Windows Backup Options for Incremental Backups

[poddys]

I want to make a full system backup on a regular basis and then do
Incremental backups daily.
With Windows XP backup I have the option of either appending to the
existing backup or overwriting it.
I would like to keep my incremental backups going back a few weeks,
however it seems logical to me that the backup files should be named so
as to identify them by date/time. It's great that the description has
this information, but is there a way to get Windows to automatically
name the file?
I don't want to have to type the name in namually every time - not
possible if I schedule backups for the middle of the night.
I also don't just want to keep appending to the same file - not sure
how this works but at some point I want to be able to delete older
backups.
I'm backing up to another hard drive on my server, not to tape or CD.
Thanks in advance.

 

[peterk]

I think you are over doing the daily incremental backups.
I use Acronis True Image and with it I "clone" my boot drive to another
drive.If my boot drive crashes or/when XP refuses to start I just remove the
boot drive and replace it with the "cloned" drive and I am back in
Business.I create a new clone every 2 weeks
I also use the program to "image" partitions of the drive....these I safe in
an Acronis Secure Zone on another drive and do it once a week...scheduled
This saves all changes to the individual partitions and I can restore a
partition and all of its contents within minutes.I can asses the images even
if XP does not load by means of the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager which
shows up on the Boot Screen before XP loads and requires me to push a
certain key to start.
All personal files no matter from what program are saved in a specific
folder with sub folders ...to back these up I use the XP build in backup.
These are backed up to another HD about every 3 days .....actually the same
drive that has the Acronis Secure Zone on it.

So if I have lost one file........I recover one file
If I have lost part of a program on a partition.......I recover the
partition
If my HD goes down or XP gets cranky and refuses to start .........I
exchange hard drives.

works for me
peterk