Windows Backup and Restore CenterBackup your PC now! Do you have a current Windows backup of your Vista PC files? Think for a moment about the documents, digital photos, letters, etc. on your computer right now. Do you have a recent copy of these items stored somewhere other than your computer? Are you sure? But wait.. I've got more good news for you: Your computer is going to crash! That's right, it will! When? I don't know. That's the problem. Sooner or later ALL computers will crash, old ones, new ones, it doesn't matter. They're all doomed. Why? Because hard drives are mechanical devices, and devices break down sometimes. Have you ever had car trouble that left you stranded until help arrived? I think most of us have. Something on the car wore out, or broke suddenly, and the car stopped. It's that simple. Machines break eventually. Especially machines that are not well maintained. If you value what is stored on your computer, do yourself a favor and use the Windows Backup and Restore Center utility and get it copied as soon as possible.
Depending on your version of Windows Vista, you have two options as far as backing up your data, "Backup Files" or "Backup Computer". For this tutorial, were going to take a look at the Backup Files procedure. How to Backup Files Backup Files is generally just for your files and folders and can be found in almost all versions of Windows Backup and Restore Center. You can back up your files to an external hard drive, writable CD or DVD, or to a network location. The Windows Backup and Restore Center can also create an automatic backup of your data according to a schedule. Please note that this is not included in the "Starter" version of Vista, and has only basic functionality in the "Home Basic" version. Go ahead and click on the "Backup Files" button which will take you to the window shown below. Here you want to choose a location for your backup. It can be an external drive (the best choice in my opinion), a CD, or a DVD. Just make sure you have already connected the device to your PC.
Once you have chosen a location for your Windows backup, click "Next" and you will be taken to the next window. Here you will be asked to choose what types of files to back up. I recommend using the default setting which is all of the file types. Click "Next".
The next window is where you can create a regularly scheduled backup by selecting "How often", "What Day", and the "Time" of your backup. The first backup will be a "Full" backup since you do not have a backup file already. However, each subsequent backup will only add any new files found or any files that have been changed since the last backup. This is called an "incremental backup" and makes the backup time after a full backup much shorter. Once you have created your schedule, click on the "Save Settings and Start Backup" button to begin your backup.
The next window shows the progress of your backup.
The final window informs you that the backup has completed successfully.
How to Restore the Backup Files What good is a backup of your files if you can't restore them? In this section we'll look at how to restore the files from your backup. Just as you did to backup your files, we need to go back to the Windows Backup and Restore Center to restore them. Just in case you have forgotten how to get there:
To get the restoration started, click on the "Restore Files" button from the main Windows Backup window. That will bring up the window shown below which will ask you what you want to restore. The default choice is "Files From the Latest Backup", but you can also choose "Files From an Older Backup" (if you have the room on your backup media to store them). Click Next when you have made your choice.
The next window will ask you to select the files or folders that you want to restore. Click on the appropriate button, "Add Files", "Add Folders", or Browse to locate the items that you need to restore. Click Next when ready.
This window shows how it would look to search for your files or folders. Click on the Add button when you have located the files.
Once you have made your choices, they will be listed in the Add Files window shown below. Click Next when ready.
The next window will ask you where do you want to place your restored files. The default setting is "In the original location", which means where the file was located at the time of backup. This is fine if you don't mind overwriting any files with same name that are in that location now. If you would rather not overwrite the existing file, then choose "In the following location", which will allow you to browse to a location of your choosing. Click the "Start Restore" button when ready.
The final window will inform you that the restore was successful.
I think it is always a good idea to try a test backup and restore just to make sure that you are actually backing up data. You don't want to wait until you really need something restored to find out that you don't have anything to restore. Return to Windows Vista Tutorials Return From Windows Backup and Restore Center to the Home Page
|
