BACKUP

Microsoft XP comes with a backup utility. We’ve discussed it at least twice in the past, but only in advanced mode to backup System State.

Today we’ll use it to backup numerous files at one time. Next week I’ll compare it to a free backup utility.

When I discussed backing up the System State, I recommended first putting a CD into your drive, then choosing it as the target location for System State.

With so many different files involved in a general backup, I suggest you put them all into a folder. Then write the entire contents of the folder to a DVD or several CDs. The total will almost certainly be too large for a single CD. I’ll be more specific as the article progresses.

I put my backup into a second hard disk. The folder is named D:\Backup.

I never save more than one System State on the hard disk. It uses up a great deal of real estate. Normally, I move the whole folder to a DVD. On spindles, DVDs now cost 70 cents each, even in Israel. In the United States they must be considerably cheaper.
Click START, hover over All Programs, navigate to Accessories, System Tools, and Backup.

Step 1. I use the advanced mode to save System State. There also is an option to backup everything on the disk. If you have 40 GB on the disk, it won’t fit on a DVD. The backup facility is not friendly in helping to compress the data and shuffling DVDs.

There are professional utilities for this, including Norton Ghost 4.0 (a component of Norton System Works, which I’ve recommended in the past), and Acronis True Image. True Image is pricey. And this is a subject for another column.

Step 2. Close the backup wizard. Reopen in regular mode. Make sure the radio button ‘Backup Files and Settings’ is selected, and then click ‘Next’.

Select Everyone’s documents and settings and then click next.

The default name is the one you chose on the last backup. Change it to something more appropriate, then click ‘Browse’.

You’ll get a demand to insert a disk in drive ‘A’. Click ‘Cancel’.

Click ‘My Computer’ and then navigate to your destination folder. In my case it’s D:\Backup

Click ‘Next’ and wait while the backup is completed.

And finally,

Unfortunately, only if you are using Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express will your email and address book be backed up. If you’re using Thunderbird, or Eudora, among others, you’ll have to back them up separately.

In any case, there are plenty of other files you’ll want to back up. Music files, digital photos, research, Word files. In my case there are the columns I’ve written for ToThePoint, research into various fields, and development projects.

Unfortunately, to back these up, you’ll have to start Backup once again, this time selecting the ‘Let me choose what to backup’ radio button.

Which leads you to a dialog through which you can choose as many files and folders as you want. They’ll all be saved as one backup file.

This is time consuming. Worse, the backup files are in a proprietary Microsoft format. They can only be restored using the Backup wizard. Since you have several different files in your backup directory (which I then assume you’ll transfer to one or more DVDs – as I described two weeks ago), you’ll have to restore them one at a time.

Microsoft’s Backup facility does not allow you to save your selections. Each time you want to back up various files and folders you’ll have to navigate to and select them.

Is there a better way? Of course! Several companies sell user friendly backup utilities. They allow you to save several different groups of files, and save them for future use. You can schedule each type for regular backups.

One of them is free. I’ll introduce it next week.

Dennis Turner