Is It Worth It?

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Not for any of the reasons I’ve read here, I mothballed my Windows 11 installation today into drive images, and restored my Windows 10 drive images.  I had to mount one image to get a couple of files up to date, but it’s all good now.  I’ll bring Windows 11 back out before Patch Tuesday every month to see how that end is holding up.

Although personally, it was a simple undertaking, and getting rid of the sucks-out-loud UI was a huge improvement, I find no compelling reason to keep using 11.  Aside from the increased security for which I feel no need (I tried VBS, too), it seems Microsoft spent most of their time on the UI, and not much on the underlying platform.

I’m on Windows  10 Pro Version 21H1 (OS Build 19043.1288) and will remain for the foreseeable future.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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CraigS26, Lars220, Charlie, AlphaCharlie, NaNoNyMouse, Fred, EyesOnWindows

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‘the Hives’ album your ‘new favourite band’ contains song titles that express my views on this practise

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Microfix wrote:

‘the Hives’ album your ‘new favourite band’ contains song titles that express my views on this practise

We all have our own reasons for doing the things we do.

But, we all don’t have to do the same things, do we?

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

7ProSP1

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bbearren wrote:

We all have our own reasons for doing the things we do. But, we all don’t have to do the same things, do we?

Indeed.

Well put, @bbearren.

Words to live by, for sure, in both computer practices and life in general.

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Windows 8 introduced File History, a built-in backup solution that could save to an external local drive. It let you ‘Add a folder’ to include user data source locations in addition to the default presets (Documents, Pictures, etc.).

Windows 10 continued this built-in backup solution (with its ‘Add a folder’ feature) that can save to an external local drive or network (i.e. ‘Add a drive’):

It’s more or less front and centre (or center) – Settings > Update & Security > Backup.

Let’s face it, with recent cloud outages and Microsoft’s previous data-deleting update debacles (see Microsoft Explains Why Windows 10’s October 2018 Update Was Deleting People’s Files and Windows 10’s New Update Is Deleting People’s Files Again), it seems only sensible to have easily configured *local* backup.

With Windows 11, one might think that Microsoft would like to restore and inspire – if not augment – confidence about user data to its consumers rather than detract… but no.

Microsoft has now *deliberately* crippled File History. It no longer lets you ‘Add a folder’ (like C:\Cute kittens and puppies, for example) to augment the built-in preset user data folders.

Why do I say it’s deliberate? Simple… Microsoft has relegated File History from front and centre/center – i.e. Settings > Update & Security > Backup – to the deprecated Control Panel > System and Security > File History.

However, Windows 11 shows OneDrive on offer… with the obvious prerequisite of a Microsoft Account.

IMO this seems like just another way to force use of both a Microsoft Account and a paid-for OneDrive subscription service (after the free default 5 GB data limit, barely enough for even a single HD home movie) and very much in line with the new locked-down Windows 11 paradigm of ‘our way or the highway‘.

If – like me – you choose to keep both your Windows user account and data (other than in preset data locations) local to you… and backed up only locally, Windows 11 has ignored you. Instead, it requires you to use a third-party backup solution instead of the easily configured user data backup safety feature it once provided.

PS – For info, other platforms continue to include built-in configurable backup solutions that can save non-preset user data locations to external local drives, Apple’s highly-configurable macOS Time Machine (multiple sources, multiple destinations) is a prime example. As another example, many Linux distros – like Linux Mint – also continue to include a built-in configurable backup solution that can save non-preset user data locations to an external local drive – Timeshift (albeit after configuring filters from the defaults).

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Cybertooth, Lars220

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Rick Corbett wrote:

If – like me – you choose to keep both your Windows user account and data (other than in preset data locations) local to you… and backed up only locally, Windows 11 has ignored you. Instead, it requires you to use a third-party backup solution instead of the easily configured user data backup safety feature it once provided.

I’ve never put any trust in any of Windows’ data file protection schemes. I’ve been using third party backup for two decades+ now. First floppies for my data, then moved to a Colorado Tape Backup system.

At the turn of the century I discovered TeraByte’s drive imaging software, and I’ve never looked back. The reason I have the number of partitions/logical drives that I use is to facilitate my backup regimen. I use Windows Task Scheduler to run the TeraByte scripts, and always check to make certain everything completed successfully.

As stated in the OP, yesterday I made a drive image set for Windows 11 (three different partitions) and restored a Windows 10 drive image set (same three partitions). If it has been awhile since I pooched something and had to do a restore, I’ll restore a set just to make certain that TeraByte’s Drive Image is keeping me safe and secure.

I don’t use Windows ‘Special Folders’ because I’ve been using my own multi-partition setup since before Windows introduced ‘Special Folders’. What Windows does with their ‘data protection’ is irrelevant to me. I’ve had that covered for many years.

As I said, we all have our own reasons for doing the things we do. I haven’t run “Supported Windows” since Windows 98. I’m not advocating, just sayin’. Windows 11 is, for me at least, a minor upgrade for Windows 10. Windows 10 21H2, platform-wise, will probably be as good.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

Lars220

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The only reason I would have quit Windows 11 and went back to Windows 10 was the memory leak error in explorer.exe. It was extremely annoying to continually restart the explorer process in the task manager to reclaim memory, but this seems to have been corrected with the installation of the new patch which was offered to me through Windows Update on my unsupported system.

Beyond the nice and beautiful cosmetic makeup that Windows 11 brought to Windows 10, I perceive Windows 11 slightly more stable and with a better response speed than what I got with Windows 10.

Just for this small but significant advantage in the “underlying platform”, it would have already been worthwhile to privilege Windows 11 over Windows 10. I admit that the judgment, given the recent release of Windows 11, may be premature, but SO FAR and in my experience it was worth it.

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