Although many people use the two terms interchangeably, they don’t represent the same thing. A system restore is a way to restore the system’s functionality if an issue occurs after installing a program, driver, or update, or modifying the system. If you enable the system restore feature, Windows will create restore points automatically, but you can also create them manually if you know there’s a risk of malfunction. These restore points don’t represent copies of your user files; they are a copy of your system settings. A backup is a copy of different files usually kept on an external drive like an eternal hard drive or a USB stick, or the Internet (cloud). The most important purpose of a backup is file protection. If you do regular backups, you can have peace of mind knowing your files won’t get permanently lost or damaged in case of a malfunction or accidental deletion. Usually, people back up their important documents, photos, projects, or financial records.