Backups

[William in Chicago]

Ever since I was a small child in the world of computing,
I knew intuitively that the ability to backup and restore
was fundamental to survival in that world. Then, even as
I grew up to be a data processing manager (there was
still no such thing as an IBM PC back then) it became a
philosophy. Any data processing manager that can't
restore their entire system deserves to lose their job!

So why hasn't Microsoft yet provided a way to do that
intrinsic to the operating system? At first, I figured
it might be because of the gaggle of third party products
out there. So I tried them:

Ghost claims it's backing up, but has on several
occassions failed to restore. Unacceptable!

Ahead Nero claims to be working, then crashes and burns.
Unacceptable!

Powerquest is just too flakey to even describe its
problems. Unacceptable!

Now I'm trying NovaBackup, dollars and grief later, but
it occurs to me that this is such a basic function, why
am I doing this? It should be built in to the operating
system. I probably spent more money and put in more
hours trying to get a full backup that can restore the
entire system and selectively restore files that I may
have to start looking for a new operating system.

[Unknown]

Have you tried the backup provided with XP?
"William in Chicago" > wrote in message
...
> Ever since I was a small child in the world of computing,
> I knew intuitively that the ability to backup and restore
> was fundamental to survival in that world. Then, even as
> I grew up to be a data processing manager (there was
> still no such thing as an IBM PC back then) it became a
> philosophy. Any data processing manager that can't
> restore their entire system deserves to lose their job!
>
> So why hasn't Microsoft yet provided a way to do that
> intrinsic to the operating system? At first, I figured
> it might be because of the gaggle of third party products
> out there. So I tried them:
>
> Ghost claims it's backing up, but has on several
> occassions failed to restore. Unacceptable!
>
> Ahead Nero claims to be working, then crashes and burns.
> Unacceptable!
>
> Powerquest is just too flakey to even describe its
> problems. Unacceptable!
>
> Now I'm trying NovaBackup, dollars and grief later, but
> it occurs to me that this is such a basic function, why
> am I doing this? It should be built in to the operating
> system. I probably spent more money and put in more
> hours trying to get a full backup that can restore the
> entire system and selectively restore files that I may
> have to start looking for a new operating system.

[Harry Ohrn]

If you have XP Pro installed go to System Tools->Backup and run ASR.

--

Harry Ohrn - MS MVP (Windows Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/
www.webtree.ca/newlife/


"William in Chicago" > wrote in message
...
> Ever since I was a small child in the world of computing,
> I knew intuitively that the ability to backup and restore
> was fundamental to survival in that world. Then, even as
> I grew up to be a data processing manager (there was
> still no such thing as an IBM PC back then) it became a
> philosophy. Any data processing manager that can't
> restore their entire system deserves to lose their job!
>
> So why hasn't Microsoft yet provided a way to do that
> intrinsic to the operating system? At first, I figured
> it might be because of the gaggle of third party products
> out there. So I tried them:
>
> Ghost claims it's backing up, but has on several
> occassions failed to restore. Unacceptable!
>
> Ahead Nero claims to be working, then crashes and burns.
> Unacceptable!
>
> Powerquest is just too flakey to even describe its
> problems. Unacceptable!
>
> Now I'm trying NovaBackup, dollars and grief later, but
> it occurs to me that this is such a basic function, why
> am I doing this? It should be built in to the operating
> system. I probably spent more money and put in more
> hours trying to get a full backup that can restore the
> entire system and selectively restore files that I may
> have to start looking for a new operating system.