Microsoft releases Windows 11 Backup App with macOS Time Machine leanings

[Redaktion]

Microsoft has released a preview version of a dedicated backup app for Windows 11. Currently, the app can perform an almost complete backup of all apps, settings and user data. Theoretically, the new app should simplify the process of restoring an installation or moving to a new Windows computer.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Microsoft-releases-Windows-11-Backup-App-with-macOS-Time-Machine-leanings.720375.0.html

[Hunter2020]

Microsoft is doomed.  Starting from Windows version 10, I never allowed the device to connect to the internet.  Even to the point of being paranoid they could steal my WiFi password soon as I tried to go online.

My Windows 11 laptop I kept Win11 permanently offline while all online activities are done on a second Linux partition.  This kind of company doesn't serve the consumer's interest.  I highly suggest MS to rectify their spying features and stop forcing updates on users or The Almighty will ensure their destruction because consumers like me clearly don't need Windows 11 to be online, or rather cannot and unwilling use them with the internet!

[Nanobot70]

You are joking, right?

[Some dude (not THE dude)]

I love the *idea*, and it's long overdue...but no local backup is a deal breaker, even if it's cheap.

[Hunter2020]

Not joking.  Windows 10/11 the first OS in the world I completely denied internet access to the point I haven't even tried to enter the password to connect to the WiFi router.  If there is something ppl don't use or ignore eventually it disappears into oblivion or The Almighty takes care of them in His special way!

[The Werewolf]

System backups are the bane of Windows. It's why disk images are pretty much the only thing that works.

The problem all goes back to one really bad decision that Microsoft can't easily fix: the Registry. All apps store critical system information in the same 'space' and even modify each other's data. It's not segregated in any meaningful way so figuring which data are owned by which app - which is critical for backing up all data for a specific app - necessary for restoring that single app on a new system, is essentially impossible.

Microsoft tried to remove the Win 7 system image feature to introduce a 'Time Machine' backup system, but it really only stored historical deltas of individual files, not settings in the registry, which meant that if you needed to recover the entire system to a specific date (or even just restore the current system), that wasn't possible.

This new attempt suffers from the exact same problem because Microsoft has become obsessed with form over function in an attempt to be more 'Apple-like'.

PS: There IS a way to fix this: give each app its own "hive". A hive is basically a "layer" in the Registry that gets virtually merged with the system layer. To the app, it looks like there is exactly one app installed: itself. When it writes data to the registry, it's writing to its own hive and sees that layered on top of the real system hive with no other apps' data.

That does cause a problem: currently apps can modify other apps' settings - that would either break or require a new API to request permission to write to another app's hive. But very few apps need this feature and it's a security risk, so it's probably not a bad thing to break.