Backing Up in Windows XP

Windows XP includes a excellent Back Up program. But before we look at how to do this and use the built in program you MUST organize your files first

In Windows XP each and ever user account has its own Profile. Profiles hold your personal files (in the My Documents folder), Outlook Express e-mail messages, Internet Explorer Favorites and cookies, and information about your settings and preferences. If you have your computer configured to hold your data elsewhere, moving them back into My Documents will make backing up much easier. If you want to keep them where you have them write down where they are before backing up.

The backup program included in Windows XP is hard to find. I will show you how to use this very basic backup program. There are many third party programs out there that can add extra's (Bells & Whistles), that are not found in the Windows XP program.

For Windows XP Professional   ( Click here for backing up in Windows XP Home)

Backup utility is called Ntbackup.exe. For Windows XP Home we will go into later.

Ok lets go:

1. Insert your Windows XP CD into the drive and, if necessary, double-click the CD icon in My Computer.

2. On the Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP screen, click Perform Additional Tasks.

3.Click Browse this CD.

4. In Windows Explorer, double-click the ValueAdd folder, then Msft, and then Ntbackup.

5. Double-click Ntbackup.msi to install the Backup utility.

 

Now your ready to begin backing up. By default, the backup utility uses a wizard that makes the process straight forward. To start Backup:

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup to start the wizard.

2. Click Next to skip past the opening page, choose Back up files and settings from the second page, and then click Next. You should see the page shown below; which represents your first decision point.

Figure 1

3. Once you make this decision you're ready to start backing up.

4. Decide What to Back Up

You might be tempted to click All information on this computer so that you can back up every bit of data on your computer. Think twice before choosing this option, however. If you've installed a slew of software, your backup could add up to many gigabytes. For most people, the My documents and settings option is a better choice. This selection preserves your data files (including e-mail messages and address books) and the personal settings stored in the Windows Registry.

If several people use your computer—as might be the case on a shared family PC—select Everyone's documents and settings. This option backs up personal files and preferences for every user with an account on the computer.

If you know that You have data files stored outside your profile, click Let me choose what to back up. This option takes you to the Items to Back Up page

 

Figure 1

 

5. Select the My Documents check box to back up all the files in your personal profile, and then browse the My Computer hierarchy to select the additional files you need to back up. If some of your files are on a shared network drive, open the My Network Places folder and select those folders.

This option also comes in handy if you have some files you now you don't want to back up. For instance, I have more than 20 GB of music files in the My Music folder. To keep my data file backup to a reasonable size, I click the check box next to the My Music folder. This clears the check box from all the files and subfolders in My Music.

Once this decision is made click on NEXT.

Figure 2

 

OK  now the BIG DECISION is where do I keep my backups?

 

After you hit the FINISH button above you will now have to tell windows where to store you backups. On the Backup Type, Destination, and Name page, Windows asks you to specify a backup location. If you're one of those fortunate folks that have a ZIP drive, or an older tape drive, the Backup utility gives you a choice of options in the Select a backup type box. No tape drive? No problem. Backup assumes you're going to save everything in a single file; you just have to choose a location for that file and give it a name.

By default, Backup proposes saving everything to your floppy drive (drive A). Although that might have made sense 10 years ago, it's hardly a rational choice today. You'd need dozens, perhaps hundreds of floppy disks to store even a modest collection of data files, especially if you collect digital music or photos.

Instead, your best bet is to click Browse and choose any of the following locations:

  • Your computer's hard disk. The ideal backup location is a separate partition from the one you're backing up. If your hard disk is partitioned into drive C and drive D and your data is on drive C, you can safely back up to drive D.
  • A Zip drive or other removable media. At 100–250MB per disk, this is an option if you don't have multiple gigabytes to back up. Unfortunately, the Windows Backup utility can't save files directly to a CD-RW drive.
  • A shared network drive. You're limited only by the amount of free space on the network share.
  • An external hard disk drive. USB and IEEE 1394 or FireWire drives have dropped in price lately. Consider getting a 40 GB or larger drive and dedicating it for use as a backup device.

After you've chosen a backup location, enter a descriptive name for the file, click Next to display the wizard's final page. and then click Finish to begin backing up immediately.

This whole process can be automated on a schedule if you want to periodically back up your stuff.

Set a Schedule—and Stick to It

 If you'd rather not count on remembering to perform this crucial task, however, set up an automatic backup schedule for Windows. When you get to the final page of the Backup Wizard (see Figure above), don't click Finish. Instead, click the Advanced button, and click Next to open the When to Back Up page. Choose Later, and then click Set Schedule to open the Schedule Job dialog box shown below.

