How to get backup of system files in windows XP

[karan_star]

I am a Windows Xp user, my some of the folders got corrupted due to which my pc was not able to boot up, and i needed to format it. It cause the lost of my important files and folders.
My friend suggested me to keep a backup of system files but i don't know how to do it. Could any one help me out in this case?

[Twitter]

Windows XP offers a simple and easy to use program made specifically to backup your system files.
The program can be found by clicking the "Start" button, and navigating through the following menu items; Programs, Accessories, and System Tools.

Once you open the program, you will be greeted with a window containing the backup & restore wizard. After reading the window, you may click on the next button, and you will be greeted with two options; Backup files & settings and Restore files & settings.

After you select "Backup files & settings" and click the OK button, you will be greeted with a list of items that you can backup. Because the purpose of this article is to explain to you how to backup your system files, select the option "All information on this computer" and click the next button.
How to successfully make a backup copy of your entire system.

You will then be asked for a location to store the *.bak file. Since Windows XP is extremely large, storing the *.bak file on floppy disks is not feasible, as it would take several hundreds, if not thousands of floppy disks to hold the file.

Instead store the file locally on your hard drive. Once the file has been created, you will be prompted to insert a floppy disk. The software will then write a program to the disk that allow you to boot the system using the disk, and restore your system via the *.bak file.Please remember that the backup file can be extremely large, and requires you to either place it onto a CD, DVD, or in a well protected folder or partition on your computer system.

In future if you need to restore your backup files.Then..

Simply place the floppy disk,CD or DVD in which you have stored the backup file in your drive, and turn on the computer. The system will boot from the floppy, and ask for the location of the *.bak file. Once you provide the system with the location of the backup file, your system will begin to replace your corrupt system files with your backup files.

And you made your system working again without losing any your important files or folders.

[aalbaiz]

I'll make you know how to use the Backup utility to back up files and folders on a computer that is running Windows XP Home Edition.
Before you can back up important information on your computer, you must install the Backup utility. The Backup utility is included on the Windows XP Home Edition CD.
If Windows XP Home Edition was preinstalled on your computer and you do not have the original Windows XP CD, contact the computer manufacturer or visit the manufacturer's Web site for more information. You can also use backup software that you purchase separately.

To install the Backup utility from the Windows XP CD:

1. Insert your Windows XP CD into the CD drive or DVD drive of the computer.
2. Click Exit.
3. Locate the CDDrive:\ValueAdd\Msft\Ntbackup folder on the CD.
4. Double-click Ntbackup.msi to install the Backup utility.
5. When the Backup or Restore Wizard prompts you, click Finish.
6. Remove the Windows XP CD.

Now that you have installed the Backup utility, you are ready to back up your important information.

Now in order to back up files and folders, you must be logged on to the computer as an administrator or as a user who is part of the Administrators group.

Now lets start the Backup utility
STEP 1:-
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type ntbackup.exe in the Open box, and then click OK.

Note If you receive the following error message, make sure that you followed the steps in the "How to install the Backup utility" section correctly:Windows cannot find 'ntbackup.exe'

STEP 2:-
To select items to back up and select the location for the backup file

1. Click Advanced Mode.

If the Backup and Restore Wizard starts, the utility is running in Wizard mode. You can click to clear the Always start in wizard mode check box, and then restart the Backup utility. If you continue to use the Backup and Restore Wizard, the steps will be slightly different from those that are listed in the following section.

2. Click the Backup tab.

3. On the Job menu, click New.

4. Select the check boxes next to the drives that you want to back up. If you select specific files or folders, expand the drive where these files or folders are located. Then, select the check boxes for the files or for the folders that you want to back up.

5. Select the System State check box that is located under My Computer in the navigation pane.

If you want to back up system settings and data files, back up all the data on your computer and the System State data. The System State data includes the registry, the COM+ class registration database, files that are under Windows File Protection, boot files, and other system files.

6. If the Backup destination list is available, click the backup destination that you want to use.

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

You can 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 that you want.

STEP 3:-
Now Start Backup.
1. Click Start Backup to open the Backup Job Information dialog box.

2. Under If the media already contains backups, do either of the following:

• If you want to append this backup file to previous backup files, click Append this backup to the media. This option adds the new backup to the existing backup file so that you can maintain all previous backups in one file. This option is useful if you ever want to restore a backup from a specific day. Be aware that the size of the backup file will grow with each new backup. You might want to monitor the file size to make sure that it does not fill up your hard disk over time. If the file becomes too large, you might consider saving the file to an external hard disk. Or, if you are concerned about the file using too much hard disk space, select Replace the data on the media with this backup instead.
  
