Backing up using XP Home backup utility

[Robert J. Lafayette]

Am a bit unsure, please advise further if necessary:

Having read recently about so many problems when
and if a hard drive (HDD) fails (C drive in my system),

I used the XP Home backup utility yesterday
to back up "all the information"
on my C drive to my external 250 GB HDD.

This full back up uses about 12 GB.

I do this since I have an external HDD with enough capacity.

I do have the original disks for all my software also,
but read recently that some software is intuitive and
intelligent, and learns, and if I lose my HDD
I may lose the learning of the software.

In the past I have been a bit sloppy about backing up...

Prior to doing this backup yesterday, I, also, used OE backup tool
(freeware)
to back up my emails, to the same 250 GB external HDD.

Is there anything else I can do to make sure "if" my HDD fails
I will not lose any data and other important files?

Or, am I being a bit foolish about backing up "all my information"?

I intend to back up weekly from here on out.

Thanks in advance,
Robert
XP home, SP 2

 

[Anna]

Am a bit unsure, please advise further if necessary:

Having read recently about so many problems when
and if a hard drive (HDD) fails (C drive in my system),

I used the XP Home backup utility yesterday
to back up "all the information"
on my C drive to my external 250 GB HDD.

This full back up uses about 12 GB.

I do this since I have an external HDD with enough capacity.

I do have the original disks for all my software also,
but read recently that some software is intuitive and
intelligent, and learns, and if I lose my HDD
I may lose the learning of the software.

In the past I have been a bit sloppy about backing up...

Prior to doing this backup yesterday, I, also, used OE backup tool
(freeware)
to back up my emails, to the same 250 GB external HDD.

Is there anything else I can do to make sure "if" my HDD fails
I will not lose any data and other important files?

Or, am I being a bit foolish about backing up "all my information"?

I intend to back up weekly from here on out.

Thanks in advance,
Robert
XP home, SP 2

Robert:
You're certainly not foolish for thinking about "backing up all my
information". It's most certainly a desirable thing to do.

The problem (at least for me) with the typical backup programs such as the
one included in Windows XP along with so many of the third-party backup
programs is that they are basically designed to back up the data files YOU
have created. To be sure that's important. Of course you want to back up
data you've created. But these programs do not "back up" your operating
system. They do not back up your Registry settings. They do not back up your
programs & applications. And in my view that's a serious limitation. How
many of us look forward to that onerous and time-consuming task of
reinstalling all our programs, configuration settings, etc. following the
system going down because of a non-functioning corrupted drive?

Now consider a disk imaging program such as Symantec's Norton Ghost (I'm
partial to the Ghost 2003 version) or Acronis True Image. These programs can
create a "clone" of your day-to-day working drive - in effect a bit-for-bit
copy of that drive. So by cloning the contents of your working drive, you
have (for all practical purposes) an exact duplicate of that drive,
including the OS, all your programs & data -- in short, everything that's on
your working drive, including, of course, all your OE data. What could be
better as a backup system?

In your case you would be creating a clone of your internal HD on your
USBEHD. While that latter drive would not be bootable since it's an external
HD, the contents could be re:cloned to your internal drive should
restoration be needed at some future time.

The cloning process itself is simple, straightforward, and effective. The
transfer (copying) speed will vary chiefly depending upon your processor
speed and the drives involved. With "modern" equipment you can figure on
cloning speeds of roughly 700 MB/min to 1 GB/min when cloning to a USBEHD.
It's considerably faster when cloning to an internal HD.

In addition to its effectiveness, the nice thing about using a disk imaging
program such as the ones I've mentioned is that they are so simple &
uncomplicated to use in terms of direct disk-to-disk cloning that you will
have no reluctance in employing them in a routine & systematic fashion and
thus be able to maintain an excellent backup program for your system.
Anna

 

[chad]

Hi Robert,

One thing I do and like to advise is the seperation of personal data
into a central folder. I use tweakUI to make my "myDocuments" folder
"c:\docs\" then, likewise, I move my "favorites", "desktop", address
book and email folder into c:\docs. With all data thus centralized, it
is easy to use a freeware backup tool to keep daily backups of your
data on a seperate drive (external is great). Then you can ghost your
drive once in a month or so and have the best of both worlds -- up to
date data and a recent system image.

Here's a link to TweakUI:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

And a roundup of freeware data backup tools which can handle the daily
backup:
http://free-backup.info/backup-software.htm

 

[DL]

Since the My Documents folder is allready a folder within C: theres no need
to do anything with it, unless you wish to move it to another hd. Though
there may be several My Documents folders if there are multiple users.
Address Book and Mail, this would depend on the email client you are using,
as such folders/files may not neccessarily exist.