Windows 10: Difference between File history, and Backup and Restore

Solution 1:

This Microsoft article Protecting user files with File History pretty much sums it up. Users simply were not backing up their data. File History was an attempt to safeguard data in a way that was easy for non-technical users. Listed below are some of the features File History offers.

• Make data protection so easy that any Windows user can turn it on and feel confident that their personal files are protected.
• Eliminate the complexity of setting up and using backup.
• Turn backup into an automatic, silent service that does the hard work of protecting user files in the background without any user interaction.
• Offer a very simple, engaging restore experience that makes finding, previewing and restoring versions of personal files much easier.

A true backup solution is far more powerful and configurable than File History, but File History is geared towards those who would not set up a real backup solution.

Solution 2:

I know this is an old question but it doesn't seem to have been fully answered and is still applicable.

In my experience, File History backups are non-destructive and are neither incremental, nor differential. They are simply full copies of the original file that are copied from the source to the destination with a time-stamp added to the filename. They can be browsed and copied the same the original files can be. In time, you may find that you have multiple copies of the same file at different stages of it's progression, any one of with can be restored manually via copy/paste, or via the File History GUI.

On the other hand, Windows Backup and Restore data backups are handled similarly to system image backups. They are destructive and are stored in a container that can be accessed via the Backup and Restore GUI. This means you will only ever have a single copy of the file backed up which will be the most recently backed up version. Though technically the container is a folder, it cannot be browsed in Windows Explorer the way a standard file can be. This may be possible with third party applications like 7-Zip, or by mounting it like VHD, as you can with system image backups, but I have not tried it. It can be browsed through in File Explorer via the context menu option.

In other words, they each serve a different purpose. File History is for keeping multiple copies of files that are subject to frequent revision, like databases, term papers and game save files. Windows Backup and Restore data backups are for long term backup of files that don't frequently change, like music and movie libraries.