How to Back Up Your PC Game Saves in 4 Different Ways

Why do I need to back up my saved game files?

You might wonder why gamers need backups at all, as more and more games are stored in the cloud and fewer on personal computers. Do I need to back up?

While many games do support cloud saves, there are still plenty of popular (usually single-player) titles that save progress locally. We all know the risks of losing data stored online, but local save files can also be lost due to system updates, game patches, computer viruses, hard drive failures, or for any number of other reasons. It's too late to back up your saves once they're gone, so it's best to be proactive and back up your game files before anything bad happens.

Backing up your game saves is important in case your files get accidentally deleted or lost. Without a backup, you may have to start the entire game over. Additionally, if you want to transfer your game to another platform, you can use a backup to restore your save files.

4 Ways to Backup Game Save Files on Your Computer

But how do you back up saved game files on your PC? Here, I'll introduce four practical and straightforward methods to help you with that. Let's take a closer look at how they work.

Method 1: Back Up Game Saves with a File Backup Program

The easiest way to back up your game files is by using dedicated backup software, such as Todo Backup.

Todo Backup Home is an all-in-one backup and recovery software for Windows 11/10/8/7. With just a few clicks, you can select the game files to back up and save them as a single file or to another location. Additionally, it allows you to back up game applications. For instance, you can use it to backup Minecraft worlds. This backup software enables you to create automatic, scheduled, full, incremental, and differential backups and save the backups to different locations. Below are some valuable features of this backup tool.

• Reinstall Windows without Losing Games.
• 250 GB of free cloud storage.
• Create ISO images from operating systems.
• Clone hard drives and create bootable USB drives.
• Install Windows on a New SSD Without a USB.
• A secure zone to protect your data.

Here are the detailed steps to save your game files for backup:

Step 1. To start the backup process, click on the Select Backup Content button.

Step 2: There are four types of backup data you can select: Files, Disks, Operating System (OS), and Email (Mail).

Step 3: The folders on your computer and network are listed on the left side of the screen. Click a folder to expand it, then select the files you want to back up.

4. Follow the on-screen instructions to choose where you want to save your backup file.

Click the "Options" button under "Backup Options" to ensure your backups are encrypted and set up a backup schedule. You can also initiate a backup at a specific time by clicking "Options" within the "Backup Plan." Additionally, explore various other customizable options available here.

5. You can save the backup file to your computer, Easystore cloud service, or a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device.

Step 6: Todo Backup lets users store their backups on third-party cloud storage or their own server.

To back up your data to a third-party cloud storage, select “Local Drive,” then scroll down and add a “Cloud Device.” Enter your account information.

Then tap “Cloud Backup,” and sign in to your tools account if you want to store the backup file on the company's cloud service.

Then click “Backup Now” to start the backup process. When it's done, it will appear in the left-hand pane, where you can click on it for more options about managing the backup.

Method 2: Manually Back Up Save Files

You can also backup your saves the old-fashioned way: by manually copying the game files. You can do this by using "Ctrl+C" and "Ctrl+V." Here's how:

**Step 1.** Go to your game's folder and locate the files you want to back up.

Step 2: Press Ctrl+C, or right-click the file and choose Copy.

Step 3: Navigate to your external hard drive or other location, and press Ctrl + V, or right-click and select Paste.

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Step 4: Wait for the processing to complete.

Method 3: Backing Up Game Saves with File History

Starting with Windows 8, File History has been a built-in Windows feature designed to help users back up their files (such as documents, music, videos, pictures, and the Desktop folder). You can easily access an automatic backup of your game files at any time via File History. Here are the detailed steps to back up save game files with File History.

**Step 1.** Connect the external drive to your computer, and then type File History in the Windows search box and click **Open**.

2. Click “Add Drive” and select the backup drive.

Step 3: Make sure that the “Automatically back up my files” option is turned on.

Step 4: Click “More options” to customize your backup settings.

5. Click "Add Folder," then select the archive folder that you want to back up. Click "Backup Now." Your files will begin backing up to the external drive connected to your computer.

Now click “Restore Backup”.

Method 4: Sync Your Game Save with OneDrive

OneDrive offers 5 GB of free storage that you can use to store and synchronize your files. Follow the guide to create a backup of your game files.

1. Type **OneDrive** in the search box, and then open it.

Step 2: Sign in to your account. If you don't have one, you can create it.

Step 3: When you're done with the wizard, OneDrive is ready to use.

Step 4: Open the My OneDrive folder, and then drag the game files into it.

The simplest way to back up your files

Todo Backup Home is an all-in-one backup and recovery tool. You can use it to back up your favorite games and perform other backup tasks to keep your data safe. Give it a try!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I back up games on Windows 10?

If you know where your favorite game's save files are stored, you can back them up using the File Explorer in Windows 10. Just fire up File Explorer, find the location of the save files, and back up the necessary folders or subfolders for the game. However, for backing up games on Windows 10, Todo Backup Free is a better tool since it offers more backup options and features.

2. Will deleting the game on PC remove save data?

Probably not. Most games save your progress in the "My Documents" or "Application Data" folder. Unlike older games, they usually save within the game's own folder.