Drive C system backup problems.

[shoesup]

My operating system is Windows XP Home. At present I have been using Sonic MyDVD to perform a Simple Backup to backup all my files on my hard drive. (I have a DVD-R drive in one bay and a DVD-RW drive in another bay.) I am presently having problems with Sonic MyDVD ver 4 to back-up my hard drive.

Question: Does Windows XP have a built in application that will allow me to back up all of my files on my hard drive? If, so - how do I use it?

Question: If I can't backup using Win XP, can you recommend a low cost program that I could purchase that would allow me to back up all of my files on my hard drive, without conflicting with other software?

PLEASE HELP!!!

[glc]

http://windows.about.com/od/shortcut.../aa020203a.htm
http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/backup/1.htm

[Louds3]

hey glc (or anyone else) the about.com article you posted above say's the following...

"Hidden deep in the recesses of the Windows XP Home Edition CD lies the actual installation program that you need to put the Backup Utility on your computer. Simply insert the XP CD, and run NTBACKUP.MSI (it might look like just "Ntbackup") program from the folder D:\Valueadd\msft\ntbackup where D: is the letter of your CD drive. This will launch the Windows Backup Utility Installation Wizard, which will install the utility automatically. When it is finished, click "Finish." It's that easy!

Now you can click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Backup, and the Backup Utility will start. One of the things that you may note is the presence of the Automated System Recovery Wizard which was mentioned in Part 1 of this feature. While you can try to use this Wizard with the Home Edition of XP, the results can be unpredictable, and the disks created with this Wizard in XP Home are unreliable. Microsoft notes and acknowledges this in KB Article Q302700."

I was wondering... is the backup utility that can be installed from the XP CD reliable or is it just the ASR thing that is unreliable? They are seperate programs, correct? If I were to backup my C: partition with this Backup Utility, how would I restore the backup if I were to have a drive failure? With ASR? maybe I should use nero and my dvd burner instead? Sorry I am getting confused, thanks

steve

[glc]

I think it's just the ASR that's messed up. To restore without ASR, you would have to install Windows and NT backup on a clean drive first, then do a restore.

I've pretty much given up on all backup software these days except full drive imaging software. I use Acronis, as I've been hyping in other threads. I make images in 4gb chunks onto a spare hard drive and then burn them to DVD's.

[Louds3]

seems like a good idea. I am getting a new hard drive in a day or two, I may make my old one a backup and keep my C: partition on it just so I have a backup. I wish there was a good drive imaging program that was free, or at least under 20 bucks or so I think Acronis is 50 now. At some point I will buy partition magic and I am thinking there is a drive cloning feature of it?

steve

[glc]

You can buy an Apricorn USB hard drive housing for $49 and it comes with a rebranded Acronis version 8. Just add a hard drive. The software is not keyed to the housing, it can be used on anything.

http://www.apricorn.com/product_details.php?ID=332