Figure 3
 

This example shows the settings for a weekly backup on Friday afternoon—a good way to make sure your week's work is protected. But you can set almost any schedule you want by poking around in the extensive set of options available in this dialog box. After you click OK to save your changes, Windows XP runs the backup automatically. Just remember to leave your computer turned on.

You can count on backing up 5 GB of data in as little as 10 minutes. And you don't need to worry about shutting down running programs, either—thanks to a feature called volume shadow copy, the Backup utility can safely create a copy of any file, even if it's currently in use. For more information, see the Microsoft TechNet article, Volume Shadow Copy Technology.

How to Install Backup in Windows XP Home Edition

Backing Up in Windows XP

Home Edition

 

Windows XP Home Edition does not automatically install the Back Up Utility. To install it do the following:

 

1. Insert the CD Rom and navigate to CD-ROM Drive\VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP

2. Double click the Mtbackup.msi file to start the wizard that installs Backup

3. When the wizard is complete, click Finish

If you use Backup in Windows XP Home Edition, Automated System Recovery (ASR) is not a supported feature. You can use the current version of Windows XP Home Edition to start the configuration process for ASR, but you cannot complete the process.

After you install the Backup utility from the CD, complete the following procedure to create a backup of your files and folders. NOTE: You must have administrative rights on your computer to back up files and folders.

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.

2. After the Backup or Restore Wizard starts, click Advanced Mode.

NOTE: If the Backup and Restore Wizard does not start automatically, click Backup Wizard on the Tools menu to back up files.

3. Click the Backup tab.

4. Click New on the Job menu.

5. Click to select the check boxes next to the drives that you want to back up.

6. If you want to select specific files or folders, expand the drive on which these files or folders are located, and then click the check boxes next to the files or folders that you want to back up.

7. Click to select the System State check box that is located under My Computer in the left pane

8. NOTE: If you want to back up your computer settings and your data files, Microsoft recommends that you back up all of the data on your computer plus the System State data that includes items such as the registry, the COM+ class registration database, files under Windows File Protection, and boot files.

9.In the Backup destination list, click the backup destination that you want to use.

10. If you clicked File in the previous step, type the full path and file name to which you want to back up data in the Backup media or file name box. NOTE: You can also specify a network share as a destination for the backup file. Typically, backup files have the .bkf file name extension; however, you can use any file name extension.

11.Click Start Backup.

12.Under If the media already contains backups, perform one of the following steps:

  • If you want to append this backup file to previous backup files, click Append this backup to the media

  • If you want to overwrite previous backup files with this backup file, click Replace the data on the media with this backup

13. Click Advanced.

14. Click to select the Verify data after backup check box.

15.In the Backup Type box, click the type of backup that you want to create.

16.You can select any of the following backup types

l

 Normal
l Copy
l Differential
l Incremental
l Daily

17. When you click a backup type, a description of that backup type appears under "Description."

18. Click OK, and then click Start Backup.

19. When the backup is complete, click Close.

 

How to Back Up Data to a CD using Windows XP

You can back up files or folders to a CD using a feature of the Windows XP operating system. You do not need to format the CD before using this procedure.
How to copy files and folders to a CD
  1. Insert a blank, unformatted CD into the drive on your computer that allows you to write to a CD. (The drive is usually labeled as Recordable or Rewritable).
  2. If a dialog box appears that asks how to open/use the CD, click Cancel.
  3. Open My Computer as you normally do.
  4. Click the files or folders that you want to copy to the CD. (To select more than one file, hold down the CTRL key while you click the files you want.)
  5. In the top-left dialog box labeled File and Folder Tasks, click Copy the selected items.
  6. In the Copy Items dialog box, click the drive into which you inserted the CD.
  7. Click Copy. You will see a copy progression window.
  8. In the lower-right corner of the window, a pop-up balloon will appear. The balloon will read You have files waiting to be written to the CD. To see the files now, click this balloon.
  9. Click the balloon.
  10. A dialog box will appear that indicates the files and folders you selected to copy. Check that the files and folders that you want to copy to the CD are displayed under Files Ready to Be Written to the CD.
  11. In the top-left dialog box labeled CD Writing Tasks, click Write these files to CD.
  12. The CD Writing Wizard will open.
  13. If the CD name field is blank, type a name for the CD. (Note: By default, Windows names the CD with the current date.)
  14. Click Next. You will see the copy progression window. The time required to copy the files and folders you selected depends upon the amount of data they contain.
  15. After the files or folders have been copied, the CD will be ejected from the drive automatically.

NOTE
After you copy files or folders to a CD, double-click the CD icon to confirm that the files were copied.

 

 

 

Part of this information is taken from Windows XP Second Edition "Inside & Out" by Boot, Siechert and Stinson