Backing Up Files

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To back up files, you must tell Backup what you want to back up, specify the backup type, and set other options. You can perform a backup job in either of two ways: by using the Backup Wizard or by making your settings manually. The wizard is easier to use and more powerful than the backup wizards in earlier versions of Windows, so it certainly deserves a second look. However, it's best suited to performing ad hoc backup jobs or scheduling a backup job to run automatically. If you want to set up a job to use repeatedly at irregular intervals, you might prefer the manual method because it's a little faster than stepping through all the wizard pages.

When you first run Backup—by opening the Start menu and choosing Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Backup—the Welcome tab appears, as shown in Figure 29-1.

click to view at full size.

Figure 29-1. The Welcome tab is the launch point for the Backup Wizard, for the Restore Wizard, and for creating an Emergency Repair Disk.

Performing a Backup Job with the Backup Wizard

If you prefer to use the Backup Wizard, simply click the Backup Wizard button on the Welcome tab. Alternatively, open the Tools menu and choose Backup Wizard, which you can do regardless of which tab is displayed. The wizard leads you through the following steps:

  • Specifying what you want to back up (For details, see "Specifying What to Back Up.")
  • Specifying where you want to back it up (For details, see "Specifying Where to Back Up.")

After you complete those steps, you'll see a page similar to the one shown in Figure 29-2. On this page, you can click Finish to immediately begin backing up your files. Or you can click Advanced to let the Backup Wizard lead you through the following additional settings:

  • Type of backup
  • Verification
  • Compression
  • Append or overwrite
  • Labels (names) for the media and for the backup set
  • Scheduling

SEE ALSO
For information about the Advanced settings, see "Executing a Backup."

TIP
If you want to save the settings you make in the Backup Wizard as a backup job that you can reuse, you must click Advanced and set a schedule for the job. (When you set a schedule, the wizard asks you to specify a filename for the job.)

Upon completion of the Advanced track, the wizard again arrives at a page similar to the one shown in Figure 29-2. Click Finish to begin the backup process or add your backup job to the schedule.

click to view at full size.

Figure 29-2. After you specify what you want to back up, the Backup Wizard offers to begin the backup job immediately or help you set additional options.

Performing a Backup Job Manually

To create a backup job without the help of the Backup Wizard:

  1. Click the Backup tab.
  2. The Backup tab provides similar functionality to the first few pages of the Backup Wizard: you specify what you want to back up and where you want to back it up.

    click to view at full size.

  3. Open the Job menu and choose New.
  4. Mark the items you want to back up. For details, see "Specifying What to Back Up."
  5. Specify where you want to save the backup. For details, see "Specifying Where to Back Up."
  6. Open the Job menu, choose Save Selections, and specify a filename for your backup selections.

Once the selections file is saved, you can reuse its settings whenever you want by clicking the Backup tab, opening the Job menu, and choosing Load Selections. You can also set up a schedule to run a backup job on a regular basis. For details, see "Scheduling Backup Jobs to Run Automatically."

Specifying What to Back Up

Your first step is to tell Backup what to back up, using the two list panes on the Backup tab. The left pane is like the Folders bar in Windows Explorer; the right pane is similar to Details view in Windows Explorer.

Marking Drives, Folders, and Files for Backup

To specify all files within a drive or folder, simply select the check box next to its name. For example, to back up all files on drive C (including all files in subfolders of drive C), click the check box to the left of C:. A check mark appears when you click a folder's check box. If you change your mind, click the check box a second time to remove the check mark.

If the folder you want to back up isn't at the top level of your drive hierarchy, use standard Windows Explorer techniques to reach the folder you want to back up: click the plus signs in the left pane (just like the Folders bar) or double-click folder names in the right pane.

To back up most of a drive but exclude particular subfolders, first select the check box associated with the drive. Then click the drive's plus sign to reveal its top-level subfolders. You'll find that each top-level subfolder is already selected, because selecting a drive automatically selects all of its subfolders. Now clear the check boxes next to the folders you do not want to back up.

To back up only particular files within a folder, first display the folder by clicking plus signs in the left pane. Next, click the folder name in the left pane, which causes the folder's filenames to appear in the right pane. Now, make your file selections by selecting the check boxes in the right pane for the files you want to back up.

To back up most of a folder but exclude particular files in that folder, first select the check box associated with the folder name in the left pane. Then click the folder name so that the folder's filenames appear in the right pane. Now clear the check boxes of the files in the right pane that you do not want to back up.

TIP
One of the choices available via the Options command on the Tools menu lets you exclude particular files or categories of files, such as files with the extension .exe, from selected drives and folders. For details, see "Excluding Particular Files and File Types."

Backing Up the System State

The last item under My Computer in the left pane is one that you won't see in Windows Explorer: System State. System State is a collection of special system files that are essential if you need to recover from a hard-disk failure, for they include all your personal settings and information that your hardware and software needs in order to run. On a computer running Windows 2000 Professional, System State includes:

  • The registry, a database of configuration information about your computer and your programs
  • The COM+ Class Registration database, which contains information about Component Services, a set of services that provides advanced program capabilities
  • Boot files, including Ntldr and Ntdetect.com

Unless you must minimize time and media use, it's a good idea to leave this option selected.

