Schedule an Automatic Backup
Hard disks die, and computers get stolen. You need to backup your computer regularly. Most people backup weekly, but I do it nightly, because who can stand to lose a week’s worth of work?
First, buy yourself an external USB hard disk to hold your backup. You can’t backup to your C:\ drive, because you won’t be able to get to your backup if it dies. Here are some well-reviewed drives in different capacities: 250 GB, 500 GB, and 750 GB. I have the 750 gigger. Be sure to get one big enough to hold all your files.
Then, follow these steps to schedule a backup (you’ll need administrative privileges):
1. Connect and turn on your external hard disk.
2. Click Start, type Backup, and then click Backup and Restore Center.
3. Click Back up files.
4. On the Where Do You Want To Save The Backup page, click On a hard disk, CD, or DVD, and then select your disk. Click Next.
5. If the Which Disks Do You Want To Include In The Backup page appears, select the disks where you store important files, and then click Next.
6. On the Which File Types Do You Want To Back Up page, select any file types you don’t want to lose. Then, click Next.
7. On the Back Up Files page, schedule how often you want your files backed up. I suggest changing this to Daily. If you don’t mind losing a whole week of work if your computer has a problem, you can leave it at Weekly. Then, schedule a time when your computer will be turned on and connected to the external hard disk, and click Save settings and start backup.
Windows Vista will immediately start a backup. It’ll also run a backup at the time and interval you specified.
This automatic backup will save your most important files. You should also do a Complete PC backup at least once (it’s better to do it every six months). You can’t easily schedule that, though.
For more information, read the Windows Vista Resource Kit (co-authored by your very own Tony Northrup). Got a question for Tony? Send an e-mail to qa@vistaclues.com.
Posted: December 14th, 2006 under Backup.
Comments: 9
Comments
Pingback from Vista Clues » Backup your computer and applications - Windows Vista help
Time: December 14, 2006, 2:04 am
[...] Files and folders. This backs up your documents. If you lose your hard disk, you can use this to restore your most important files. You’ll need to re-install Windows and all of your applications, though. [...]
Pingback from Restore a Previous Version of a File - Windows Vista help
Time: December 15, 2006, 6:44 pm
[...] When most people think about backups and restores, they think about recovering from a failed hard disk. By far the most common backup request, however, is to restore a file that has been accidentally deleted, edited, or corrupted. For example, while writing a chapter one day, the cat stepped across my keyboard, selecting all text, overwriting it, and then miraculously closing the document. I had to restore the file from a backup made the night before. [...]
Pingback from How to Schedule a Complete PC Backup - Windows Vista help
Time: December 28, 2006, 8:35 pm
[...] Windows Vista can automatically schedule file backups that back up your most important documents. It does not, however, give you a wizard to schedule Complete PC backups. Complete PC backups store your entire hard disk (well, your system volume), so if your hard drive dies at some point, you can do a quick restore and be up and running again in minutes. That’s better than file backups in many ways, because all your applications will be restored, and none of your files or settings will be lost. It’s so useful, you should schedule automatic Complete PC backups to an external hard disk. Just follow these steps: 1. Click Start, type Task Scheduler, and then press Enter (you’ll need admin rights). 2. In Task Scheduler, in the Actions pane, click Create Basic Task. 3. The Create A Basic Task wizard appears. In the Name box, type Complete PC Backup. Click Next. 4. On the Task Trigger page, click Next to accept a daily schedule. 5. On the Daily page, configure the time that you want the backup to run. It should run at a time when your computer is turned on and connected to your backup media (like your external hard disk). Don’t worry if your computer won’t always be connected–the backup will fail, but as long as it runs most nights, you’ll be fine. Click Next. 6. On the Action page, click Next to accept Start a program as the default. 7. On the Start A Program page, in the Program/script box, type Wbadmin. in the Add arguments box, type start backup -backupTarget:BackupDriveLetter: -include:C: -quiet. Replace BackupDriveLetter with the drive letter of your backup drive. For example, my backup drive is my L drive, so I used the arguments shown in this screenshot. Click Next. 8. Click Finish. To test your backup, click the Task Scheduler Library node in the left pane of Task Scheduler. Then, right-click your Complete PC Backup task and click Run. If this is the first time you’ve run a Complete PC backup, it’ll take a while–more than an hour. After that, it’ll only take 10-20 minutes (maybe less). [...]
Pingback from Task Scheduler Lies about AutomaticBackup - Windows Vista help
Time: January 13, 2007, 1:22 pm
[...] You should schedule a nightly automatic backup on your computer. You can then view the scheduled task in the Task Scheduler tool: [...]
Comment from Strafverteidiger München
Time: April 19, 2007, 8:44 pm
thanks a lot for these brilliant information. i searched a long time to find the info here. now i will ad it to my favorites. thanks.
Comment from Gary
Time: April 21, 2007, 7:00 am
I setup backup that way, however when i boot to WinRE and try to restore it shows no exisitng backup where as if i run a backup the the GUI utility it list fine
Comment from Carrol
Time: November 18, 2007, 1:39 pm
When I try to do an automatic back-up I receive an error message that says there is no disk in the drive even though I have a disc in there. What would cause that?
Comment from veigas16
Time: February 6, 2008, 7:13 pm
check if your dvd drive is working, or check if there is a burning software installed, update the DVD drive firmware….
Comment from Bill
Time: April 5, 2008, 1:51 am
On vista, I’m using automatic back up to a USB hard drive. Even though I only have ~20BG of data (files, music, etc) - it is quickly filling up my 230 GB drive. A right click on the drive indicates ~90% full, however when I open the drive and explore - the back up folder only says ~20GB. If I drill down, I eventually find folder after folder of file back ups. If I play a song w/ media player, it backs up the file. Seems to continously add every day. Don’t understand what’s going on… Also - thinking I should maybe try synch toy instead, but have neer used it. Thoughts?
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