backups, userprofiles, and user state

[Greg Stigers, MCSA]

We are reviewing our desktop backups. Currently, users run a batch file that
xcopies My Documents to a Samba share, which is a pretty good indication of
our budget. I don't see that this approach does quite enough. I'm arguing
for two things, but could use some supporting info.

First, I think we ought to backup everything in %userprofile%, except
history, temp and temporary internet folders and the userdata folder, and
ntuser.* UsrClass.* files. I'm less sure about cookies. Also, I'm
recommending robocopy over xcopy, especially since robocopy allows
exclusions. I suggested ntbackup.exe, but this could make restoring files
beyond most users. Does that sound about right?

Second, I'm wondering about user state, and possibly using the User State
Migration Tool to capture that. Is that the thing to do?

What are others doing for desktop backup on the cheap?

 

[Guest]

Try file transfer wizard,set computer as old in the wizard,then specify what
files you want it to save,then collect the data in a new folder that you
created,
once thru,transfer to a cd.

 

[David Candy]

Xcopy. I would not back up the profile. It's 99% sh1t. You can create a new user to create a new profile. Then just add My Docs et al to the profile.