Backup User and System Files

bshamilton · 19 Dec 2010

Thx! What I figured!

Brink · 19 Dec 2010

You're most welcome. :)

abax2000 · 26 Jun 2011

Considering that you just want to backup data files, docs, music, photos and .pst files:

is it preferable (more practical) to use Backup facility, or just copy the relevant folders to an external disk?

The Backup will only be usable by another W7 machine for a complete restore, or it can be used in the future as an ordinary folder (i.e. you can open it, see contents, copy/paste selectively etc.)?

Sorry if this has already been answered; kindly point to the right post.

Brink · 26 Jun 2011

Hello Abax,

For just that, yes manually backing them up would be easier and more reliable. :)

abax2000 · 26 Jun 2011

thnx Brink for answer.
So, in this case what preferable use Backup would have (except system image)?

whs · 26 Jun 2011

abax2000 said:

Considering that you just want to backup data files, docs, music, photos and .pst files:

is it preferable (more practical) to use Backup facility, or just copy the relevant folders to an external disk?

The Backup will only be usable by another W7 machine for a complete restore, or it can be used in the future as an ordinary folder (i.e. you can open it, see contents, copy/paste selectively etc.)?

Sorry if this has already been answered; kindly point to the right post.

I always put all my user files into a seperate data partition. Besides other advantages of such a setup, it also is easy to image that partition. I use free Macrium or Wbadmin for that.

I also recommend to enable system restore points for the data partitions. If you happen to loose a file, you can also easily recover it with Shadow Explorer.

Brink · 26 Jun 2011

abax2000 said:

thnx Brink for answer.
So, in this case what preferable use Backup would have (except system image)?

It could be helpful if you wanted to create a backup of certain files and folders on a regular schedule to always have a updated backup automatically instead of doing it manually.

rwmol · 17 Nov 2011

Hi Shawn,

I'm having dificulty with this.

First let me tell you what I'm trying to do and what I have to do it with.

I have two large hard drives and two DVD writers. One drive I store all my system files and software and the other is strictly for data.

What I want to do is backup my data to a removable DVD-rewriteable disc.

The first thing I did was format the disc. All went well. I set up the backup wizard to backup the data drive and set up the schedule. I then tried to perform the first backup. It started ok, but then told me to insert the DVD-RW in the drive. The disc was already in the drive. The only way I could get it to start was to push the tab "Insert Blank Media". It then started to perform the backup but quit at 67%. It's been backing up now for about 10 min. and shows 70%. What's wrong here?

Also, is there a way to create a shortcut to perform a backup to this disc "on the fly"?

Randy

Brink · 17 Nov 2011

Hello Randy,

To be honest using Windows Backup to a DVD is just not real reliable. Instead, I would recommend to either backup to another HDD/partition, or just manually copy and paste files that you wanted to backup to the DVDs/HDD/partition.

rwmol · 17 Nov 2011

Thanks. It finally completed the backup. I took a look at the files and I guess I completely misunderstood the concept. I thought it would simply write over the existing files in a simple fashion. Not so. It creates a plethora of files I have no idea what they are. You're idea will definitely work. I was looking for something that would be scheduled and simple. Not