- Microsoft has put together a new promotional video
- It sells the benefits of transferring to a new PC via the backup app
- It also pushes an OneDrive subscription – but there are free alternatives
Microsoft has published a video clip explaining how easy it is to move to Windows 11 using the Backup app to transfer the contents of your Windows 10 -PC (or most of them anyway).
Windows latest discovered the new promotional video from Microsoft, which shows how easy it is to make the jump into a Windows 11 PC (see the clip below).
As the video makes it clear, you can back up your personal files, Windows settings and also some apps from your Windows 10 -PC and transfer them directly to a Windows 11 computer with a minimum of fuss (or it is definitely the idea).
To be fair to Microsoft, it also points out the big catches of using the Windows Backup app to switch to a Windows 11 -PC.
Namely, you can’t take third -party apps with you – they need manual reinstallation, only Microsoft Store apps can be porter across (their pins will be where you left them and you can click the appropriate pin to restore the application) – and that you are limited to 5 GB files by default.
The 5 GB limit is in place because the backup that the Windows app creates is stored on OneDrive -so you need an account with Microsoft’s Cloud Storage Locker. The basic free account has only 5 GB of sky storage and if you want more space than that, you have to pay for an OneDrive subscription.
Analysis: Other options for PC migration that are free
So the long and short of it is if your data and settings make up more than 5 GB – which it will certainly in most cases – then you need a paid plan on OneDrive to make sure Windows Backup transfers all your stuff to a new Windows 11 -PC.
In other words, this is Microsoft non-subtle to push an OneDrive subscription (not for the first time I can add). If you want to use Microsoft’s built-in Windows backup system, there is no alternative to OneDrive. If you paid for cloud storage with another provider, no choice is offered to use this cloud locker instead.
There are alternatives to pay for a OneDrive subscription to make sure you have enough capacity to fully transfer all your files to a new PC. You can simply be very selective about what you choose for Microsoft’s Backup app for Port Over, and maybe omit the hefty part of media files (photos, videos) you may have on your computer.
To move these media files you could simply copy them to an external drive and then manually move them to the new PC – okay, it’s a little extra trouble, but it’s not really a big thing. (If you go on this route, do not delete the files from the original PC until they are safely transferred – always make sure to keep multiple copies. Never trust a single copy of any data that in this case, if the external drive goes kaput, you have lost everything).
Another option will be the PC-to-PC migration feature in the Windows Backup app that transfers your files from one computer to another via the local network (without the need for OneDrive). However, you still need a Microsoft account and in this case no apps will be ported across (not even those from Microsoft Store).
Still, this will be a useful alternative in the future, but the feature is not live yet. In fact, it has not been shown at all on Windows 10-only the non-functional shell of PC-to-PC migration feature is available on Windows 11 at the moment-but I can only assume that Microsoft is working to get this up and run by October 2025 when Windows 10 support is running dry.
But in particular, Microsoft does not mention migration of PC-to-PC in the above video clips. As mentioned, as mentioned, it does not work yet, and therefore the company has an apology-but I am betting that there will not be an all-sing-and-dance promotional video campaign for this feature when it is debuting. Unlike pushing OneDrive, this will not give Microsoft any immediate (potential) financial benefit.
