N.B. As of 14/11/22 this tool has now been replaced by a brand new backup tool I have created (Backup Assist) - click here for more details.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
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
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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
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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N.B. You can also click Update to check for a newer version of the Backup Wizard - if a new version is available it will then be installed
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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
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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
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A summary will then be shown of all items you have chosen to backup and the selected backup destination
Click Next to continue
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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
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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 |
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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
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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
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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
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