I just purchased a new external drive and want to use it to set up a
regular, automatic backup process. I currently have 2 software options -
Roxio's Backup MyPC and Microsoft's standard backup utility. I am planning
on using Microsoft's backup and perform a one-time total back followed by
weekly differential backups. Each week the new differential backup file
will replace the prior week's differential backup file. Can anyone suggest
a better plan or better backup software? Thank you for your help. I want
to do this right.

"Bill W" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I just purchased a new external drive and want to use it to set up a
> regular, automatic backup process. I currently have 2 software options -
> Roxio's Backup MyPC and Microsoft's standard backup utility. I am
planning
> on using Microsoft's backup and perform a one-time total back followed by
> weekly differential backups. Each week the new differential backup file
> will replace the prior week's differential backup file. Can anyone
suggest
> a better plan or better backup software? Thank you for your help. I want
> to do this right.
>
>

Are you trying to back up your installation or your data files?

Data files

"Pegasus (MVP)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Bill W" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I just purchased a new external drive and want to use it to set up a
>> regular, automatic backup process. I currently have 2 software options -
>> Roxio's Backup MyPC and Microsoft's standard backup utility. I am
> planning
>> on using Microsoft's backup and perform a one-time total back followed by
>> weekly differential backups. Each week the new differential backup file
>> will replace the prior week's differential backup file. Can anyone
> suggest
>> a better plan or better backup software? Thank you for your help. I
>> want
>> to do this right.
>>
>>
>
> Are you trying to back up your installation or your data files?
>
>

If you wish to back up your data files then an easy solution
would be to use the Task Scheduler to invoke a batch file
such as this five-liner:

@echo off
xcopy /s /d /y "c:\documents and settings\Bill\*.*" "Q:\%date:~0,3%\Bill\"
echo.
echo Press the Space Bar to close this window.
pause > nul

It will back up all new and modified data files from your profile
folder to one of 7 folders called "Mon", "Tue" etc., thus giving
you plenty of opportunity to retrieve an earlier version of a file
that may have been damaged for some reason.

You can consolidate the seven backup folders once every
month with this batch file:

@echo off
for %%a in (Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun) do (
xcopy /d /s /y X:\%%a X:\Full\
rd /s /q X:\%%a
)

After you have run this batch file, the folder X:\Full will
contain the latest version of every backed up file.


"Bill W" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Data files
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > "Bill W" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> I just purchased a new external drive and want to use it to set up a
> >> regular, automatic backup process. I currently have 2 software
options -
> >> Roxio's Backup MyPC and Microsoft's standard backup utility. I am
> > planning
> >> on using Microsoft's backup and perform a one-time total back followed
by
> >> weekly differential backups. Each week the new differential backup
file
> >> will replace the prior week's differential backup file. Can anyone
> > suggest
> >> a better plan or better backup software? Thank you for your help. I
> >> want
> >> to do this right.
> >>
> >>
> >
> > Are you trying to back up your installation or your data files?
> >
> >
>
>

Thank you very much. I appreciate your help.

"Pegasus (MVP)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:e$(E-Mail Removed)...
> If you wish to back up your data files then an easy solution
> would be to use the Task Scheduler to invoke a batch file
> such as this five-liner:
>
> @echo off
> xcopy /s /d /y "c:\documents and settings\Bill\*.*" "Q:\%date:~0,3%\Bill\"
> echo.
> echo Press the Space Bar to close this window.
> pause > nul
>
> It will back up all new and modified data files from your profile
> folder to one of 7 folders called "Mon", "Tue" etc., thus giving
> you plenty of opportunity to retrieve an earlier version of a file
> that may have been damaged for some reason.
>
> You can consolidate the seven backup folders once every
> month with this batch file:
>
> @echo off
> for %%a in (Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun) do (
> xcopy /d /s /y X:\%%a X:\Full\
> rd /s /q X:\%%a
> )
>
> After you have run this batch file, the folder X:\Full will
> contain the latest version of every backed up file.
>
>
> "Bill W" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Data files
>>
>> "Pegasus (MVP)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> >
>> > "Bill W" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> >> I just purchased a new external drive and want to use it to set up a
>> >> regular, automatic backup process. I currently have 2 software
> options -
>> >> Roxio's Backup MyPC and Microsoft's standard backup utility. I am
>> > planning
>> >> on using Microsoft's backup and perform a one-time total back followed
> by
>> >> weekly differential backups. Each week the new differential backup
> file
>> >> will replace the prior week's differential backup file. Can anyone
>> > suggest
>> >> a better plan or better backup software? Thank you for your help. I
>> >> want
>> >> to do this right.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> > Are you trying to back up your installation or your data files?
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>

Bill W wrote:
>
> I just purchased a new external drive and want to use it to set up a

Best backup to to save the very most important data to write once cds.

--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

"Bill W" wrote

>I just purchased a new external drive and want to use it to set up a
>regular, automatic backup process. I currently have 2 software options -
>Roxio's Backup MyPC and Microsoft's standard backup utility. I am planning
>on using Microsoft's backup and perform a one-time total back followed by
>weekly differential backups. Each week the new differential backup file
>will replace the prior week's differential backup file. Can anyone suggest
>a better plan or better backup software? Thank you for your help. I want
>to do this right.

Have you thought about getting a drive imaging program such as Acronis True
Image to save a compressed image of the internal drives to the external
drive. Then if something damages the installation, restore the image and in
a matter of minutes you're back in business.

--
Rock [MVP - User/Shell]