System image question.

[rubygirl]

I created a system image using EaseUS Backup of win 10 version 20H2. Currently am running version 21H1. I no longer have windows.Old file. Can I use this image to revert back to 20H2.Just kind of worried about the new windows 11 that will be coming out soon.

 

[xrobwx71]

There is no reason to worry but the answer is yes.

 

[britechguy]

You can revert back to a full system image, even if it was taken years before, provided you have the restore media to allow that to happen, and EaseUS, like most recovery suites, encourages you to create your recovery media that you'd boot from in the event you need to restore a full system image on a machine that does not boot for whatever reason.

All of the above being said, @xrobwx71 is absolutely correct. What is currently being touted as "possible Windows 11" is just the next feature update after 21H1. It had been slated as 21H2 since long before the wild speculation about Windows 11 arrived, and even if it ends up being branded as Windows 11, it will still be the Feature Update after 21H1.

 

[Digerati]

Hey Ruby! As others have noted, yes you can but your reason to roll back to 20H2 (worried about Windows 11) really has nothing to do with the fact you are using 21H1. 21H1 is still Windows 10. I recommend you stay where you are and make a good image of 21H1. Then, once W11 rolls out, give it a good, honest and fair try. Give it time to get used to the new features. If you don't like W11 (or whatever they end up calling it), you can roll back to 21H1.

That said, because of the advances in security (that attempt to keep up and stay just ahead of the advances made by the badguys), it is never a good idea to stick with old, outdated, and soon to be unsupported (thus insecure) versions of Windows.

At this point, there is no reason to believe the upgrade from W10 to W11 will be a disaster. Contrary to all the bad hype from the IT press and MS haters that always accompanies these upgrades, the skies don't come crashing down and the upgrades happen smoothly for the vast majority of users. And out of the few with problems, they tend to be easily resolved.

 

[britechguy]

it is never a good idea to stick with old, outdated, and soon to be unsupported (thus insecure) versions of Windows.

Although this is a Windows forum, I just want to note that you can insert any operating system in place of Windows in that sentence and the principle applies.

It is absolute insanity to use any unsupported operating system if the option to use the current one exists. There are very rare occasions, such as when factory equipment produced decades ago has control software that only runs under Windows XP, where using an out of support OS is really the only option. But even if you were in that sort of situation, that instance of WinXP should not be in contact with cyberspace in any way, shape, or form.

For the vast majority of us if we've got PC hardware that can run whatever the latest version of Windows happens to be at a given moment, that's what we should be running. It doesn't matter whether you like it best, or prefer it, you use the most current version of an operating system that your maker produces for your hardware. That always has been, and always will remain, best practice. And it applies to Windows, Linux distros, MacOS, Android, iOS, and the list goes on and on. And if the point comes where your hardware has no currently supported version of the OS that will work on it, it's long past time to consider upgrading your hardware. Everything in the world of computing has a finite functional lifespan.