Your computer cost you from hundreds to thousands of dollars, but the computer itself is not the most valuable part. The data on the hard disk is the most valuable part. How many hours of work did you put into creating that data? One little event, like a power line spike from a lightning strike, and all that work could be lost. Unfortunately, backing up with Windows XP Home Edition is not as simple as it should be.
The first step is to choose a backup device. You might choose a tape drive or a DVD drive, but those devices might require drivers to be installed before you could restore from them. The simplest option is to install a second hard drive in your computer.
The second hard drive doesn't have to be equal to your main hard drive. You can use an older, smaller hard drive as the backup device, as long as the backup drive has more "Free Space" than the main hard drive has "Used Space".
Install a Second Hard Drive
When installing a second hard drive in your computer, it's important to configure the drives correctly. Your motherboard should have two ATA (sometimes called IDE) connectors. The primary connector should have a cable with two drive connectors. The end connector should go to your main hard drive, the middle connector can be used for a backup hard drive. The second motherboard ATA connector should go to your CD-ROM.
On the back of each hard drive is a jumper. The jumper on your main hard drive should be set to the "Master" position. The jumper on your backup hard drive should be set to "Slave" position. Most modern computers use "Cable Select", so you can set both jumpers to the "Cable Select" position. Don't forget the power connector for the second drive.
When you restart your computer, the second drive should be automatically recognized and be designated with the next drive letter available, usually E: (D: being used for the CD-ROM drive).
Format the Second Hard Drive
Generally, you will want to re-format the second hard drive after installation to remove any previously installed operating system and to remove any previous file access rights. To format the drive, select Start | Settings | Control Panel | Administration Tools | Computer Management. In the "Computer Management" window, under "Storage", click on "Disk Management".
Right click on the backup disk's drive letter. In the popup menu, select All Tasks | Format... In the Warning dialog box that appears, click on the "Yes" button. In the "Format" dialog box, in the "File system" drop-down list, select NTFS. Click on the "OK" button. Again, in the Warning dialog box that appears, click on the "Yes" button.
Install the Backup Utility
Windows XP Home Edition doesn't install the Backup utility by default. You'll need to install it manually from your Windows XP CD-ROM.
1. After inserting the CD-ROM, open Control Panel's "Add or Remove Programs" utility. In the "Add or Remove Programs" utility", click on the "Add New Programs" button, then click on the "CD or Floppy" button.
2. In the "Run Installation Program" dialog box that appears, navigate to the VALUEAD/MSFT/NTBACKUP folder on the CD-ROM and select the file NTBACKUP.MSI. Click on the "Finish" button. The Backup utility will be installed.
Perform a Full Backup
To perform a backup, select Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Backup to open the Backup Utility.
Note: If you don't find Backup listed in System Tools, double click on the file name ntbackup.exe in the Windowssystem32 folder.
In the "Backup or Restore Wizard", click on the "Advanced Mode" link. In the "Backup Utility" dialog box, select the "Backup" tab and set the checkbox next to the drive to backup (c:) and set the checkbox next to "System State".
In the "Backup media or file name" text box, enter the path to the file for the backup (example E:Backup.bkf). Click on the "Start Backup" button.
In the "Backup Job Information" dialog box that appears, set the radio button next to "Replace the data on the media with this backup". Click on the "Start Backup" button. The "backup Progress" dialog box will appear.
Even when you backup to relatively fast media like hard disk, the process can take 30 minutes or longer depending upon how much data is on the main drive.
When the backup is complete, turn off the computer and remove the data and power cables from the backup drive. It doesn't make sense to leave the backup drive connected because if the cause of a failure is a power spike, it will take out both drives. Next time you want to backup you'll need to reinstall the cables.
How to Perform a Restore
In the unfortunate event that your computer crashes and you can't get it back by any other means, you'll need to reinstall Windows XP from the CD-ROM. (Automated System Recovery is not supported in Windows XP Home Edition.) You'll need to re-install the Backup utility. Then you'll need to shut down the computer to install the data and power cables to the backup drive. Restart the computer and use the Backup Utility to restore Windows XP from the backup file.
