What to backup

[Guest]

Hi all,
I need to do a reformat of my drive, and I'm trying to determine what to
back up. Of course I got the items in the Users folder, but I'm not familiar
enough with Vista to know what else to backup. And I tried searching for
recommendations, but oddly enough, didn't find any. Maybe my search wasn't
accurate.
Could anyone either point me to a recommendation of what to back up or list
some thoughts on it?

Thanks!
Myron

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hi all,
I need to do a reformat of my drive, and I'm trying to determine what to
back up.

Are you positive that such a drastic measure is really necessary? This
is usually the very last resort. What specific problems are you having,
and have you sought any kind of resolution?

Of course I got the items in the Users folder, but I'm not familiar
enough with Vista to know what else to backup. And I tried searching for
recommendations, but oddly enough, didn't find any. Maybe my search wasn't
accurate.
Could anyone either point me to a recommendation of what to back up or list
some thoughts on it?

Thanks!
Myron

There're very few canned recommendations on this subject because each
and every user and computer is unique. Only you know what data files
you have stored on your hard drive, and where you've stored them. Data
files include, but are not limited to:

Word processing documents
Spreadsheet files
Database files
Personal Pictures
Personal Music
Personal Videos
Email message store
Email Address Book
Internet Browser Favorites/Bookmarks
Downloaded Application Installation Packages

All programs will, of course, need to be reinstalled from the original
media after you've reinstalled the OS.

It would probably be best to use one of Vista's built-in tools for this
purpose, such as Windows Easy Transfer: Start > All Programs > System
Tools > Windows Easy Transfer.

Description of Windows Easy Transfer for Windows Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928635/en-us

How to use Windows Easy Transfer to migrate files and settings from one
Windows-based computer to another Windows Vista-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928634/en-us




--

Bruce Chambers

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[Eduardo Laureano [MSFT]]

Myron, if you use the Windows Vista file backup, it will help you pick the
most important categories of files, indepedently of the location on the hard
drive. The existing categories are: Pictures, Music, Videos, E-mail,
Documents, TV shows, compressed files and additional files (all file types
that don't belong to the previous categories, and aren't consider system
files).

Launch it from: Start Menu -> Backup and Restore Center -> Back up Files

Eduardo