• If you want to overwrite previous backup files with this backup file, click Replace the data on the media with this backup. This option is useful if you only want to maintain the current backup and do not care about keeping the previous backups. Or, use this option if you are concerned about the file using too much hard disk space on your computer.

3. Click Advanced.

4. Select the Verify data after backup check box.

5. In the Backup Type box, click the kind of backup that you want to create. For a description of each backup type, click the backup type and the description appears under "Description." You can select any of the following backup types:

• Normal
• Copy
• Incremental
• Differential
• Daily

6. Click OK, and then click Start Backup. A Backup Progress dialog box is displayed, and the backup starts.

7. When the backup is complete, click Close.

8. On the Job menu, click Exit.

Your Work is Done.!!

[Anand D.]

Mr.Karan,,
This is a very good process to prevent loss of your important files,folders or softwares installed on your system.
Now lets get started the process:-

1. Click Backup under All Programs > Accessories > System Tools.
   
2. By default, backup will start in Wizard mode. In this case it's easier to start in the Advanced Mode. To do so, just click the link Advanced Mode.
   
3. On the Welcome tab, click Automated System Recovery Wizard. This will start the Automated System Recovery Preparation Wizard.
   
4. The wizard will prompt you for a location and name for the media to store the backup file.
   
5. By default drive A:\ will be selected, but for obvious reasons this isn't a good choice. You want to change the location to another disk-location. The backup will typically be around 1.5-2.0GB (but could be more, depending on the amount of software installed), and since Microsoft's backup won't "span" a backup across multiple CDs, you'd have to find another media to store this backup on. You could use anything from ZIP or Jazz drives, to a second hard disk drive, either internal or external. Please note: you can't save the backup to the system drive (usually drive C:\), since this drive will be formatted when you do an ASR restore.
   
6. When you have selected the location and name for the backup, press Finish to end the Automated System Recovery Preparation Wizard. When you do this, backup will create a list of all the files to backup, and then continue with the backup process
   
7. ASR only makes a backup of your files on your System drive (usually drive C:\). If you use other hard drives, you will need to make a separate backup of your documents & files to make a complete "recovery" after disaster!
   
8. Once the disk-backup is done, ASR will prompt you for a blank, 1.44MB, formatted floppy disk to store some recovery data.
   
9. When ready, label the diskette. Pressing OK ends the backup portion of ASR
   
10. You will need to keep your ASR backup up-to-date. If you make any changes to your OS, you'll need to make a new ASR backup. When installing updates from Microsoft, most will prompt you to make a new ASR backup after installing the update.

And, now if you needed to restore your back up, plz save the process steps:-


To use Automated System Recovery to recover after a system failure, you need to have the following items before you begin the procedure:

• Your Automated System Recovery floppy disk
• Your previously created backup
• Your original operating system CD

You should only use the ASR backup to restore your system if all other methods to start your Windows XP system have failed. Your system drive (usually drive C:\) will be formatted and you will lose any information that was not backed up recently!

To start the restore process,

1. Insert the original Windows XP CD in your system's CD-ROM drive, and reboot your computer (make sure that the option is set in your computer's BIOS to boot from CD-ROM. Check your computer's or motherboard's manual on how to do this). Usually you'll get a message to Press any key to boot from CD...

2. Once Windows Setup starts, you'll be prompted with the following text at the bottom of the screen: Press F2 to run Automated System Recovery (ASR)... so be prepared to hit F2 as soon as you see this.

3. Next you will be prompted to insert the Windows Automated System Recovery Disk into the floppy drive. Insert the disk, and press any key.

4. The ASR process will be started, and without any further prompts, your system drive will be formatted, after which setup will start copying its files to the hard disk.

5. When ready, the system will prompt you to remove any floppy from the floppy drive, and will reboot the system automatically (this time do not press any key to boot from the CD-ROM!).

6. Windows setup will now continue much like a normal Windows setup would, but it will not do a complete installation.

7. After a few minutes, the Automated System Recovery Wizard will start. After 90 seconds it will automatically continue, if you want to speed this up, just press the Next button.

8. Next the ASR wizard will ask you for the location of your backup file. By default it will list the location you saved the backup to previously, but if you since moved it to a different drive, you can use the Browse button to point to the new location.

9. This will close the ASR wizard, after which backup is used to restore the previous backup of your system drive. After the restore phase is completed, your system will be rebooted, and you'll have it back in the same state as of the time when you created the ASR backup.