I'm concerned my system may crash and I have no back up and recovery disk or
Vista installation disk. I was told I could order one from the manufacturer
but I'm wondering if there is a way to create one after setup. I have a XP
Home Edition I suppose I could use but I would rather create a Vista backup,
if possible.
Two points:
1. Regarding reinstallation of Vista: is your computer one that came
with Vista preinstalled?
If so, be aware that OEM computers with Windows preinstalled are
required to provide you with a means of reinstalling Windows. They can
do that in any of three ways:
a. Give you an OEM installation CD
b. Give you a restore CD
c. Put a hidden partition on your drive that can be used to do a
restore.
The third way is most common these days. Contact the manufacturer for
details on what to do.
2. Regarding backup, if you have files on you drive that are important
to you, and you don't do a regular backup of them, you are playing
with fire. It is always possible that a hard drive crash, user error,
nearby lightning strike, virus attack, even theft of the computer, can
cause the loss of everything on your drive. As has often been said,
it's not a matter of whether you will have such a problem, but when.
You might want to read this article I wrote on backup: "Understanding
Disk Partitioning" at
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=326