Backing Up AppData

[A Baffled User]

My desktop (HP Pavilion a6250t, 3GB, Vista Home Premium) crashed in late
November and I had to perform a system recovery. Now, because of the
struggles I've had trying to get my older MS programs to work, I want to
back up my AppData file to an external hard drive for possible future
emergencies. Everything backs up fine except for two files, UsrDat.dat and
UsrClass.dat.LOG1, both of which couldn't copy because they were in use
somewhere on the computer. Where would that be? What can I turn off to get
those files to copy?

Joan

 

[Richard Urban]

You can use Acronis TrueImage HOME to do that. There is a backup
files/folders option.

But, why you would not want to back up your entire system partition (when
the computer is a known good state)?

 

[A Baffled User]

Aha! So is there no way to get the computer running so that I can copy those
files without being logged in?

 

[A Baffled User]

Thanks, Richard. I have no objection to backing up my entire system
partition. How would I do that?

 

[Richard Urban]

The wizards that are a part of Acronis TrueImage HOME are pretty much self
explanatory. It is a program that is used my many people who perform a lot
of beta testing. It allows them to go back to a previous state in about
10-15 minutes if they don't like what the test program has done to their
system.

It is basically a picture of their operating system partition, at a given
time, and can be used for archival storage. It is easy to go back to the way
your computer was say two years ago, and begin again - having all the
hardware and programs you had loaded at the time be totally functional.
Also, any activations that had been performed prior to your creating the
image are retained when you restore the image.

 

[A Baffled User]

Thank you, Richard. I understand from this that, unlike the backups that one
can perform using the program available under Vista's System Tools, Acronis
TrueImage HOME saves not just files and folders but functioning versions of
one's programs at a given point in time. Sounds like it would be worth it.

Joan

 

[Richard Urban]

If you buy it from Newegg it is usually $10-15 less than if you get it
direct from the manufacturer.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=TrueImage+HOME