Backing up C:Drive

[Richard]

I am running XP home addition, I need info on how to backup my C:drive, I
opened up the C: drive and tried to copy and install on CD,s but it seems
like it will take forever and use at least 15 CD"s,Is there a easier way
backing up the drive?
Thanks in advance Richard..........

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

You really should only need to back up your data, that is files you create
or alter. System files should be on your XP CD, if your manufacturer did
supply you with a CD, check your documentation as they likely set up a
hidden partition for restore purposes. Likewise your applications, you have
the install disks so you should only need to backup your data. If you keep
your data in one place such as the My Documents folder, this will make
backup a lot easier.

 

[midnight]

Use a cloning progam like Norton Ghost or acronis trueimage or powerquest
drive image. These will give an exact duplicate of your hard drive either
via partition or complete hard drive. The will also compress the data so you
don't need to use as many CDs. You can also clone to a seperate partition or
a second hard drive and burn the backup to CD\DVD from there.

If you use NTBackup which I don't think comes as standard with XP Home (it
might be on the CD just not installed by default) you can then choose to
back up files you create yourself and do an incremental backup everyday
which will only backup the files that have changed since the previous
backup. NTBackup also provides a system state backup which backs up
important system files and can be handy to backup once a month or every two
weeks or so depending on what suits you. NTBackup can be downloaded from
Microsoft's web site. You will have to search for the location. There are
also plenty of free or shareware backup utilities some good some bad and
everyone will have their own personal favorite. Whatever you do it is a good
idea to set up an automated backup regime and stick to it as you will need
it one day if you use computers long enough.

Midnight

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

It does come with XP Home Edition but it isn't installed by default. That
said, it's only available on the retail version or an OEM version that is
essentially the same as the retail version and not some altered or crippled
version from the PC manufacturer:
It's on the CD in the following location:
valueadd\msft\ntbackup folder on the XP Home Edition cd and can be installed
by double clicking the ntbackup file.

 

[Marv Wade]

Best way IMO is simply to add another hard drive and back up to that. With
the low cost of drive these days this is usually a viable option.

Marv

 

[Richard]

It does come with XP Home Edition but it isn't installed by default. That
said, it's only available on the retail version or an OEM version that is
essentially the same as the retail version and not some altered or crippled
version from the PC manufacturer:
It's on the CD in the following location:
valueadd\msft\ntbackup folder on the XP Home Edition cd and can be installed
by double clicking the ntbackup file.



--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

 

[Albert Lason]

Hello all,

I just followed the instructions on Microsoft backup in Windows XT and
the READ.ME file state as follows:

NTBackup Backup/Restore and ASR release notes

Backup/Restore

ASR

1. ASR is not supported on home edition.

IF you install NtBackup from the CD to the Home Edition, ASR
functionality will appear to work fine during
the backup session. Since the setup does not support ASR in the home
edition, there is no way to initiate
the ASR restore in case of a disaster. If you need to restore from
this session, install Windows XP manually
and then restore from the ASR media.

2. Backup to CDRW

If you decide to backup to a CDRW, you cannot target that device
directly. You must create a backup set of
650MB or less and backup to a file. After the file is complete, copy
the file to the CDRW.

Please refer to the readme for XP home edition for additional notes.


I don't really understand the above.

Albert

 

[Alex Nichol]

am running XP home addition, I need info on how to backup my C:drive, I
opened up the C: drive and tried to copy and install on CD,s but it seems
like it will take forever and use at least 15 CD"s,Is there a easier way
backing up the drive?

This IMO is one of the benefits of partitioning the hard disk. I keep
my C: drive down to 7.5 MB and at that I can make a 'compressed image'
backup on a single DVD, or to a file on the other half of the disk (or
better on a separate disk). Data files need a quite different strategy,
of a master, full backup of the files that matter only, followed by
'incremental' backups of ones that have changed

 

[wojo]

7.5MB ? or GB?

This IMO is one of the benefits of partitioning the hard disk. I keep
my C: drive down to 7.5 MB and at that I can make a 'compressed image'
backup on a single DVD, or to a file on the other half of the disk (or
better on a separate disk). Data files need a quite different strategy,
of a master, full backup of the files that matter only, followed by
'incremental' backups of ones that have changed

 

[Darrell]

Buy an external USB 2.0 hard drive and back up to that. It has the
protection of being either powered off or disconnected most of the time to
protect it from any virus you might get on your internal hard drive. I use
DriveImage 7.0 which uses a little compression and takes me about an hour to
image my hard drive. Another advantage over CDs is that you don't have to
hang around during the backup to change CDs.

My critical files such as Quicken banking online I also backup to my
external ZIP drive. I do that every time I make a change in Quicken.

If something bad happens I can boot directly to my DriveImage CD and restore
everything to the last backup status. Then I can put my Quicken Zip disk in
to further update that system.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

I'm pretty sure he meant 7.5GB, wojo.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

7.5MB ? or GB?

 

[wojo]

lol

I'm pretty sure he meant 7.5GB, wojo.