There are tons of software available that can backup, and restore drivers on Windows 10. However, if you are looking for something which is portable, and you can just carry it along, or upload it your cloud to use it on any PC, lets check out DriverBackup. This portable Windows Driver backup software offers features like restoration, removal, command line options, and automatic restorations.
DriverBackup Windows Driver Backup software
The program offers a discreet view of all the drivers, including the third party drivers. You can choose which drivers to back up, and which to skip. The view is similar to the Device Manager. You can also choose to filter and do a selective backup of only third party or only OEM. Most of the time Windows will install the usual driver, so backing up selective drivers make sense.
During Backup, you can choose to select Full portability. This button select devices that are totally compatible with backup and restore. Similarly, if you want to backup drivers with a digital signature, you can do that as well.
When using it for the first time, click on the Start Backup button. This will allow you to choose the path of the backup, add a description, name the backup file, date format, and so on.
You have two options here:
- Allow DriverBackup! to overwrite files: This will let you overwrite files in the backup path if required. Otherwise, the program raises an error.
- Generate a file for auto-restoration: This option should be used to generate executable files for automatic drivers’ restoration. These files include a batch file “Restore.bat” and “Autorun.inf” that enables autorun in removable devices.
Features of DriverBackup:
- Backup & restore of Windows drivers
- Drivers’ backup from offline or non-booting system
- Unknown device recognition which comes in handy if you have lost drivers, and have no idea about the hardware.
- Command line switches with integrated command line builder
- Compatible with 64 bit systems
- Automatic generation of autorun files for drivers’ restoration. This is useful when you are creating a DVD or Autorun USB drive to install the software on the PC.
Backup from Hard disk with valid Windows Installation
This is an interesting feature of this software which can backup drivers from an offline system. What it needs is a valid Windows installation. It claims to work with Windows 7 and older version, but I think it works with Windows 10 as well.
Restoring from Backup is fairly simple. You need to point it to the backup, and it will start restoring them one by one.
Overall it’s a good software, mostly because of portability, and filter option. I can keep it on the cloud along with the backup file, and restore PC anytime I find some driver has issues. Download it from sourceforge.net.
