Backup Desktop

  • Thread starter Thread starter bill
  • Start date Start date
bill said:
How would I backup everything on my desktop?

tks all
I use XP Home Edit, Serv P 2
Click to expand...

Can you clarify what you want to do? The desktop just contains icons which
can be shortcuts, or data or even executable files. What is it you want to
backup?
 
Rock said:
Can you clarify what you want to do? The desktop just contains icons
which can be shortcuts, or data or even executable files. What is it you
want to backup?
Click to expand...


I want to save all the files so I can use them after a reinstall of windows.

tks

bw
 
"Rock" wrote
Click to expand...
I want to save all the files so I can use them after a reinstall of
windows.

tks
Click to expand...

Ok, now I see. When you said desktop I thought you meant the windows
desktop not, a desktop computer. What do you mean "all the files"? Do you
mean data and programs? Don't you regularly backup the important data now?
There should always be a full and complete backup of important data.

When an OS is reinstalled programs have to be reinstalled from the original
media. As to data files, there are numerous ways to do this. The simplest
is to copy the user files to CD or flash drive, and copy them back into the
new installation. You could also use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard
on the current installation, assuming it's running, to migrate the data and
settings.

http://aumha.org/win5/a/fast.htm

Even if you use FAST you need to set up a backup program and backup
regularly. XP comes with Ntbackup which is installed by default in XP Pro.
In XP Home it's not installed but it's on the CD in the
\MSFT\ValueADD\Ntbackup folder as ntbackup.msi or download it from here:
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm#backup_home.

I stopped using Ntbackup long ago. It cannot backup to DVD and will only
backup to CD if other 3rd party CD burning software is available and even
with that it will not span CDs, i.e. one CD is the limit, which is not very
practical. It is geared toward tape drives or other hard drives. It will
work ok in backing up to an external hard drive (or network drive) and
restoring individual files / folders is ok, but if you need to restore the
complete drive it's cumbersome. XP must be installed first. If you have XP
Pro, Ntbackup has an ASR feature (Automated System Recovery) which makes
this restore of a boot/system drive easier but still it takes much longer
than an imaging program, and I never got it to restore my system to full
functionality as it was when the backup was made. It also mandates that a
floppy drive be available. One floppy disk is created in the ASR process
and there is no way around that. ASR is not available on XP Home addition.

I moved to a drive imaging program as the primary backup means. This makes
an exact image of the partition or drive which can be saved on CD/DVD or to
another drive - internal or external. Imaging to an external USB 2.0 /
Firewire drive works well. Backups should be external to the system and
there should be redundancy. Occasionally burning an image to DVD gives you
redundancy. Restores can be done of the entire partition or individual
files / folders. These work well and make it easy to recover from a drive
crash.

Currently I use Acronis True Image Home, version 10. After a full image
subsequent ones can be incremental or differential saving time and space.
ATI also does file backup and disk cloning. Other imaging programs include:

Norton Ghost
Terabyte Unlimited's BootIt NG
Terabyte Unlimited's Image for Windows

A different option is a traditional backup program such as Stompsoft's PC
BackUP, Sonic's Backup MyPC or SecondCopy from www.centered.com. There are
other backup programs out there as well. This can do a complete backup or
backup individual files and folders to DVD/CD and other drives.
 
How would I backup everything on my desktop?
Click to expand...



Here's my standard post on backing up:

First of all, almost everyone should be backing up regularly. It is
always possible that a hard drive crash, user error, nearby lightning
strike, virus attack, even theft of the computer, can cause the loss
of everything on your drive. As has often been said, it's not a matter
of whether you will have such a problem, but when.

Essentially you should back up what you can't afford to lose--what you
can't readily recreate. What that is depends on how you use your
computer and what you use it for.

It takes time and effort to backup, but it also takes time and effort
to recreate lost data. If you back up daily, you should never have to
recreate more than one day's worth of last data. If weekly, there's
potentially a lot more to recreate. You should assess how much pain
and trouble you would have if you lost x days of data, and then choose
a backup frequency that doesn't involve more pain and trouble than
that you would have if you had to recreate what was lost.

Some things (photographs, for instance) can never be recreated, and
more frequent backup may be wanted for them.

At one extreme is the professional user who would likely go out of
business if his data was lost. He probably needs to back up at least
daily. At the other extreme is the kid who doesn't use his computer
except to play games. He probably needs no backup at all, since worst
case he can easily reinstall his games.

Most of us fall somewhere between those extremes, but nobody can tell
you where you fall; you need to determine that for yourself.

