Mike I agree with everything you said except the part about "Whoa up, y'all.
NTBackup is not that bad". It is a POS and likely the reason it isn't
including during XP Home setup. It was probably hidden away in the ValueAdd
directory of some XP Home setup disks due to an arrangement with the
distributor of the app that Microsoft has to honour. Some OEM's didn't
bother to include it at all which could reinforce my previous point.

NTBackup from the XP Home version, if it is manually installed, can not
restore backups made by earlier versions of the same program, can not
complete an ASR, can not burn to an optical drive, can not be used without a
floppy drive, can not split large files into segments. It seems this program
has more 'can not's' than 'can do's'. In my opinion that classifies it to be
at the top of the POS list of backup programs.

--


Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


"Mike Hall - MVP" wrote in message
...
Whoa up, y'all. NTBackup is not that bad. It may not be overly useful for
the average home user, but it does have it uses in the right places.

Acronis TrueImage is not always the answer either. How many average users
make an image of a system having just set it up fresh? More often that
not, they don't. They wait until they are having problems.

Images made like this reintroduce the same problems, and wipe out any
subsequent data added since the image was made, just as the manufacturer
'restore to factory' procedure does. Ask a user if they have tested an
image, and they just look at you blandly.

Manufacturers supply routines to backup a new system, but answers range
from 'I didn't have any CDs/DVDs to 'I didn't understand it/couldn't be
bothered to read it' to 'I stopped it in MSCONFIG because it was annoying
me'.

Maybe the fault lies with us all because we are using the wrong
terminology. When 'backup' is mentioned, users will start looking for
programs that have 'backup' in their names or descriptions, and they will
end up down the road of being tied to a procedure they do not fully
understand, and where the procedure is being used as a cure instead of
prevention. Instead of 'backing up', we should refer to 'making an image'
where an OS and support programs are concerned, and 'save' or 'copy'
regarding user data.

In this way, the users will look towards programs like Acronis TrueImage
and Nero/Roxio rather than the more arcane solutions used in the very
different environment of industry/commerce.


"Jim" wrote in message
. net...

"Jerry Foley" wrote in message
...
How do I create an ASR floppy without a floppy drive? I have a dvd/cd rw
but
no floppy. I use the backup utility from XP to an external USB 500GB
drive.
Thanks
Jerry
You buy am external floppy drive which you connect via USB.
Jim


--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/