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Windows XP Backup Utility

Backup every user's data files in Windows XP

Using the Windows XP backup utility to backup your important data, is a very wise idea, and can be done by everyone. From their first operating system, Windows has made it easy for you to backup your data, and with XP its now even easier and automated.

The purpose of using the Windows OS to do the backup, instead of just saving your files, is because all of your important registry and system files will be saved. This information is very important, especially if you like your computer just the way it is and have everything set just right.

Let's check out the Windows XP backup utility now, and learn how to use it properly.



Opening the Windows XP Backup Utility

First I should state that the Windows XP backup utility is not installed automatically with the Windows XP home edition, but is with Windows XP professional. This doesn't mean that XP home users don't have it, it is just not installed yet and that must be done first.

1. Insert your Windows XP home CD into the drive and double-click the CD icon in My Computer if it doesn't automatically open.

2. On the "Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP" splash screen, click the "Perform Additional Tasks" option.

3. Now click browse this CD.

4. Inside Windows Explorer, double-click the "ValueAdd" folder, then "Msft" and then "Ntbackup".

5. Lastly, double-click the "Ntbackup.msi" file to install the Windows XP backup utility.

Now that is out of the way, let's move on to learning how to use the Windows XP backup utility.

Using the Windows XP Backup Utility

By default, the Windows XP backup utility uses a wizard that makes the process very simple. Let's start backing up.
  1. First click the Start button in the lower left corner, then point to "All Programs", then to "Accessories", then "System Tools" and finally click "Backup" to start up the backup wizard.
  2. Now an opening page telling you about the backup utility will be first, just click next to start the backing up process. The next page will ask you whether you want to "Back up files and settings" or "Restore files and settings". Choose the backup option and then click next. You will now see this page:

    3. Windows XP Backup Utility - Figure 1
  3. Now you need to decide what you want to backup. You might think the option that says "All information" is the best choice, because every bit of data would be saved. But this is actually not the best option, since this could end up taking gigabytes of space on your hard drive, which you might not even have. So the "My documents and settings" option is a very good choice, since that is where people keep most of their stuff anyways. This selection will also preserve your email messages and address book, plus your personal settings stored in the Windows registry.

    If you are on a network, choose "Everyone's documents and settings" so that every user's data will be backed up properly.

    If there are data files that you want backed up, outside of your profile, go for the "Let me choose what to back up" option so you can choose what specific files and folders to back up. This will take you to the page shown below.

    4. Windows XP Backup Utility - Figure 2

    You should select the "My Documents" check box to back up all of your files in your profile, and then browse through the "My Computer" hierarchy to select some additional files you need backed up. If some files are on a shared network, open the "My Network Places" folder and select the appropriate folders. Also, if there are folders with like 20GB of information, then just de-select the folder and it will not be backed up.

  4. Next you need to decide where to back it up to. Now if you have some kind of storage device, other then your hard drive, then you can choose that device (location) for the backup file to be saved too. By default it asks you to save to your floppy drive, but this day in age that will not work, since it would take hundreds of disc just to store the simple data. Instead, you should click browse and choose one of these locations:

    5. - Hard Disk

    - Zip drive or other removable media

    - Shared network drive

    - External hard disk drive

  5. When you are done choosing a backup location, you now need to enter a descriptive name for the file, and then click next to get to the wizard's final page which is shown below, and then click finish to start the backup. Before you do though, read about how to schedule a backup daily, weekly or monthly below.

Windows XP Backup Utility - Figure 3

Scheduling a Backup Daily, Weekly or Monthly

Before you click that finish button in the backup wizard, you should consider making this backup a routine. Now if you wanted, you could just do that process I explained above every time you want to backup those files.

But you could also have that data automatically backed up, by clicking on the "Advanced" button that is on the final page of the wizard. Then click "Next" to open the "When to Back Up" page. Just choose "Later" and click "Set Schedule" to open a job scheduling program, which is shown below.

Windows XP Backup Utility - Figure 4


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