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How to Back Up Files and Folders in Windows XP Home Edition

Use the Backup utility that is included with Windows XP to back up files and folders on your computer.
You can use the Backup utility in Windows XP to help you protect your data if your hard disk fails or if you accidentally delete files. You can use Backup to create a duplicate copy of all of the data on your hard disk, and then archive it on another storage device, such as a hard disk or a tape.

If the original data on your hard disk is either accidentally deleted or overwritten, or if it becomes inaccessible because of a hard-disk malfunction, you can easily restore the data from the disk or the archived copy by using the Restore Wizard.

The Backup utility is not included in the default installation of Windows XP Home Edition. The Backup icon is not present on the Start menu in Windows XP Home Edition, and Backup is not listed in the Add or Remove Programs tool in Windows XP Home Edition. The Backup utility is included on the Windows XP Home Edition CD-ROM in the ValueAdd folder. To use Backup, you must install the utility manually.

Back Up Files and Folders

After you install the Backup utility from the CD, complete the following procedure to create a backup of your files and folders.

NOTE: You must have administrative rights on your computer to back up files and folders.

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.

2. After the Backup or Restore Wizard starts, click Advanced Mode.

NOTE: If the Backup and Restore Wizard does not start automatically, click Backup Wizard on the Tools menu to back up files.

3. Click the Backup tab.

4. Click New on the Job menu.

5. Click to select the check boxes next to the drives that you want to back up.

If you want to select specific files or folders, expand the drive on which these files or folders are located, and then click the check boxes next to the files or folders that you want to back up.

6. Click to select the System State check box that is located under My Computer in the left pane.

NOTE: If you want to back up your computer settings and your data files, Microsoft recommends that you back up all of the data on your computer plus the System State data that includes items such as the registry, the COM+ class registration database, files under Windows File Protection, and boot files.

7. In the Backup destination list, click the backup destination that you want to use.

8. If you clicked File in the previous step, type the full path and file name to which you want to back up data in the Backup media or file name box.

NOTE: You can also specify a network share as a destination for the backup file. Typically, backup files have the .bkf file name extension; however, you can use any file name extension.

9. Click Start Backup.

10. Under If the media already contains backups, perform one of the following steps:

- If you want to append this backup file to previous backup files, click Append this backup to the media.

- If you want to overwrite previous backup files with this backup file, click Replace the data on the media with this backup.

11. Click Advanced.

12. Click to select the Verify data after backup check box.

13. In the Backup Type box, click the type of backup that you want to create.

You can select any of the following backup types:
- Normal
- Copy
- Differential
- Incremental
- Daily

When you click a backup type, a description of that backup type appears under "Description."

14. Click OK, and then click Start Backup.

15. When the backup is complete, click Close.

You can use Backup to back up and restore data on either FAT16, FAT32, or NTFS volumes. However, if you back up data from an NTFS volume that is used in Windows XP, Microsoft recommends that you restore the data to an NTFS volume that is used in Windows XP. If you do not do so, you can lose data and some file and folder features.

Some file systems might not support all of the features of other file systems. For example, the following features are lost if you back up data from an NTFS volume that is used in Windows XP, and then restore the data to a FAT volume or an NTFS volume that is used in Windows NT 4.0:
- Permissions
- Encrypting File System (EFS) settings
- Disk quota information
- Mounted drive information
- Remote Storage information

If you want to back up your computer, Microsoft recommends that you back up all of the data on your computer and the System State data, which includes the registry. You can only back up the System State data on a local computer. You cannot back up the System State data on a remote computer.