How to Backup

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Apparently, Backup wizard doesn't work with XP so what is the most efficient
way to back to CD-Rs? I've been dragging the files through windows explorer
but it seems to take much longer than in my previous 98 system with a Sony
OEM drive and software.

What are my other options?
 
JJ said:
Apparently, Backup wizard doesn't work with XP so what is the most
efficient
way to back to CD-Rs? I've been dragging the files through windows
explorer
but it seems to take much longer than in my previous 98 system with a Sony
OEM drive and software.

What are my other options?
Click to expand...

Acronis True Image?
 
JJ:

Get real Backup software like Acronis (which I should've gotten) or Norton
Ghost 9.0 which I have, and I back it up to a USB HD rather than CD-R's. But
they also backup to CD-R's as well.

I played around with the Microsoft backup software in XP, but you have to
install it, after I found the procedures for doing it on this newsgroup. It's
not installed by default when installing XP, but it works if the destination
file size is less than 4Gigs. It combines everything into one destination
file, so you can't pick one file to restore what I can see. I can restore one
file, or directory from Nortons.

I have my PC hibernated, and it wakes up to backup each morning at 4:55AM to
backup, so I'm not there to stick the disks in.

I don't know about the experience of others here, but I used to backup
cetain critical files, such as spreadsheets, Quickbook data files to CD-R's
,and then somewhere within a year, I got a problem with the CD, stick the CD
into the drive, and I found it cannot read or write.

While I got the backup going, the wife still wants to keep copies of her
spreadsheets besides the HD, so we've been using memory sticks instead of
CD-R's, and had no problems since.

Frank Chin
 
JJ said:
Apparently, Backup wizard doesn't work with XP so what is the most
efficient
way to back to CD-Rs? I've been dragging the files through windows
explorer
but it seems to take much longer than in my previous 98 system with a Sony
OEM drive and software.

What are my other options?
Click to expand...


There are several approaches. One 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. Examples of this are:

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

The second 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.

Next is ntbackup which is installed in XP Pro but not Home. For Home if you
have the XP CD it can be found in the \MSFT\ValueADD\Ntbackup folder as
ntbackup.msi or download it from here:
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm#backup_home

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. It is geared toward
tape drives or other hard drives. It will work ok in backing up to an
external hard drive (or network drive). The backup can then be burned to
CD. 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, and I never got it to restore my system to
full functionality as it was when the backup was made. 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.

I recommend a drive imaging program saving the backups on an external USB
drive occasionally burning a copy to CD or DVD.
 
I had to replace my hard drive. I reinstalled Office 2003. I need to move
scores of Word toolbar customizations from my backup folder. How do I do
this?
 
I had to replace my hard drive. I reinstalled Office 2003. I need to move
scores of Word toolbar customizations from my backup folder. How do I do
this?
Click to expand...


Please ask questions about Word in a Word newsgroup, not here in a
Windows XP newsgroup. You are far more likely to get the help you need
there, since that's where the Word experts hang out.
 
JJ said:
Apparently, Backup wizard doesn't work with XP so what is the most efficient
way to back to CD-Rs? I've been dragging the files through windows explorer
but it seems to take much longer than in my previous 98 system with a Sony
OEM drive and software.

What are my other options?
Click to expand...
 
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