How to backup whole PC on Windows XP Pro ?

[Polaris]

Hi:

I have a laptop with Windows XP Pro (with Service Pack 2).

Is there a way to backup the whole PC into a single file? I know there is a
ntbackup.msi for XP Home edition, but could not find it with XP Pro.

Thanks in Advance!
Polaris

 

[JS]

You need an "Image" backup software package, Norton Ghost (Symantec product)
is one of many out there. True Image is another.
You will need an external hard drive (possibly a DVD if the resultant image
file is not too large) to do this.

JS

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Windows XP does not have a native "disk imaging" program.
To accomplish what you describe, you would need a third-
party program, such as Norton Ghost.

Norton Ghost
http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/overview.jsp?pcid=br&pvid=ghost10

How to copy disk-to-disk using Norton Ghost
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...hot&prod=Norton+Ghost&ver=10.0&csm=no&seg=hho


--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User

Enjoy all the benefits of genuine Microsoft software:
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/default.mspx

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­---------------------------------

:

| Hi:
|
| I have a laptop with Windows XP Pro (with Service Pack 2).
|
| Is there a way to backup the whole PC into a single file? I know there is a
| ntbackup.msi for XP Home edition, but could not find it with XP Pro.
|
| Thanks in Advance!
| Polaris

 

[MoonDog]

Hey ... I would get True Image over Ghost , Have a view at the link below

http://www.acronis.com/

 

[Rock]

Hi:

I have a laptop with Windows XP Pro (with Service Pack 2).

Is there a way to backup the whole PC into a single file? I know there is a
ntbackup.msi for XP Home edition, but could not find it with XP Pro.

Thanks in Advance!
Polaris

You have it reversed. Ntbackup is not installed by default in an XP
Home installation, but is in an installation of Pro. For a retail
version of Home it is on the install CD, however, in the
\MSFT\ValueADD\Ntbackup. For Pro it look in Start | Accessories |
System Tools. If you don't have it and it's not on the install CD it
can be downloaded from here:
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm#backup_home

There are other, better backup solutions. Ntbackup is a legacy app that
is geared toward tape backup and other hard drives.

Ntbackup 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.
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. 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.

A different backup solution is to use an imaging program. This makes an
exact image of the partition 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. Then 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. You can also make a clone of the drive to an external drive
and then in the event of a crash just switch drives and your off and
running. Examples of this are:

Norton Ghost 10
Acronis True Image
Terabyte Unlimited's Image for Windows
CasperXP

Another 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.

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User]

Acronis TrueImage is available as a 15 day full working trial..
http://www.acronis.com/