Windows XP backup utility question

[bagarow]

Hi

Can I use the inbuilt backup utility in Windows XP Professional to
create a automated backup plan that will do:

- Create weekly full backup
- Create daily incremental backups

I see options to schedule weekly full backups seperately and
incremental backups as seperate backups, but not as an integrated
backup plan.

Do I need to look at utiliities outside Windows Backup utility to do
this?

Thanks
Bob

 

[R. McCarty]

The built-in backup can be made to work, but it is a "Dated" app. By
that I mean that it has limitations compared to other more modern types
of backups.

Personally I use Acronis True Image ( 10 & 11 ). It can be configured
to do most all types of data backup & imaging. Even with it you still are
required to manage the backups. I'm finding that more and more PC users
are unable to keep up with backups and am recommending one of the
online backup services ( Carbonite, Mozy...). However those services
are data only and not full system recovery types of backups. Mozy has
a "Free" service that allows a user to backup 2.0 Gigabytes of data. It's
other data packages are fee based starting around $50 a year.

The key to all backups is verification. Whatever app or service you
settle on make sure that backups can be verified. Second only to no
backup is having one that is corrupted and can't be used to recover data.

 

[Guest]

Hi

Can I use the inbuilt backup utility in Windows XP Professional to
create a automated backup plan that will do:

- Create weekly full backup
- Create daily incremental backups

I see options to schedule weekly full backups seperately and
incremental backups as seperate backups, but not as an integrated
backup plan.

Do I need to look at utiliities outside Windows Backup utility to do
this?

Thanks
Bob

Do the math.
How much data are you backing up?
What kind of backup media?
How many backups do you want to archive?
Do you really need daily system backups...or
just daily data backups?
Does it really need to be automated?
Does your backup method use data compression?
Can you afford to do without compression?
Can your restore method restore to a brand new
drive that's not the same size as your old one?

Lack of compression is a deal breaker for me.
I vote for Acronis True Image.
Version 10 can be downloaded for free
for a limited time.

 

[Twayne]

Hi

Can I use the inbuilt backup utility in Windows XP Professional to
create a automated backup plan that will do:

- Create weekly full backup
- Create daily incremental backups

I see options to schedule weekly full backups seperately and
incremental backups as seperate backups, but not as an integrated
backup plan.

Do I need to look at utiliities outside Windows Backup utility to do
this?

Thanks
Bob

XP's ntbackup.exe will work fine for that. Incrementals are tied to the
full backup by their names should a full restore be needed. Read the
Help file that comes with it.

You don't need to, no. XP's backup can handle it fine.
Whether you need an outside utilis pretty much up to you. The smoothest
and most efficient are probably Ghost from Symantec and True Image from
Acronis. Those are pay-fors. There is also a BootItNG if your'e the
more tekkie type and like to work inthe bowels of things but most
newbies don't get along with it well due to the learning curve.
There are some other decent freebie backup programs too. The main
thing to watch out for if you also want to back up your OS is that they
will use VSS (Volume Shadow Services) to copy system files that are "in
use". If they don't use VSS you won't get a complete, reliable backup.
If all you're concerned about is data, then almost any program will
work.

Hth

tWAYNE