which files to pick for backup

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I have purchased a 200 gig external drive which I will use to backup a
network of 3 home computers. My problem is figuring out which files I should
back up. Is the purpose of a backup to save a set of files that allows
correct functionality of XP? Or is the goal to backup personal data files
(music, text, that sort of thing) in case I have to do a total reload?
thanks...gary moore
 
phal said:
I have purchased a 200 gig external drive which I will use to
backup a network of 3 home computers. My problem is figuring out
which files I should back up. Is the purpose of a backup to save a
set of files that allows correct functionality of XP? Or is the
goal to backup personal data files (music, text, that sort of
thing) in case I have to do a total reload? thanks...gary moore
Click to expand...

The 'purpose' is up to you.

If you have the installation media and methods for each of the machines -
well - Iknow I would only concern myself with my stuff.. documents,
pictures, bookmarks, favorites, email, contacts, product keys and
installation files, spreadsheets, databases, etc...

You could also - given the room and time and inclination choose to backup
completely (using imaging software) each of the machine in full periodically
and combine that with backing up your files...
 
I have purchased a 200 gig external drive which I will use to backup a
network of 3 home computers. My problem is figuring out which files I
should
back up. Is the purpose of a backup to save a set of files that allows
correct functionality of XP? Or is the goal to backup personal data files
(music, text, that sort of thing) in case I have to do a total reload?
Click to expand...

The purpose is for you to decide. At the minimum a backup should contain
any files you don't want to loose by a system crash, drive crash or data
corruption. Ask yourself this, what happens if one or all of those
computers goes down so that all the hardware has to be replaced. How would
you recover? Do you have the installation CDs for the XP OS and the
original media for all applications? If that's the case then reinstall
everything from the original media and restore the data from a backup. This
will take take both for the installations and to set all the preferences the
way you had them.

Another option is to use a drive imaging program to save a compressed image
of the drives to the external media. An image can be restored quickly,
restoring the operating system, applications and OS all at once. Programs
that do this are Acronis True Image (which seems to be the favorite these
days), Norton Ghost and Terabyte Unlimited's Image for Windows.

You could combine periodic imaging with regular backups of critical data.
You have to decide how much down time you can tolerate, and how much time
you want to spend in rebuilding a system.
 
The purpose is for you to decide. At the minimum a backup should contain
any files you don't want to loose by a system crash, drive crash or data
corruption. Ask yourself this, what happens if one or all of those
computers goes down so that all the hardware has to be replaced. How
would you recover? Do you have the installation CDs for the XP OS and the
original media for all applications? If that's the case then reinstall
everything from the original media and restore the data from a backup.
This will take take both for the installations and to set all the
preferences the way you had them.

Another option is to use a drive imaging program to save a compressed
image of the drives to the external media. An image can be restored
quickly, restoring the operating system, applications and OS all at once.
Programs that do this are Acronis True Image (which seems to be the
favorite these days), Norton Ghost and Terabyte Unlimited's Image for
Windows.

You could combine periodic imaging with regular backups of critical data.
You have to decide how much down time you can tolerate, and how much time
you want to spend in rebuilding a system.
Click to expand...


The last sentence of the first paragraph should have read, "This will take
time for both the installations and to set all the preferences the way you
had them."
 
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