Andy said:
Im looking to save my pc settings, favourites etc, how do i do that?
As noted, XP backup can't natively do this to DVD. You need another
program, and there are many.
Backup Plus is one, and it creates "bac" files that are actually ZIP files.
This is an advantage in that the Zip format is well understood and there are
lots of recovery utilities.
However, backing up user files is often complicated by the fact that MS made
a number of user-data locations hidden by default, so you have to
deliberately make changes to Explorer to be able to find them. Outlook,
Outlook Express, Address Book files and probably Favourites are all prime
examples of these hidden files. In Explorer, under Tools, Folder Options,
View, set "show hidden files and folders" and de-select "hide protected
operating system files".
Then there is another class of backup program, called "imaging" apps, that
can make copies of the entire disk. These copies can be restored to a new
disk, so that it is bootable in minutes. Regular backup programs cannot do
this. Acronis True Image and Norton Ghost are examples of these apps.
BTW, if what you were backing up to the Desktop included the Desktop folder,
I would not be surprised that you got an error message. You'd be telling
the app to back up the file you're trying to write.
HTH
-pk
