Vista Backup & Restore Centre

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I have been trying to find out what the ‘Vista on-board’ back up really backs up and its not well explained as far as I can see. It backs up files and not programmes on the Home Premium version so is it a benefit to do this type of back up if one is also directly selecting important files and copying them onto external disc?
Ron

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I have been trying to find out what the ‘Vista on-board’ back up really backs up and its not well explained as far as I can see. It backs up files and not programmes so is it a benefit to do this type of back up if one is also directly selecting important files and copying them onto external disc?
Ron

Maybe this FAQ will help – Back up and restore: frequently asked questions – Windows Vista Help. Rather than tell you what is backed up it tells you what is NOT included. There is also an answer about using the Backup Wizard or selecting files yourself.

Joe

--Joe

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Maybe this FAQ will help – Back up and restore: frequently asked questions – Windows Vista Help. Rather than tell you what is backed up it tells you what is NOT included. There is also an answer about using the Backup Wizard or selecting files yourself.

Joe

Thanks Joe … I had a looksee at this earlier and as you say, it states what is not backed up. Maybe I will try out the Roxio Creator that I have to see if backing up files is easier and quicker this way.
Cya Ron

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If you have answers to either of these queries I would love to know them.

I don’t have answers to your questions Ron, except for an “editorial” comment. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that Microsoft has never gotten a backup solution right through all the versions of Windows that I’ve used. That’s why I don’t even bother trying. I don’t use Vista’s backup stuff and stick with “third-party” programs. Two of the most prevalent problems are the length of time it takes AND the fact that (usually) a backup made with one OS will not be usable with a newer version of the OS!

Many of us here in The Lounge use “disk imaging” programs such as ShadowProtect Desktop Edition or something like Acronis True Image. Most imaging programs are very fast AND selected individual files, if needed, can be restored easily. But, and this is a BIG BUT (no pun intended) – if your system really crashes, you can restore EVERYTHING, often in a matter of minutes, but certainly not an excessively long time.

Now, having said all of that, if you’re still intent on backing up selected files, Karen’s Replicator is free and many of her free programs are well done and good to have around, such as directory printer and others.

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G’day. Thanks for your comments. I have Paragon Drive BackUp 9 Express (the free version) which I realise is not as flexible as the others. Also one of the the reasons that I also separately store a copy of my important files is that I ain’t sure (in the event of a major system crash) that I can restore my pc using this kind of backup software! Put it down to age or ‘ain’t been there and done that!’

What a learning curve!
Ron

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G’day. Thanks for your comments. I have Paragon Drive BackUp 9 Express (the free version) which I realise is not as flexible as the others. Also one of the the reasons that I also separately store a copy of my important files is that I ain’t sure (in the event of a major system crash) that I can restore my pc using this kind of backup software! Put it down to age or ‘ain’t been there and done that!’

What a learning curve!
Ron

Restoring from a major system crash can be quite easy. I have 6 computers on my network, and I had to do this at least 4 times this year. This was necessary when a computer wouldn’t let me log in, or some software would no longer load properly.

Assuming the hard drive does not fail, it only takes three steps. One thing you MUST do ahead of time is to create a boot CD for your backup software. Otherwise, you’ll need to have another computer handy to do that before these steps:

1. Attach the external hard drive (if any) with your backup image files, and boot the computer using the Boot CD for your backup software
2. Tell the software to restore the image file. Depending on the size of the image file, it may take up to 45 minutes to restore the image.
3. After the image is restored, remove the CD from the drive and reboot.

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Thanks for that easy explanation. Of course I hope that I do not need to test my skills!
I did create a disc per instructions and the User Guide states:
‘The Linux/DOS Recovery CD can be used to boot your computer into Linux or PTS DOS to get access to your hard disk for maintenance or recovery purposes. On the disk you can also find the PTS DOS safe mode, which may help in a number of non-standard situations such as interfering hardware settings or serious problems on the hardware level. In this case, only basic files and drivers (such as hard disk drivers, a monitor driver, and a keyboard driver) will be loaded.’

It also states that I must have the BIOS set at Boot from cd so I will have to check how I do this … maybe this is the usual way a pc is set up?
Ron

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It also states that I must have the BIOS set at Boot from cd so I will have to check how I do this … maybe this is the usual way a pc is set up?

Usually, PCs are setup to boot from the disk first. You need to check the BIOS setup when you boot the PC. The key to strike varies from vendor to vendor. Could be F2 or del or another. If you don’t know almost always there is a brief line of text that tells you which key it is. It will say something about “enter setup” or “enter bios”.

Joe

--Joe

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Thanks Joe … I had a looksee at this earlier and as you say, it states what is not backed up. Maybe I will try out the Roxio Creator that I have to see if backing up files is easier and quicker this way.
Cya Ron

You could just try the Windows backup too.

Joe

--Joe

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Continuing the saga …
Its some time since I last ‘investigated this. I do a full system back-up using the Paragon Drive BackUp 9 Express (the free version) from time to time but I thought that i would just try the in-built Vista back Up and start a new back up to an external hard disc instead of to dvd … thinking that it should be a lot quicker. But, even though I use a well known and trusted WD ext hard disc the below message comes up from ‘Vista’.

Where it says ‘The back Up Disc cannot be found’ is only due to the fact that I picked up this message for attaching to this request after I had disconnected my ext hard disc.
I use this hard disc for Paragon, some of my files/docs etc and all function as they should. Why does Vista say ‘its corrupted’ when its not? Does Vista require a special ‘format’ before it will use the external source? I noticed when using DVD’s that I had to wait ages whilst these were ‘reformatted’.
I am a bit loath to ‘fix my ext hard disc’ as per Vista suggestions as it will likely stuff-up all the files etc I have on it presently.

Any ideas?
Ron

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Where it says ‘The back Up Disc cannot be found’ is only due to the fact that I picked up this message for attaching to this request after I had disconnected my ext hard disc.

Have you run chkdsk on the external drive? To run chkdsk, in Windows explorer right click on the drive, select Properties | Tools | Check now.

Joe

--Joe

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Have you run chkdsk on the external drive? To run chkdsk, in Windows explorer right click on the drive, select Properties | Tools | Check now.

Joe

Thaks for that Joe. Even though the check disc said that no problems were found, the Vista back up worked like a dream afterwards! One question though … I use Vista Home Premium which, from my understanding, only allows the ‘Vista style’ of back up to back up my files. However when the back up was running there were many instances of ‘Program File’ back ups e.g. Works, Adobe, Quicktime etc. Are these the actual programmes being back up’d?
Ron

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Thaks for that Joe. Even though the check disc said that no problems were found, the Vista back up worked like a dream afterwards! One question though … I use Vista Home Premium which, from my understanding, only allows the ‘Vista style’ of back up to back up my files. However when the back up was running there were many instances of ‘Program File’ back ups e.g. Works, Adobe, Quicktime etc. Are these the actual programmes being back up’d?
Ron

I have no idea. I don’t use Vista’s backup. Can you examine what is in the backup set?

Joe

--Joe

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