Many folks use external apps (Acronis, EaseUS, etc.) to backup their computers. Windows 8 might just change all that… so savings might be a good deal larger than the $40 upgrade, over the long term.
Most folks don’t use MS’s backup utility (95%). “File History” will continuously protect files in your Libraries, Desktop, Favorites and Contacts folders.
By default, it scans the file system every hour for changes and copies changed files to another location (ext. device), and it’ll swith devices if ‘Home’ or ‘Office’ is chosen. So, if you make a mistake in updating, you will be able to roll back to an earlier version.
“The restore application was optimised for browsing, previewing and restoring files.” – Bohdan Raciborski (program manager, W8 Storage Team)
Even better: The application has been optimized for laptops and devices transitioning through power states… so it won’t drain batteries through constant usage. It can be interrupted and resume. Also, it is more closely integrated with the NTFS file system, by using the NTFS file change journal. So, instead of brute force scanning all the files on the system, it uses the journal to find the changes and back them up.
The not so good? While a ribbon button is in Windows Explorer, it isn’t turned on by default. It should have had the “on” as the default, imo.
If you have W8 Consumer Preview installed, you can find it by searching for “file history” in the Settings menu.
Not bad.
Source:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/enterprise/375784/microsoft-details-backup-time-machine-for-windows-8