Backing up my C drive

[MegaDeox]

Hey guys, I want to backup my entire C drive, but I'm getting an error about not being able to acquire a lock on the C "folder". Makes sense. I tried only the Users folder, same thing for the Users folder.
Is there a way to do this? I've already used the program to backup my other, much larger drives successfully.

[bgstack15]

A user typically does not have write access to directories such as C:\ or C:\Users. If you were to run FreeFileSync as adminstrator you might be able to do this.
Beware that the entire C:\ would include Windows\ and other directories that could contain inaccessible or temporary data and other things that you probably don't actually want to try to back up. You should carefully craft your list of exclusions. I would exclude C:\Users\*\AppData\ if possible (however, some things like browser bookmarks/favorites can live there) and C:\Windows and pretty much any file directly in the root of C:\.

[Radish]

Assuming that you really do want to backup your entire C drive then I would say that FFS is not the correct tool for the job. Really you want something that creates a (single) file that is referred to as a (drive) 'image' file. So you would do well to research that and consider if it is more in line with what you want. One of the advantages of such an image is that you can restore your entire C drive from the image file such that it is an exact image of the working system at the time that you created the image file. I use this a couple of times a year when I want to rebuild my base operating system -- I just restore to a known good system from an image file I previously created, build up the new system from there, then image off that new system when I am happy with the way it is running.

To manage this kind of thing on my own system I use Terabyte Drive Image Backup and Restore Suite. I does cost money but it does what it does very well. Also there is a program that is included in the suite that allows users to open an image file and extract individual files or folders from inside the image.

I do believe that there are other such backup and restore programs out there, some of which are free, but I have no experience in using them so can't make a recommendation on them.

I would add that I only use Terabyte for my C partition - the system partition. For backups of all other partitions I use and would happily recommend FFS.

For some idea of other programs out there that create drive image files: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=drive+image+backup+software&ia=web

[MegaDeox]

I specifically don't want an image, I want the folder structure to be the same, just a copy paste.
I can do without the Windows folder, for example, but it would be far easier for me to copy everything instead of figuring out what goes where (for example, game saves and user data).

[Radish]

Fair enough, but the folder structure is preserved inside an image file. At least it is with Terabyte.

[xCSxXenon]

Imaging is best for full drive backups.