Backing Up In Windows XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Janet
  • Start date Start date
J

Janet

Hello, please excuse me if I'm posting to an incorrect
group. Can anyone tell me how to do an old fashioned
full backup of my system? I'm using Windows XP and
Microsoft 2000 (?). I have looked everywhere I can find
to look and don't find anywhere to do this. Obviously I
am a novice and am looking for answers to basic
questions. Any help or direction would be greatly
appreciated. Thanks Janet
 
Installing the Backup Program on the Home Version
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm#backup_home

HOW TO: Use Backup to Back Up Files and Folders on Your Computer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308422&Product=winxp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

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:

| Hello, please excuse me if I'm posting to an incorrect
| group. Can anyone tell me how to do an old fashioned
| full backup of my system? I'm using Windows XP and
| Microsoft 2000 (?). I have looked everywhere I can find
| to look and don't find anywhere to do this. Obviously I
| am a novice and am looking for answers to basic
| questions. Any help or direction would be greatly
| appreciated. Thanks Janet
 
While the NT Backup is found on your XP disc or recovery disk in the
valueadd\msft\ntbackup folder you should know that backups made with NT
Backup can only be copied to your existing hard drive and you cannot copy
them with NT Backup to disk unless you make backups of 620MB or so. This is
impossible for a beginner or even most advanced users as you need to ensure
all components of a program are on the same disk. NT Backup does not have
disk spanning.(end the copying process on one disk and start on the next).
For a proper and complete backup of your entire system to discs for future
reinstall you will need a 3rd party software program like Ghost.
 
You need to use third party software for this. The Backup program that ships
with XP is not a good option at all. There are several decent programs. I
use Acronis TrueImage but have also used Norton Ghost, Drive Image and
BootIt NG. Do a search on google.
 
The said:
While the NT Backup is found on your XP disc or recovery disk in the
valueadd\msft\ntbackup folder you should know that backups made with NT
Backup can only be copied to your existing hard drive and you cannot copy
them with NT Backup to disk unless you make backups of 620MB or so. This is
impossible for a beginner or even most advanced users as you need to ensure
all components of a program are on the same disk. NT Backup does not have
disk spanning.(end the copying process on one disk and start on the next).
For a proper and complete backup of your entire system to discs for future
reinstall you will need a 3rd party software program like Ghost.
Click to expand...

Or just copy your hard drive to a (larger) Maxtor USB 2.0 drive.
 
I am running windows XP Professional and trying to follow the directions by
Ed Bott using the Wizard and backing up to the D drive as recommended. When I
type in the name of the file, I get a message that says" Please ensure that
it is a valid path and that you have access to it" - From what I trying to
backup on the computer is not a good idea. I do not have a Zip drive and want
to install Windows SP2. How important is it to backup the computer first?
 
Is the D drive a CD or DVD writer? If yes, XP backup cannot backup directly
to CD unless you have third party packet writing software such as the Drag
to Disk component of Easy Media Creator, www.roxio.com or the InCD component
of Nero, www.nero.com installed.
 
Based on experiences reported by others, there is some risk in not backing
up first. Download a trial version of one of the commercial backup programs
and use that. Be sure to save the installer and put it on a cd so that you
can reinstall the backup program in case you have major problems.
 
One important question not answered was "how important to back up before
installing SP2"
The professional recommendation from Microsoft is ALWAYS back up before
installing updates.

Must admit that, for most (automatic) XP updates, I don't - BUT for SP2
(it's MASSIVE, takes about 2 hours to install after download) I most
certainly certainly did back up, to my D:/ which is hdd partition. (You
didn't specify what your D:\ drive is - if partition of hdd, that's fine, if
not, you've had replies from the experts.)

REASON - I've never had problem with MS updates installing BUT with a 2 hour
job, there's always the chance of a power failure in middle of intensive
disk activity, which would almost inevitably cause a catastrophic crash.
Better safe than sorry - I once had it happen during a defrag session in W98
(similar intensive disk activity).

Hope this helps Len.
 
Making a backup of your important files is always a prudent idea when
installing a major update like a Service Pack. Personally I haven't had any
problems and have installed it many times to a variety of different setups.
If you want to be safe download BootIt NG
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html which is a 30 day fully
functional trialware program. With the download create a bootable CD or
floppy. Boot with the disc. Do not choose the option to install when asked
just cancel that and you will have access to a number of Disk Tools. One of
these will create an image of your current setup and you can either opt to
burn to CD/DVD or you can save the image to a second drive. This image will
be good for 30 days but will time out but that gives you plenty of time to
install SP2 and see if there are problems with it.

In my experience downloading the full SP2 is a better option that using the
Windows Update Site. You should do a decent disk cleanup. Make sure you
remove spyware. Defrag. Turn off AV program and install SP2.

You can download the full SP2 from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...be-3b8e-4f30-8245-9e368d3cdb5a&displaylang=en

If you decide to use BootIt NG you will see that it is an excellent program
and decide you want to purchase it. --

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp
 
Wouldn't an easy way to backup your whole hard drive to be to use one of
those flash drives that plug into any USB port? Just curious
 
In
RB said:
Wouldn't an easy way to backup your whole hard drive to be to
use one
of those flash drives that plug into any USB port? Just
curious
Click to expand...


You can back up lots of data that way, but not the whole hard
drive. Even the biggest of these is much smaller than any hard
drive made today.
 
You can back up lots of data that way, but not the whole hard
drive. Even the biggest of these is much smaller than any hard
drive made today.
Click to expand...

But, for about $250, you can pick up a 100 GB shirt-pocket-sized Seagate
portable hard drive that doesn't even require a separate power cable. It
can draw power from the USB 2.0 cable. I use it to ghost my my entire
drive and carry it offsite with me.

- Walter
 
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