I agree with the previous reply, but would ad that I ahve
found the Microsoft backup tools less than 100% reliable.
Of course that was under windows 98, and maybe they are
better under XP. In contrast both GHOST and Trueimage
have not failed me. Trueimage is easier to use, but GHOST
has more options, if you like to tweak things.
The more funadamental problem is what do you backup?
GHOST amd Trueimage answe this by backing up everything on
a partition or even a whole hard drive. (GHOST 2002 or
higher for XP can exclude certain files that are not
necessary or hihc XP will re-create, like /TEMP,
PAGEFILE.SYS, etc. Trueimage verison 6 can not exclude
files. Both perform compression, if you want it.
In contast Ntbackup (yes name is still Ntbackup.exe under
XP) can backup as little or as much as you want. It is
pretty good fo backing-up Documents and Settings.
However, since it is usualy run form the XP desktop, what
d you do if you can not get XP to boot? If the PC is on a
network, you might be able to un Ntbackup from another
PC. But, that is not an option for most home users.
The second fundamental question is to where do you send
the backup? This should never be to the same partition
that you are backing-up. In fact, GHOST and Trueimage
prohibit that. So, you need a second partition or a
second hard drive or maybe a CD-writer or ZIP, JAZ, etc.
GHOST 2003 and Trueimage 6 can both write to external USB
and firewire disks. GHOST has some limitations, like only
the first controller of a given type is recognized.
Tueuimage is friendlier overall, and does not have this
limitation.
