xp home backup utility

[misskellibad1]

I have fixed my spam problem, cleaned up my computer of useless crap and went to make a backup last night and the only option I get is to a floppy.
Everything I've read suggests I should be able to back up to a cd, but it just keeps asking for a floppy. Is there some way around this?

[Hex]

I've heard you can do it if the cdrw is formatted correctly (though I've never done it), but it's much easier to just get a third party program to do it. I'm sure theres some freeware or shareware you can turn to freeware out there that can do it. You can always backup to your hard drive then burn that to cd as well. Just keep in mind you can't break up the backup file onto multiple cds if you do it that way. Good luck.

Hex

[Reverend]

Kelli,i've never used backup in XP but i think you have to insert a formatted CD-RW into your drive first (before running the backup)so that when you run the program it can recognize the alternative media.

[phishhead]

or what hex said get drive image or ghost and you can choose where and what media to choose.

[SupaStar]

Actually, I'm sure you can create the backup to a location on your hard drive and then burn it separately to a CD-R or CD-RW with Nero or Easy CD Creator. I'm not at an XP machine right now so I cant check the options, but I'm almost certain you can choose your own backup loaction.

With this in mind, Rev's advice should also hold true. So long as you have some packet writing software such as Roxio DirectCD or Nero In-CD. This will alow you to write to the CD-RW like you would to a floppy or Zip disk.

[FastGame]

Are you saying that when you use the XP backup utility that there's not a browse button that let's you chose your CD-R/RW ? just hit browse & then the floppy thing will come up again so hit cancel and now the *save as* window will pop up then hit the pulldown & pick your CD-R .

I think it's best to do as SupaStar suggest & back up to the HD then burn the image with something like Nero...make sure in back up options you choose files to be broken up in sizes that don't exceed the mb limt of CD.

[misskellibad1]

Thanks for all the replies guys!
I will try Rev's suggestion first as it's the simplest remedy.
Yes, FG, it gives you a browse for an alternate but the floppy screen just keeps popping back up. GG, how many floppies would it take!! lol!
I read somewhere that you should be able to write to cd and then it asks for a floppy to complete the process. I thought at first the tasks were backwards, so I popped in a floppy to see and when it finished it said 000's of files left! OMG!
So, after further reading I found out that only applies to xp pro.
Let you know how it goes.

[Dehcbad25]

The backup only depends of how you want to keep the files and what.
For example, I save files like documents, save files from games and etc, so those files when I backup to a CD I want to have them for easy access too, so I record them to a formated CD-RW that I can use as a Hard drive, and just copy and paste the files.
With Nero you can also do compilations, and re-burn on a CD-RW the same compilation and will update the compilation with new files.
As I say, all this methods are for easy access of files later. Not need of special programs just an UDF reader, and multi-read CD-ROM (most CD-ROM are)
Then, if you are going to keep a backup like in a corporate enviroment, which is compressed to a file, you can USE XP backup, or Winrar (Winzip) and create a compressed file, and update the file when needed thru the add command and then burn the file to a CD. This is actually pretty fast considering that you can set the level of compression. In this case, for example with Winrar you can set Volume sizes to specific capacity Lets say 685 MB to record to multiple CDs (or CD-RW).
And also you have the drive image, usefull if you want to restore the whole system to a previous state. This is usually the longest one, done it can be with fewer clicks to back up, the pain is to restore. Also a drawback would be if you have large HD, for example is a No, NO option for me that my smaller HD is 20GB, and I care about files, not system itself. I keep a clean image in case I want to go back to a very early state, and that is it.
It all depends what you want and need.
You have endless posibilities.
PS: when you chose the location it will ask you for a CD, I just click cancel and chose the location

[misskellibad1]

Thanks for the input.
As for the "what", I already keep copies of my docs, etc., but I was talking with someone the other day that couldn't believe I hadn't made a copy of my system files. He sounded pretty knowledgeable about the whole thing and as I really don't know what to copy I thought I'd let the utility do it for me.
As for the location, it only let me choose from advanced mode (not wizard like I wanted) and only when I have the cd in the drive as Rev suggested. It does not let me cancel for some strange reason.
So anyways, I got what I wanted (I think), but the file is huge, so now what am I supposed to do with it.
Better yet, after your post Dehcbad25, do I even need the hassle?!

[Dehcbad25]

Well, documents are files that you want to keep are more vital to keep a back up.
System files, can corrupt, but with XP you can always restore them. One thing it never hurts is to keep a backup of your registry files.
As example, someone at my work had a corrupted registry 2 days ago. Big problem, since it cannot load the Software hive, so basically the system keeps restoring indefinitively, unless you power it off. In this case it would had been great a backup of the registry since it has set us back 2 days already, but no data was lost. Just how do you get the data out when it is a laptop, the PCMCIA won't run, you can have either floppy or CD, and the file system is NTFS, plus I didn't have a HDD adapter?, otherwise it would had been one day delay
I used to backup my system files, but I got tired of it.
As I mentioned, there is lots of options and ways.

[misskellibad1]

Thanks for your reply again. I do already have a backup of the registry, which I might add was a heck of alot easier than using this "backup utility"!
I appreciate everyone's help.