Backing Up Windows 8.1 To External Hard Drive

I use windows 8.1 quite often. On this mac, all drives (except the internal flash drive) are external. Windows runs great off Thunderbolt connected drives. You can have multiple window drives and select the one you want on boot by holding down the option key.

This was simple to set up. Windows 7 walked me through the setup process. I'm now backing up my hard drive automatically.

I've been backing up my mechanical hard drive to an external one for years, so the docking station and cloning software was already in place. I decided to try an SSD and the swap couldn't have been easier. A few minutes to clone to it, then a few minutes to swap it with the old drive in the computer and I'm right back online. The speed increase was remarkable... many times faster for file and program loads, and noticeably faster even for internet activities. If you still have a mechanical hard drive, switching to an SSD is highly recommended, and Micron SSD's are definitely the best brand in my humble opinion (I'm a retired electronic engineer).

I replaced using a 1TB with this 8TB external hard drive for backing up my computer's internal hard drive monthly. The cost of 1TB was 2/3 of the cost of 8TB and now I don't drop off older backups. Easy enough to reformat for an iMac which you will need to do before your first backup. B&H computer reps will guide you through the first time; they are always willing to assist. I wrote the steps down and have done it solo 2X since.

This external hard drive is great for backing up my digital photos and videos. Nice that is comes formatted for Windows 10. Kicking myself for not buying two.

This is an internal drive, plain and simple. Starts up fast, extra thin (half the thickness of a normal 3.5 drive), runs cool (thinness allows for more heat dissapation). But... I had bought this to put in an external USB 3.0 enclosure to use with my Dell XPS 8700 which has Windows 8.1. Unfortunately, after hooking it up, it would perpetually disconnect itself during file transfers, especially with files upwards of 1gb. Thinking the drive was defective, I took the internal drive of my Dell, which was the same brand, model and capacity, and put that into the enclosure. Same disconnects occurred. Then I replaced the cable between the drive and computer with a USB 2.0 cable, and the disconnects stopped, although file transfers took 10x longer. This proved that the drives were fine, but they did not work in a USB 3.0 enclosure. I could live with that, until... After a week or so, my computer developed the same symptoms (constant disconnects) for other USB storage devices. Since it was USB 3.0, I blamed the USB 3.0 drivers which Windows 8.1 seems to have implemented so poorly. BUT THEN I STARTED GETTING READ ERRORS ON MY SYTEM DRIVE. I could not back up files without drives disconnecting every few seconds. In short, THIS HAD SCREWED UP MY OPERATING SYSTEM. After a complete reinstall of Windows, everything was back to normal and all my drives (except the Barracuda in external enclosure) could read and write properly. The next day I bought a WD Black and put that in the enclosure... BOOM ... 100gb of files transferred seamlessly. So, to summarize... DO NOT PUT THIS DRIVE IN A USB 3.0 ENCLOSURE OR IT WILL WRECK THE WINDOWS 8.1 OPERATING SYSTEM. 1 month of my life wasted, I can't return the drive since it isn't actually defective, thought I'd at least write about my experience.

This hard drive is perfect for backing up my photos.

It is doing a great job backing up my hard drive.

Had to replace old external hard drive for back up. The Passport fit seamlessly into my new Windows 7 program without any set up and my data was backed up in short order. It is so compact and convenient with the best price that I found on the internet

Excellent External hard drive.