[cigos]

I have Windows XP home edition. The System Tools have only System Restore capabilities and not the Back-up Wizard.
my research tells me to use the Windows Disc to back-up. Since I have no disc I am wondering whether I can use 'run' with some command or other.
This may seem pretty basic to the experienced but it is a problem to the 'learner' such as myself. Would much appreciate any help.

[1101doc]

When we're talking about various functions of Windows XP, the same words may mean quite different things to different people.

To me, "Back-up" means making copies of important files--photos, music, documents, etc. I do this almost every day just to be sure that I don't lose anything, and it really takes no special tool. All my documents go to "My Documents." Photos and music go directly to my external drive anyway, so one of my daily tasks is to copy "My Documents" to its receiving folder on my external drive.

BUT. Somehow I think that you are talking about "backing up" Windows itself.
This takes quite a bit more doing, and is best accomplished with a disc imaging utility like Acronis.
XP does not have a native tool for making a copy of itself to another location.

The best alternative to System Restore that I've discovered is free ERUNT.
It is much quicker, and completely restores the full Registry directly from each backup file when chosen.

ERUNT info and simple tutorial: http://www.larsheder...erunt/erunt.txt
Download free ERUNT: http://www.larsheder...nline.de/erunt/

This is not the same as a full disc image, and requires access to Windows to work, so most have a disc imaging program at work for them as well to recover from true total type disasters.

If you decide you need a Back-up program for your files and folders that will automate the process, there are several good free utilities available. If you need a disc imaging program, it is generally recommended that you purchase one. There are free disc image programs available, but none have the reputation of the top 2 paid versions. (Acronis and Ghost)

[Ryan_88]

if you wished you could also use RAID, this will require installation of another hard disk, but with the correct version (i think 5) it will mirror your primary hard drive, so in the event of a failure you will instantly have the other to work from.
this is a good idea if you want to make sure everything is backed up as once you save a word document for example, RAID copies it to both drives!!

ry

[cigos]

Thanks very much, guys You have given me plenty to work on.

[WinCrazy]

Hi cigos.

The problem with a RAID setup is that if your XP installation becomes infected with malware, then so does your backup! RAID is useful when a hard drive crashes or you want to speed up hard drive accesses.

The only way to make a always usable complete system backup is to make a volume/partition image using something like Acronis or Norton Ghost. These create a complete "snapshot" of the XP installation.

[peterm]

In my sig there is a link to a good free backup program (thanks Keith).
When you use a backup program and your computer crashes then you need to have a way of accessing the back up.
A normal method is to back up my computer which will back up everything.
Computer crashes you reload windows from disc you then reload the backup program and restore all the files back again.
Your problem is no windows disc.
So the best option(as in free) is to make yourself a bootable CD like Linux Ubuntu or one of the other Linux free downloads.
Use the backup options that come with that.
Someone may suggest to make a UBCD4WIN however you need a Windows retail cd for that.
You can still use the backup in my sig to at least make your data safe.
If you take the Linux option then make sure you learn how to access the drive You must be able to write to the drive.
And the most imporant thing in backing up (or copy like Ghost) is to test it and know it is working and that you know how to recover data.
Cheers
Peterm

[WinCrazy]

PCLinuxOS makes a fantastic file extraction and backup tool. It can read and write to both NTFS and FAT disks and USB drives, too. But, it doesn't know how to back up XP, that is, the XP OS installation. That also means that it can't back up the applications that you have installed.