Chapter 9: Backing Up Your Files with the Backup Utility

Chapter Introduction

The most important thing to say about backing up your files is this: Back up your files.

You can back up your files onto floppies, tapes, network servers, extra hard drives, writable CDs (CD-Rs or CD-RWs), Zip drives, Jaz drives, or whatever you happen to have. How you back up your files is much less important than that you do it. If you have only a few files or folders to back up, you can use Windows Explorer to make the copies.

A backup program called the Backup Utility (written by Microsoft and Veritas Software) is included on the Windows XP CD-ROM. It installs as part of Windows XP Professional, but not as part of Windows XP Home Edition. However, Home Edition users can install the Backup Utility separately--it is on the Windows XP Home Edition CD-ROM.

The Backup Utility makes backing up large numbers of files and folders reasonably painless. Your tape drive, Zip drive, Jaz drive, or CD-RW may come with its own backup program. Use the Backup Utility to create backup jobs (descriptions of what and how to back up) and then back them up. If a file is deleted or corrupted, use the Backup Utility to restore the file from your backup tape or disk. The Backup Utility can also create an Automated System Recovery floppy disk that you can use to restart your system if Windows won't start.

Windows XP (as with Windows 2000) includes the Removable Storage service, which manages your tapes or other backup media. The Backup Utility works with Removable Storage to keep track of what's on each tape.