TIP
If you choose Back Up Everything On My Computer in the Backup Wizard, Backup includes all your local hard disks, System State, and everything on your desktop.

NOTE
You can back up the System State only for your computer. Even if you have administrative privileges on another computer on your network, you can't back up its System State across the network.

Specifying Where to Back Up

Backup can create archives on any network drive, local hard disk, removable disks (such as floppy disks and Zip disks) to which you can save files, or tape. To indicate where you want the backup to go, select an option from the Backup Destination list. In this list you'll find the names of any tape devices attached to your system, as well as the word File. (If you don't have a tape drive installed, your only choice is File, so the list appears dimmed.)

Backing Up to Tape

If you select a tape device from the Backup Destination list, Backup populates the Backup Media Or File Name list with the names of media (that is, tapes) that are in any of three media pools—Import, Free, or Backup. See Figure 29-3.

click to view at full size.

Figure 29-3. Freshly prepared tapes have a name like New Media.

A separate program, Removable Storage, keeps track of your removable media, including tapes, and organizes the tapes into groups called media pools. Removable Storage labels each tape (that is, it places an electronic—not visible—label on the tape, much like the volume name on a hard disk). It also catalogs the contents of each tape and passes that information to programs (like Backup) that request it.

Removable Storage's forte is managing media libraries, such as automatic tape loaders and CD jukeboxes, along with the media they contain. Because Backup relies on Removable Storage to manage backup tapes—even if you have a stand-alone tape drive into which you insert tapes manually—you must use Removable Storage to prepare each new tape. Thereafter, if you have a stand-alone tape drive you'll have little occasion to visit Removable Storage because you can manage most other tape operations from within Backup.

Preparing New Tapes with Removable Storage

The first time you use a new blank tape, you must prepare it, a process in which Removable Storage erases the current contents of the tape (if any), makes the tape usable, and places it in the Free media pool. To prepare a tape:

  1. Insert a new tape in the tape drive.
  2. Open the Start menu, choose Run, type ntmsmgr.msc, and click OK.
  3. The Removable Storage program opens. (You can also get to Removable Storage via the Computer Management console, but the method described here eliminates much of that console's clutter.)

  4. In Removable Storage, click the plus sign to expand Physical Locations.
  5. Click the plus sign next to the name of your tape drive (for example, 4mm DDS), and then select Media.
  6. In the right pane, right-click the tape that you inserted and choose Prepare from the shortcut menu.
  7. Click Yes when Removable Storage asks you to confirm your intention to prepare the tape and write a free media label.

When you place a tape that you've previously used (for example, with an older backup program) in the tape drive, Removable Storage initially places it in the Import media pool and displays a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 29-4. (A similar dialog box that contains only the check boxes appears if you insert a previously used tape before you start Backup.) Unless you have an unusual setup with multiple tape drives and programs other than Backup that use tape media, your best bet is to select Allocate This Media To Backup Now and also select both check boxes. That way, any such tapes you insert automatically move to the Backup media pool so they're ready to use, and you won't be bothered again with this dialog box.

Figure 29-4. Previously used tapes that are not in the Backup media pool go by default to the Import pool—but you can change the default.

When the tape you want to use appears in the Backup Media Or File Name list—because you've prepared a new tape, because you've allocated a tape from the Import media pool to the Backup pool, or because you've used the tape with Backup before (in which case it remains in the Backup pool)—simply select the tape you want. If you have a stand-alone tape drive, you'll also need to insert the tape in the drive. If you forget to put the correct tape in the drive, Backup informs you when you execute the backup (as described later in this chapter) with a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 29-5.

Figure 29-5. Identify each tape with a printed label that matches the media name. When a message like this appears, you'll know which tape to insert.

NOTE
You'll have an opportunity to change the media name ("New Media," for example, quickly loses its meaning) in the Backup Job Information dialog box. For details, see "Executing a Backup."

Backing Up to a Disk File

If you select File in Backup Destination, you can specify the path and name of a disk file in the Backup Media Or File Name box.

TIP
If you type a filename in the Backup Media Or File Name box, be sure to include the .bkf extension. Unlike most other programs, Backup doesn't automatically append the extension if you type a filename.

If you're not sure how to specify the path to your backup file, click the Browse button. The Open dialog box will appear, and you can navigate to the folder of your choice. Select an existing backup file if you want to append to it or overwrite it, or type a name in the File Name box in the Open dialog box. Then click Open. When you specify a filename this way, Backup automatically appends the .bkf extension.

Note that when you back up to a file, all the disks, files, and folders you back up go into a single file—the file whose name and path you specify.

NOTE
If you use removable media (such as floppy disks or Zip disks) for your backup file destination and the files you're backing up won't fit in that media's remaining free space, that's okay. When you run the backup job, Backup asks you to insert another disk when a disk becomes full; the backup can span an unlimited number of disks.



Running Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Running Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
ISBN: 1572318384
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2000
Pages: 317

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