ASR versus GoBack

[Guest]

I've read some of the information on the Microsoft website about ASR & I'm a bit confused. Does ASR do a COMPLETE backup of the hard drive INCLUDING installed programs & the My Documents folder or does it ONLY back up the Windows system files? So, in other words, is ASR like GoBack or RestoreIt? Does it create an image of the ENTIRE contents of the hard drive? Can it create more than 1 restore point like System Restore or can it only create 1 restore point? I'd like to be able to create an image of the hard drive using programs that come with Windows instead of buying RestoreIt or GoBack

Thank you.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

ASR is not an imaging program and cannot be used as such.

Windows XP's Automated System Recovery (ASR) is an extension to the
conventional backup-and-restore. It provides a framework for saving and
recovering the Windows XP operating state, in the event of a catastrophic
system or hardware failure. Windows XP ASR recovers the target system
in a two-step process. The first step, termed the boot recovery process,
requires a new copy of Windows XP to be temporarily installed on the
target system using the original distribution media. The second step,
called the OS restore process, restores the files of a previously saved
Windows XP installation using a backup-and-restore application
(this will delete/overwrite some of the files installed by the boot recovery process).

How to Set up and Use Automated System Recovery in Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/itpro/managing/asr.asp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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"PC Nerd" (e-mail address removed) wrote in message:

| I've read some of the information on the Microsoft website about ASR & I'm a bit confused. Does ASR do a
COMPLETE backup of the hard drive INCLUDING installed programs & the My Documents folder or does it ONLY back
up the Windows system files? So, in other words, is ASR like GoBack or RestoreIt? Does it create an image of
the ENTIRE contents of the hard drive? Can it create more than 1 restore point like System Restore or can it
only create 1 restore point? I'd like to be able to create an image of the hard drive using programs that come
with Windows instead of buying RestoreIt or GoBack.
|
| Thank you.

 

[mrtee]

Yes the ASR wizard copies and will restore the ENTIRE system drive. Programs, documents, pictures, music, settings, etc. will be restored as they were when the .bkf was created. The "help" file is wrong.

This is using XP pro, ASR is unsupported in XP home. The ASR .bkf file can be written to floppies (yeah right), another HDD or tape backup. It can not write to CDs or DVDs.

I used ASR for 1½ years until I purchased an imaging program.

--
Just my 2¢ worth
Jeff
__________in response to__________
| I've read some of the information on the Microsoft website about ASR & I'm a bit confused. Does ASR do a COMPLETE backup of the hard drive INCLUDING installed programs & the My Documents folder or does it ONLY back up the Windows system files? So, in other words, is ASR like GoBack or RestoreIt? Does it create an image of the ENTIRE contents of the hard drive? Can it create more than 1 restore point like System Restore or can it only create 1 restore point? I'd like to be able to create an image of the hard drive using programs that come with Windows instead of buying RestoreIt or GoBack.
|
| Thank you.

 

[Guest]

Now I'm really confused! Carey Frisch states that ASR is not an imaging program, but mrtee states that it is!? So, which is it

Thank you

----- mrtee wrote: ----

Yes the ASR wizard copies and will restore the ENTIRE system drive. Programs, documents, pictures, music, settings, etc. will be restored as they were when the .bkf was created. The "help" file is wrong

This is using XP pro, ASR is unsupported in XP home. The ASR .bkf file can be written to floppies (yeah right), another HDD or tape backup. It can not write to CDs or DVDs

I used ASR for 1½ years until I purchased an imaging program

--
Just my 2¢ wort
Jef
__________in response to_________
| I've read some of the information on the Microsoft website about ASR & I'm a bit confused. Does ASR do a COMPLETE backup of the hard drive INCLUDING installed programs & the My Documents folder or does it ONLY back up the Windows system files? So, in other words, is ASR like GoBack or RestoreIt? Does it create an image of the ENTIRE contents of the hard drive? Can it create more than 1 restore point like System Restore or can it only create 1 restore point? I'd like to be able to create an image of the hard drive using programs that come with Windows instead of buying RestoreIt or GoBack
|
| Thank you

 

[mrtee]

It is not an imaging program. It does not copy the OS to the .bkf as an imaging program would do. The ASR wizard will restore to the same size (or larger) HDD.

It (ASR, ntbackup) does not copy the OS. It does copy everything else from the system drive to the .bkf.

When ASR is run at boot a new copy of XP is the first that is done after ASR formats the HDD. Then everything else is restored to the HDD.

An imaging program copies whatever partition you want to copy and restores it exactly as it was when the image was made, i.e. XP does not need to reinstalled before restoring the image if the image that is being restored is the system drive. The imaging program that I now use also does not place resrictions on the size of the HDD.

This applies to XP pro because ASR is not supported in XP home.

--
Just my 2¢ worth
Jeff
__________in response to__________
| Now I'm really confused! Carey Frisch states that ASR is not an imaging program, but mrtee states that it is!? So, which is it?
|
| Thank you.