Developers, Microsoft wants you to back up your Dev Drive urgently

The latest build to the Dev and Canary channel, the 26058 build, keeps the tradition of releasing the same build to the two channels, for now, of course, as this rollout is only temporary.

However, it’s important to note that those developers working on Dev Drive, while being enlisted in the Windows Insider Program should back up their Dev Drive, urgently, because, according to Microsoft, the feature has some issues in the 26058 build, as well.

This build still has the issue impacting Dev Drive users. We have also added a few issues based on feedback from last week’s flight and an issue with using the ISOs being released today to do an upgrade.

The 26058 build, which introduced 2 new Widget boards to Windows 11, didn’t solve the Dev Drive known issue that appeared with the release of the previous build to the two channels, and Microsoft is advising developers to back up Dev Drive, as it will break and they will lose files upon installing the new build.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR DEV DRIVE USERS: Insiders on Build 26052+ who have Dev Drives and might need to rollback will need to back up their Dev Drives BEFORE rolling back as rolling back will cause Dev Drives to break and data on them to be lost.

Microsoft

As the Redmond-based tech giant doesn’t have any official backup solutions for Dev Drive, developers are advised to back it up via more traditional routes such as storing it in the cloud or backing the Dev Drive to an external hard drive and then setting it up again, once the new build in installed.

Developers need to be aware of Dev Drive’s protection before backing it up, as these security capabilities can sometimes make it harder to manage files within this special drive. However, once it is dealt with, and you can read more about it here, backing the Dev Drive up shouldn’t take much.

For now, Microsoft hasn’t said anything about fixing this ongoing known issue with Dev Drive, but as Dev/Canary builds are released on a weekly basis, it should be fixed in a matter of weeks.