System Restore is far from a back-up plan.
It primarily protects system files but not personal files.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...=/technet/itcommunity/newsgroups/faqsrwxp.asp
Go-Back is more of a Back-up plan, however it is usually on the same
drive and thus vulnerable.
Neither of them are a magic bullet and should not be thought of as
such.
As you have seen, they both have their weaknesses.
You should not forgo basic security just to protect these functions:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/security.htm
Nothing replaces backing up data to another location.
--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
An easier way to read newsgroup messages:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/newsgroups/setup.asp
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/
srdiamond said:
Donald;
There may be corrupted data in system Restore.
Turn off/on System Restore to delete corrupted files:
Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore.
Click System Restore Settings on left side.
Check "Turn off System Restore", click OK, follow prompts and reboot.
This deletes ALL Restore Points including corruption.
Then go back and turn on system Restore and create a Restore Point.
Otherwise:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...=/technet/itcommunity/newsgroups/faqsrwxp.asp
similarly suffered consequences for relying on it. What I'm wondering
is whether there are many things that inevitably delete points. In the
hope that at least one would work, I'm running both MS's system
restore and Symantec's Go Back. Both failed.
Symantec documents the causes, and they're scary. Go back points
will be wiped by disk fragmentation and by anti-virus scans. So, while
users are urged (by this selfsame Symantec) to defragment our drives
and to do frequent scans to avoid infection, these procedures
undermine data safety.
I would assume the same processes wiped the restore points in MS's
System Restore, and may have caused the bulk of the problems reported.
Windows XP Home doesn't even contain conventional backup software.
Users are encouraged, thereby, to _rely_ on System Restore. But it may
be more unreliable than anyone suspects.
What do you recommend? What should users forego, virus checks and
defragmentation or System Restore? What should we rely on.
I'm amazed at all the concern about esoteric problems of security
against snooping and hacking, with so little intelligence devoted to
the simple matter of proper backup. It is just too hard to backup
properly, where one recommended procedure for other problems negates
the main backup utility on offer.