Complete computer backup in Vista

[PM Guy]

I run Vista Home Premium and have been informed that it has built in backup
capability to make a 'dic image' of my entire computer similar to what
"Ghost" does.
however, I cannot locate the starting point which I was told is under the
'system and maintenance' heading in Control Panel. in my control panel there
is no such system and maintenance setting.
will appreciate any advise.

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Click the start orb, and type:
backup and restore center

If Home Premium actually has it installed, it will show up there. If you
lack a second hard drive, or burner you couldn't make a 'Complete PC Backup'
anyway.
(I thought only "Business or better' had it.)

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[Kevin]

I run Vista Home Premium and have been informed that it has built in backup
capability to make a 'dic image' of my entire computer similar to what
"Ghost" does.
however, I cannot locate the starting point which I was told is under the
'system and maintenance' heading in Control Panel. in my control panel
there
is no such system and maintenance setting.
will appreciate any advise.

Control Panel>System and Maintenance>Backup your Computer

As far as I know, Windows does not include any sort of "disk imaging"
application.

Backing up your data is simple. Burn your data to a CD or DVD. Copy it to
a USB flash drive. Copy it to an external hard drive. You don't need any
third party software to do it.

 

[Daze N. Knights]

"Complete PC Backup" is available in Vista Business and Ultimate, but
not in Home Premium.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I run Vista Home Premium and have been informed that it has built in backup
capability to make a 'dic image' of my entire computer similar to what
"Ghost" does.
however, I cannot locate the starting point which I was told is under the
'system and maintenance' heading in Control Panel. in my control panel
there
is no such system and maintenance setting.
will appreciate any advise.

You've actually been misinformed.

No version of Vista with Home in the name has that function, just like
ntbackup with ASR doesn't work on any version of XP with Home in the name.

If you want imaging, imaging and cloning programs like TrueImage and Ghost
are a better bet. I've used TrueImage for some time now and it's been very
reliable, and it's around $50.

HTH
-pk

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Control Panel>System and Maintenance>Backup your Computer

As far as I know, Windows does not include any sort of "disk imaging"
application.

Backing up your data is simple. Burn your data to a CD or DVD. Copy it
to a USB flash drive. Copy it to an external hard drive. You don't need
any third party software to do it.

As a side note, as USB flash drives have an annoying tendency to suddenly
fail, I suggest that they aren't suitable for backup or sole storage
purposes.

File transfer, yes. Backup, no. Reliability is critical for backup media,
and USB flash drives just aren't reliable enough.

As well, it's important to understand that some apps keep their data in
folders helpfully marked as Hidden, and simple copying of a structure may
miss these.

3rd party software often adds features that simple copying doesn't have,
such as compression and differential backups.

HTH
-pk

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Then just what does the "Home" version of Vista back up?

ham

It backs up User Data. It *may* back up other files too, but that may not
be particularly helpful. For example, there's little to no point in
backing up Windows or Program files if you have to reinstall Windows and
programs anyway in case of drive crash.

It can't create a backup that you can actually use to restore to a new drive
and recreate the entire environment, that is, create a bootable Windows
drive at the state when the backup was taken. That function is restricted
to Vista Business and Ultimate, just as the same functions were limited in
XP Home vs. Pro.

(In that case, however, the UI in ntbackup could lead you to think it *was*
supported, and more than a few people posted wondering what they were doing
wrong when the process failed. The KB article was misleading on this,
giving a "workaround" for XP Home that ended with the caveat that it would
fail on XP Home as it isn't supported).

Instead, you would have to do an OS install first, reinstall the apps, and
then restore your data.

If this isn't sufficient, and for many it isn't, there are 3rd party apps as
mentioned that work well and are not expensive.

And for myself, that's what I use.

Finally, don't rely on a single copy of your backup (keep one offsite) and
do perform test restores to verify that the backup actually works.

HTH
-pk

 

[curlgirl]

I, too, have Vista Home Premium, and it does have "automatic file backup".
How is this different from "complete pc backup"? In any case, I can't seem
to get the backup to work--it formats a dvd, then it runs out of space. It
never asks for another disk. Anyone know how to do this successfully? I'd
really like to back up my pc!--
curlgirl

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I, too, have Vista Home Premium, and it does have "automatic file backup".
How is this different from "complete pc backup"? In any case, I can't
seem
to get the backup to work--it formats a dvd, then it runs out of space.
It
never asks for another disk. Anyone know how to do this successfully?
I'd
really like to back up my pc!--
curlgirl

The difference between "automatic" and "complete" is that "automatic" does
not back up all files, it deliberately excludes some. The wizard's help
link allows you to see what files are not included.


If you want to back up your PC, and that is a highly desirable goal, you're
probably better off by using a superior backup utility. I've had great
results for several years with Acronis TrueImage, which is not expensive and
is easy to use. If you buy it from Acronis, IIRC it's around $50, some
places sell it for considerably less.

And it *will* create a bootable, spanned DVD set that backs up your complete
system and does not require windows reinstall media to restore. Ghost will
also do this, but I haven't used that one for years, when the then-current
version could not easily back up to external disks.

HTH
-pk