When using this backup method, it's important to be careful not to break any pins when you are removing and installing the data cable of the hard drive. And if your computer doesn't use "cable Select", don't forget to change the jumper on the main hard drive back to "Single".
Copyright(C) Bucaro TecHelp. To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on the Web visit bucarotechelp.com To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter visit http://bucarotechelp.com/search/000800.asp
To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on the Web visit bucarotechelp.com To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter visit http://bucarotechelp.com/search/000800.asp
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
Lotus Domino/Notes ? Microsoft Great Plains tandem as ERP with... Read More
All of us know that Microsoft bought former Great Plains... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is becoming more and more popular and... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has many years of successful... Read More
Music downloads are off the charts! We're listening to digital... Read More
The adware and spyware definitions list is very long. But... Read More
Software Engineering is the Systematic Approach for analysis design implementation... Read More
Former Great Plains Software Dynamics/eEnterprise, and currently Microsoft Business Solutions... Read More
Now there are Three Steps To Heaven Just listen and... Read More
What is Tripwire?Tripwire is a form intrusion detection system (IDS)... Read More
Several years ago Microsoft purchased Great Plains Software, then Navision... Read More
Microsoft CRM was designed to be easily customizable. Microsoft CRM... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has full-featured manufacturing set of... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software eEnterprise,... Read More
Microsoft released Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the Windows XP... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is marketed for mid-size companies... Read More
With any good luck and a good amount of hard... Read More
In our small article we'll consider Microsoft Business Solutions Great... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains was purchased from Great Plains... Read More
Executive SummaryAn effective plan for entering, cleaning and updating the... Read More
Beginning with Domino version R4 it has integration with the... Read More
Let us give you - developer some hints in the... Read More
While Ukraine is becoming a new popular IT outsourcing destination,... Read More
Are Spreadsheets Robbing your Enterprise of Competitive Advantage?'90% of "average"... Read More
If someone entered your home, uninvited and installed numerous cameras... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is main accounting / ERP application... Read More
For a long time now Microsoft's Internet Explorer has ruled... Read More
Costs of fleet maintenance software can vary widely. It is... Read More
With the advent of 'Service Pack 2' for Windows XP... Read More
The purpose of Project Management Software is to provide an... Read More
There are plenty of articles out there about how to... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft Retail Management System (Microsoft RMS)... Read More
Learning how to program software seems like a daunting task... Read More
As of now - Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise is transformed/renamed into... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is main Microsoft Business Solutions accounting package... Read More
At the end of XX century, in the late 1990th... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft CRM become more and more... Read More
Sales are all about leverage, because there is only so... Read More
Assertion facility is added in J2SE 1.4. In order to... Read More
Itâ??s easy to understand why you might be drawn to... Read More
How to delete the user? This is the first problem... Read More
Let's first look at your ERP system selection (without Retail... Read More
First we had the original Google search that evolved into... Read More
Customer Relationship Management, abbreviated "CRM," is the term for a... Read More
The software giants don't do everything and don't always produce... Read More
Looks like Microsoft Great Plains becomes more... Read More
It is a well known fact that Java as a... Read More
Background: For many organizations like ours, the interim target of... Read More
Language development computer: Computer-based method for aiding language development seems... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains as new ERP for multinational... Read More
Finally, you have some time to personalize your desktop with... Read More
I provide, here clear explanations and a count of function... Read More
This is the tutorial where we really get into programming.... Read More
Most people don't use Photoshop to its fullest capabilities. Here... Read More
We were recently faced with a decision: either to let... Read More
Finding the best spyware removers to detect and remove spyware... Read More
As Mozilla Firefox nears 10% market share, with well over... Read More
Table of Contents1) Introduction 2) Related Work 3) Framework 4)... Read More
Microsoft CRM has built-in conversion tool, however you should probably... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions products: Great Plains, MS CRM, Navision, Axapta,... Read More
The most important benefit of XML is its simplicity. Though... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software eEnterprise,... Read More
Learning how to program software seems like a daunting task... Read More
Microsoft released Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the Windows XP... Read More
Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a software development methodology. In... Read More
Which Type of Shop Can Rely On A Home Built... Read More
Software |