcassistbackupwizard8

 

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