Easily access Windows 10’s Safe Mode

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LangaList Plus

Easily access Windows 10’s Safe Mode

By Fred Langa Safe Mode boots a minimal version of Windows that might let you diagnose and repair serious problems. Here’s how to easily access Win10’s Safe Mode, even when your PC won’t boot. Plus: Why Windows refuses to back up a reader’s Documents folder, and how Win10’s new and frequent cumulative updates affect the Windows.old folder.

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With regard to “Standard data folder absent from backup sets”, the Documents folder is correct IF the backup is being run as the System user. I have seen this in other instances such as a blog on IIS which, because it is running as System, tends to try and get user files from the folder C:Windowssystem32configsystemprofile.

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And personally, I don’t consider it an old approach to separate files and apps/OS. If you have a system go down and need access to your files, you don’t want to be dancing with getting an OS up that will support imaging software so you can find and extract the files. Just plug the backup drive into another system and you’re up and running.

I organize my files in a sophisticated folder system that Windows Docs folders are woefully inadequate for. Not to mention the various software that creates their own random folders. I leave Docs for that and manage my files on another partition. Fred’s former advice has served me well for many years and has saved my bacon.

Managing my files based on the latest Windows Fad? Dumb idea. Look how long Libraries lasted.

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Sorry – but don’t you need to set the location of Documents also? Just moving the files to the standard location – especially if it doesn’t yet exist – may not match system settings. Then it will just be a random location. It would certainly be in an easier place to back up though.

I would also review document properties after such a move as they may have Hidden or other such set due to their prior location.

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Every time I get a new computer I partition the hard drive into C drive and d(Data) drive. I then go into properties for Documents, Downloads, Music, Video, & Pictures. I select the Location Tab and “Move” the folder from under User to the D(Data) Drive. By doing it this way the relationship is maintained to original and all folders are part of any and all backup routines. You cannot just cut and paste. The advantage of this structure is that when I reinstall the operating system and as part of that format C drive I do not need to copy all my files from back up to the active folder. I just go into the newly created User folders and follow the same Move process and everything is in the proper controlled location

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I don’t separate my data from my programs, but I do have backup partitions for data from Windows and from Linux. Then I back up these partitions as simple copy-paste operations (or Linux ddcopy) onto external hard drives.

Copying data from one drive to another with modern USB-C or USB-3 interfaces is not really very time consuming. Maybe a bit error-prone, but not like in the days of old.

If I really needed to sync across several devices using disparate OSes, I’d start using Cloud Storage, of the cross-platform variety. I’m not that complicated a person yet, technically speaking. Cloud Storage has its own backup, as well as serving as backup for local devices. The downsides of this strategy are well-known, so this would be only one of several backup options I would be using.

Separate data partitions are really unnecessary on modern PCs and hard drives, and especially on SSDs (whose performance can suffer from partitioning). These schemes can confuse Windows (or Linux) very badly. Performance is no longer impacted by keeping data on the same partition as the OS and programs. File History, Cloud Storage and the other data backup options pretty much negate the rescue value of separating data from the OS and programs.

No matter what the data backup strategy, once it is set up correctly, things should settle in to a routine which is nearly hands-off if that’s the way you want it.

-- rc primak

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