Backup and Restore Program in Windows Vista Home Premium

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I am attempting to perform a full system backup before doing some problem
resoltuion with a corrupted program on my PC. My computer had Windows Vista
Home Premium installed when I purchased it but the manufacturer does not seem
to be able to answer my question.

In my windows Backup and Restore Program there appear to be two backup
options, one is a short version which appears to only backup My Documents
type of files and the other a full system backup. The full system backup
takes several hours to complete and several DVD disks. During the course of
full system backup I ran out of disks. The online help has a question
concerning just this situation and states that if you run out of disks you
can finish the backup at a later time.

I purchased additional RW format disks but cannot seem to find any option
which will allow me to resume the previous, manually stopped backup from
before. No matter what option I choose the program asks me to install a new
blank disk in the DVD drive.

Here is the problem: 1) the program does not seem to be recognizing that
the disks are RW, rewritable disks
2) it does not seem to be "scanning for new and updated files to add to
your backup" as it indicates it will. If you insert a disk from the previous
backup it gives you the following message: "this disk contains files from a
previous backup. Please inset a new blank disk and hit continue".

It seems all the program is able to do is start a new backup from scratch
with completely new blank disks.
 
I believe that what you need to do is set your DVD writer to not close the
disk automatically upon exit. To do this you must right click on the DVD
writer in My Computer then left click on the recording (tab) then go to
Global Settings and unclick the box that says to close the dick. I hope this
helps.
 
I realize this is not directly answering your question, but: I tried to go
the DVD route as my backup destination, but ran into the same kind of
problems you are having, plus it takes a lot of blank discs to shuffle
around. I bought myself an external 160 GB USB hard drive (~$60) to serve
as my backup destination; one of my better decisions: works automatically,
unattended, and directly and problem free. Just something for you down the
road perhaps.
 
Inrio - Vista's system backup is "Conplete PC Backup" and is not an option
with Vista Home Premium - only the file backup and restore utility is
included with the Premium version.

The Complete PC Backup is an image creating program - the file backup
creates "Zip" files and does not backup system and/or program files.
 
I had similar problems - first of all you need to format - or reformat - your
CD/RWs so that they will be recognised as blank ready to receive data again.
Using CD's is not advised as there is too much data.

I went down the external hard drive route as also suggested by John Hanley
(thanks John!). Only problem is, both my ext drives - one of which is brand
new and empty, seem to have a 'file system not recognised' by the auto back
up program? I have run the disk error checking on both drives and they are
fine - is this normal? I cannot believe that two perfectly statndard hard
drives would have 'corrupt file systems', especially the new one. Can anybody
help on this? Thanks in advance...
 
I also read what you have said here on the Microsoft website. The version of
Backup and Restore that was preinstalled on my computer has two options. One
is labeled Back up Files and seems to be a very quick backup so I assume it
is only backing up the My Documents file. The other option is found under
the Change Backup Settings button (which seems odd). If you select this
Change Settings Option you are taken to another screen which has another
Change Backup Settings Option. In that box it reads "adjusts your current
backup settings OR start a new, full backup". This option takes about 6
hours to complete and fills 3 DVD disks with lots of zipped files.

What exactly is this longer backup and how does it differ from the System
Recovery Disks that I created when I first bought the machine?
 
If the complete backup does not backup system or program files, what type of
files is it backing up. Given the length of time it takes and the numbers of
disks used, it seems to be backing up more than just document files.
 
I did as instructed below; however, the DVD states that the session must be
closed in order for the DVD to be read by another computer. If I leave the
session open and later need to recover information from the disc (i.e., to
restore files from the backup) will I be able to do this with an open disc?
If not, how do close the disc at a later date?
 
James Boyd said:
I had similar problems - first of all you need to format - or reformat -
your
CD/RWs so that they will be recognised as blank ready to receive data
again.
Using CD's is not advised as there is too much data.

I went down the external hard drive route as also suggested by John Hanley
(thanks John!). Only problem is, both my ext drives - one of which is
brand
new and empty, seem to have a 'file system not recognised' by the auto
back
up program? I have run the disk error checking on both drives and they are
fine - is this normal? I cannot believe that two perfectly statndard hard
drives would have 'corrupt file systems', especially the new one. Can
anybody
help on this? Thanks in advance...
Click to expand...

Most external drives are formatted as FAT32 for compatibility reasons. This
allows the drive to work with just about any OS out there.

Convert (or simply reformat) the drive to NTFS and the backup utility will
use the drive without a hiccup.

Just remember, if you plug that drive into a system running Windows 9x you
won't be able to use it.

Mic
 
I agree. It is difficult to tell exactly what is being backed up as when you
try to look at the files on the disks, they are all zipped and don't have
meaningful names to me. I do confess I am not very good at computers beyond
running software; however. But, given the time and space required I would
assume it is doing a complete backup. How would this differ from the systems
recovery disks that Vista allows you to make one and only one copy of when
the computer is first purchased?
 
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