The Refresh feature in Windows 8 may preserve your Windows Store Apps and App data. But if you ever need to use the Reset feature or reinstall your operating system, you would lose all the apps as well as App Data. All the progress levels, settings, data stored in these apps would be lost. If you are using a Microsoft account, Windows 8 will automatically sync your Windows Store apps and app data. But if you do not, then you may want to back up and save your data to your hard drive.
Windows 8 Apps Data Backup is a freeware that requires no installation. You can use it for backing and restoring Windows 8 Apps Data. The only requirement for Windows 8 apps Data Backup is that it requires .NET Framework 4.5 installed on your system.
Back up and restore Windows 8 apps data
Run the Windows 8 Apps Data, Backup.exe file. It will request you to close all apps before starting to use the app. Click, ‘Yes’.
Instantly a window is displayed on your computer screen, hit the ‘Backup’ button. When presented with a list of all applications installed on your system, choose the desired app for backup. If you would like to backup all apps simply hit the ‘Select all’ button.
Then, click the ‘BACKUP NOW’ button. The application will immediately ask you if you would like to compress the apps backup data in a zip folder, click ‘Yes’.
The option is useful as it allows the application to use less space on the hard disk and if required, you can easily save it on your USB drive.
Next, select the location where you would want to save your backup data. You can create a new folder by the name ‘Backup’ as shown in the screenshot below.
At the end of the process, a confirmation message will be displayed on your computer screen.
In the eventuality that you have to reinstall the apps anew on your newly installed OS, you will now be able to restore the saved app data.
To do so, run the Windows 8 Apps Data Backup tool and click on the Restore button. Select either the zip file or the backup folder. Next, browse to the folder where the backup is saved and press ‘OK’.
Then from the list of applications in the backup, choose the apps whose data you want to restore and hit the ‘Restore Now’ button. When the process is complete you will see a confirmation message.
Windows 8 Apps Data Backup download
You can download Windows 8 Apps Data Backup here.
