Will Upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11 Delete Data?

Now that Windows 11 has been released for a few months, some users have already smoothly transitioned to the new system, while some are still in a wait-and-see mode. One concern on the minds of many users who have not yet upgraded is whether upgrading (or installing) Windows 11 will result in data loss.

Approaches to upgrade Windows 11

First of all, the upgrade method for Windows 11 is similar to Windows 10, you can update Windows 11 through Windows Update (if the hardware meets the minimum requirements), Update Assistant or Media Creation Tool.

In this case, Windows Update will not affect your data. Both Update Assistant and Media Creation Tool will give you the option to keep your personal files, settings, apps, or wipe all your data to perform a clean install. Generally speaking, if your computer was working fine before the update and there were no obvious problems, then choosing to keep your data is fine.

And if you choose to perform a clean install, admittedly it will delete all data on the target drive, but it will also give you a fresh start, fixing memory, startup & shutdown, applications, stability and performance issues, and getting rid of viruses and other types of malware. The choice is yours.

Is backup still a necessary step?

Microsoft officials have previously answered questions about this, saying that upgrading to win11 will keep all your data, but still recommend that you back up your files. This is the safest choice from the perspective of data security. After all, "no data loss" is a theoretical thing, and some exceptions cannot be ruled out.

Moreover, when we install Win11 system, we may encounter program conflicts, hardware incompatibility, lack of memory and so on. If the installation of Win11 fails due to these problems and automatically returns to Win10, then data may be lost or even cause more serious errors.

In fact, since the release of Windows 11, there have been feedback from users in various forums that the upgrade deleted all their data. So no matter which way you want to use to upgrade or install Windows 11, it is still recommended that you make a backup beforehand.