Making back up disk

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I would like to make a back up disk in case I have a crash but I don't have a
clue as to which files I need to put on there. I have already backed up my
pictures, Favorites, etc. but need to know which essential operating files I
need to save on a back up. Any help would be gratefully received. Thanks.
 
A great deal depends on:
Do you have a "real" windows XP CD (OEM or Retail?)
What flavor of Win XP? is your system running. Does it match the version of
the CD you have? IE "Gold", SP1(a), SP2
Do you have a version of Office installed?
Does your system have OEM specific applications and drivers? (Laptops seem
to always have)
How important is it to have a full backup? You may be able (If you have the
right windows CDs) to reload the system with what you have. (It takes time,
and loading various updates can be a pain.)

A full Backup/Restore Utility such as Ghost or similar may be a way to solve
your problem.
 
Barb said:
I would like to make a back up disk in case I have a crash but I don't have a
clue as to which files I need to put on there. I have already backed up my
pictures, Favorites, etc. but need to know which essential operating files I
need to save on a back up. Any help would be gratefully received. Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
If you are unsure which cd you have you may want to try bootdisk.com, they
have an array of great bootdisks for nearly every OS. If you backed up your
files that you want, and you have your original Windows CD or CD set, that is
all you really need. If no cd's came with your system then find out how to
make your own system cd's from the manufacturer's website and search for your
model computer. For a special treat try searching microsofts's website on how
to backup outlook or outlook express. This can come in very handy. Hope this
helped.
 
Hi Chuck, The only windows CD I have is the Operating System Already
Installed on your Computer reinstallation CD that came with my Dell. It has
XP Home Edition and SP1a. I installed SP2 myself. I do have Microsoft
Office 2000 Premium also installed but I have a CD for that. Is the
reinstallation CD all I need? Is there any way I can save SP2 so I don't
have to download it again? I have dial-up and it took hours. I don't know
what you mean by OEM specific applications and drivers. I would like to just
make a back up disk of the operating systems as they are now. We've had the
computer a couple years and changes have been made and I like how it urually
runs now. I can't afford to buy any back up software, though I'd love it.
Last week I got two trojan horses; when AVG deleted them it also took along
the files they were in. One was in my US Robotics; last night I tried
uninstalling and then reinstalling it but couldn't complete the reinstall.
Access denied on the file with the trojan horse. So it seems it wasn't
deleted. The system went blue screen during the reinstall and crashed. I
was able to recover by going in Safe Mode and using System Restore. That is
where the other Trojan horse was. Some helpful info off the newsgroup got it
up and running again yesterday; thank heavens. As you can tell, I am a real
novice and need help. Thanks. Barb
 
Thanks, David. I do have the Dell reinstallation CD and once before had to
do a complete restore. If that's all I need then I'll quit monkeying around.
I will check out Microsoft on how to back up OE. That would be handy.
 
Barb you really should look at imaging software. This would make a complete
backup of your hard drive and allow you to restore exactly as you drive is
now. I use Norton Ghost and do a dailly incremental backup which makes an
initial backup of the whole drive then each day backs up the files that have
changed. Its the simplest way to backup the computer. On one of my computers
I backup to a second hard drive and on another computer I backup to a second
partition.

There is software that will backup files for you so I guess you need to
think about what you want to accomplish. Are you looking for a backup in
case your system corrupts or are you looking to backup a few files that you
created such as in your my documents.

Norton Ghost
http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/backup_recovery/ghost10/

Acronis True Image
http://www.acronis.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please repost if you find the fault

Glen P

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I already downloaded SP2 to my computer last year but would like to back it
up on CD. Don't know where to find it on my computer so I can back it up.
 
Sun, 5 Feb 2006 21:24:26 -0800 from Barb
I would like to make a back up disk in case I have a crash but I don't have a
clue as to which files I need to put on there. I have already backed up my
pictures, Favorites, etc. but need to know which essential operating files I
need to save on a back up. Any help would be gratefully received. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Don't try to pick and choose -- Windows has thousands of files, many
of them undocumented (at least to us mere mortals).

What you want is an image backup: it takes a snapshot of your disk so
that later, in the worst case, you can wipe your disk (or install a
new one) and restore everything just as it was.

I use True Image 8, but there are other good products out there as
well.
 
i did a quick search for true image 8. 30$ @ newegg. Souds like the price is
right. Is 8 hours of time = 30$. These other guys have good suggestions for
the future. Once you are all downloaded yoe can make the image. Find out waht
all the system reqs are.
 
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