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We"ve all been told from our first day with our first computer to always back up all our work. It"s a chapter in every computer book, a focus of many articles, and the subject of numerous newspaper columns. So surely everyone knows why it should be done, but why is it so often not done?
Once someone is ready to admit that they don"t do backups, the reasons pile up: I don"t have time! It"s too complicated! I never remember to do it! But all those excuses go out the window when Windows XP comes in the door—especially when the Windows XP Backup program is combined with newer high-speed media.
【Windows XP Home Networking: Backing Up Your Home Network】In Windows XP Professional , using the Backup program is so simple that we"ll leave the steps to last and start with the knottIEr questions.
If you"re using Windows XP Home Edition , it"s a bit more complicated. You must install the Backup program separately. It is not included in the default installation of Windows XP Home Edition, and the Backup icon is not on the Startmenu in Windows XP Home Edition, nor in Add Remove Programs . It is included on the CD-ROM in the Valueaddfolder. To install Backup for Windows XP Home Edition, you must install it manually, as explained in this Microsoft Knowledge Base article .
Where Do I Put the Backup?When you"re backing up files from several computers, you need a considerable amount of storage space. For the near future, the most promising backup media are the writeable DVD drives. They"re very fast and hold a lot of files (5 to 9 gigabytes), but at $500just for the DVD drive, most of us are quite willing to wait for the price to come down.
Writeable CDs, which seemed so enormous just a couple of years ago, are too small at 650 MB each to be ideal for sizeable backups.
Writeable CDs, which seemed so enormous just a couple of years ago, are too small at 650 MB each to be ideal for sizeable backups. If you have a computer with a tape drive, you can use it, though tape drives are slow, require regular maintenance, and need to be verified at regular intervals. (I wouldn"t recommend buying a tape drive because they"re nearly as expensive as the DVD writeables.)
A good solution is to have a hard drive that you devote to backups. Hard drives are fast, extremely reliable, and you can buy one for $4 per gigabyte or less. Install one on one of your computers or for the belt- and -suspenders approach, buy two and alternate backups between them. Check the Web for deals. Tom"s Hardware Guidelists and reviews a variety of storage options.
Top of pageWhat Do I Back Up?The question of how much to back up can inspire heated discussions. As far as I"m concerned, I say back up whatever you have time andspace for. So if you can schedule a 3:00 A.M. unattended backup to a huge hard drive, why not go for everything? If your backups have to be done at odd times and must fit on a smallish backup tape, you must be more selective.
Typically, people most fear losing data files. That"s documents, spreadsheets, pictures, music files—anything that would be difficult (or perhaps impossible) to replace. If the users on your home network have been good little boys and girls, all those files will be in each computer"s Documents and Settings folder. All you have to do is make sure the folder is shared on each computer and include the folder in your backup. And if files and folders are scattered all over the place? Encourage each user to consolidate important files in one or two locations, share those folders, and include them in the backup.
On your computer, you must map the locations that you wish to backup. That is, you must add the Documents and Settings folder (for example) on each computer to your Network Places.
There"s no need to back up the operating system. Presumably you have the CD should you need to reinstall. Similarly, it"s not necessary to back up programs because you have the installation disks at hand and can reinstall them as well.
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