Should you back up Windows? Should you back up your applications? Most
people will tell you no, since you can always reinstall these easily
from the original media. But I don't think the answer is so clear-cut.
Many people have substantial time and effort invested in customizing
Windows and configuring their apps to work the way they want to.
Putting all of that back the way it was can be a difficult,
time-consuming effort. Whether you should backup up Windows and apps
depends, once again, on you.

How to backup? What software to use? There are many choices, including
the Windows-supplied backup program. Which choice is best for you
depends at least in part on the answers to some of the questions
above.

Finally what backup media should you choose, and how should it be
stored? There are many choices, including CDs, tape, zip drives, and
second hard drives.

I don't recommend backup to a second non-removable hard drive because
it leaves you susceptible to simultaneous loss of the original and
backup to many of the most common dangers: severe power glitches,
nearby lightning strikes, virus attacks, even theft of the computer.

In my view, secure backup needs to be on removable media, and not kept
in the computer. For really secure backup (needed, for example, if the
life of your business depends on your data) you should have multiple
generations of backup, and at least one of those generations should be
stored off-site.

My computer isn't used for business, but my personal backup scheme
uses two identical removable hard drives,I alternate between the two,
and use Acronis True Image to make a complete copy of the primary
drive.

I also use a pair of 1GB thumb drives for making more frequent backups
of my most critical data (like financial information). For that I just
drag and drop.
 
Ken Blake said:
Here's my standard post on backing up:

First of all, almost everyone should be backing up regularly. It is
always possible that a hard drive crash, user error, nearby lightning
strike, virus attack, even theft of the computer, can cause the loss
of everything on your drive. As has often been said, it's not a matter
of whether you will have such a problem, but when.

Essentially you should back up what you can't afford to lose--what you
can't readily recreate. What that is depends on how you use your
computer and what you use it for.

It takes time and effort to backup, but it also takes time and effort
to recreate lost data. If you back up daily, you should never have to
recreate more than one day's worth of last data. If weekly, there's
potentially a lot more to recreate. You should assess how much pain
and trouble you would have if you lost x days of data, and then choose
a backup frequency that doesn't involve more pain and trouble than
that you would have if you had to recreate what was lost.

Some things (photographs, for instance) can never be recreated, and
more frequent backup may be wanted for them.

At one extreme is the professional user who would likely go out of
business if his data was lost. He probably needs to back up at least
daily. At the other extreme is the kid who doesn't use his computer
except to play games. He probably needs no backup at all, since worst
case he can easily reinstall his games.

Most of us fall somewhere between those extremes, but nobody can tell
you where you fall; you need to determine that for yourself.

Should you back up Windows? Should you back up your applications? Most
people will tell you no, since you can always reinstall these easily
from the original media. But I don't think the answer is so clear-cut.
Many people have substantial time and effort invested in customizing
Windows and configuring their apps to work the way they want to.
Putting all of that back the way it was can be a difficult,
time-consuming effort. Whether you should backup up Windows and apps
depends, once again, on you.

How to backup? What software to use? There are many choices, including
the Windows-supplied backup program. Which choice is best for you
depends at least in part on the answers to some of the questions
above.

Finally what backup media should you choose, and how should it be
stored? There are many choices, including CDs, tape, zip drives, and
second hard drives.

I don't recommend backup to a second non-removable hard drive because
it leaves you susceptible to simultaneous loss of the original and
backup to many of the most common dangers: severe power glitches,
nearby lightning strikes, virus attacks, even theft of the computer.

In my view, secure backup needs to be on removable media, and not kept
in the computer. For really secure backup (needed, for example, if the
life of your business depends on your data) you should have multiple
generations of backup, and at least one of those generations should be
stored off-site.

My computer isn't used for business, but my personal backup scheme
uses two identical removable hard drives,I alternate between the two,
and use Acronis True Image to make a complete copy of the primary
drive.

I also use a pair of 1GB thumb drives for making more frequent backups
of my most critical data (like financial information). For that I just
drag and drop.
Click to expand...


A big tks all for great mini course on backing files up. Will help out a
lot.


bill
 
bill said:
I want to save all the files so I can use them after a reinstall of
windows.
Click to expand...

We're getting there (baby-step by baby-step).

Why do you want to reinstall Windows?

If the reason is that you want to move to a larger hard drive, then you need
not "backup" at all. Hard drive manufacturers provide utility programs to
migrate everything from your old drive to their new drive without
re-installing anything.

If, on the other hand, you intend to re-install Windows to correct some
problem, what is the problem? It might, and usually is, easier to correct
the original problem than spend (literally) days reconstructing the system.
 
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