We've all been told from our first day with our first computer to always back up all our work. It's a chapter in every computer book, a focus of many articles, and the subject of numerous newspaper columns. So surely everyone knows why it should be done, but why is it so often not done?
Once someone is ready to admit that they don't do backups, the reasons pile up: I don't have time! It's too complicated! I never remember to do it! But all those excuses go out the window when Windows XP comes in the door—especially when the windows xp Backup program is combined with newer high-speed media.
In windows xp Professional , using the Backup program is so simple that we'll leave the steps to last and start with the knottier questions.
If you're using windows xp Home Edition , it's a bit more complicated. You must install the Backup program separately. It is not included in the default installation of windows xp Home Edition, and the Backup icon is not on the Start menu in windows xp Home Edition, nor in Add Remove Programs . It is included on the CD-ROM in the Valueadd folder. To install Backup for windows xp Home Edition, you must install it manually, as explained in this Microsoft Knowledge Base article .
Where Do I Put the Backup?
When you're backing up files from several computers, you need a considerable amount of storage space. For the near future, the most promising backup media are the writeable DVD drives. They're very fast and hold a lot of files (5 to 9 gigabytes), but at $500+ just for the DVD drive, most of us are quite willing to wait for the price to come down.
Writeable CDs, which seemed so enormous just a couple of years ago, are too small at 650 MB each to be ideal for sizeable backups. If you have a computer with a tape drive, you can use it, though tape drives are slow, require regular maintenance, and need to be verified at regular intervals. (I wouldn't recommend buying a tape drive because they're nearly as expensive as the DVD writeables.)
A good solution is to have a hard drive that you devote to backups. Hard drives are fast, extremely reliable, and you can buy one for $4 per gigabyte or less. Install one on one of your computers or for the belt- and -suspenders approach, buy two and alternate backups between them. Check the Web for deals. Tom's Hardware Guide lists and reviews a variety of storage options.
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