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For this tutorial session we are going to choose "My documents and settings" which will include everything in the My Documents folder of the account that is logged in as well as the favorites, desktop icons and any cookies that may be available.
On the next screen, you will see that there are other options- if you are an administrator on the system, you could also choose "Everyone's documents and settings", which might be useful if you have students who do work on this PC on your behalf.
In general, "All information on this computer" is more than you would want to choose. This backup would include all of the Operating System files and all the program files, which require many times the space your data does, and will not be used to restore your computer anyway-- Technology & Communications will replace the software with the most recent versions when we rebuild your PC. However, if you run unusual programs and do not know where each stores its data, this option would be certain to back it up.
"Let me choose what to back up" is a good choice if you only want to back up certain areas of your system.
For now, make sure "My documents and settings" is selected, then click Next.
Choose the target location where you would like to store your backup data by either clicking on the down arrow and choosing an available drive letter or "Browse" to find a network share or other location. 1
You may also type a new name for the backup, 2 if you wish. Click Next
The Backup utility supports five methods of backing up data on your computer or network. The next few screens describe these types.
A copy backup copies all selected files but does not mark each file as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is not cleared). Copying is useful if you want to back up files between normal and incremental backups because copying does not affect these other backup operations.
A daily backup copies all selected files that have been modified the day the daily backup is performed. The backed-up files are not marked as having been backed up (the archive attribute is not cleared).
A differential backup copies files created or changed since the last normal or incremental backup. It does not mark files as having been backed up (the archive attribute is not cleared). If you are performing a combination of normal and differential backups, restoring files and folders requires that you have the last normal as well as the last differential backup.
An incremental backup backs up only those files created or changed since the last normal or incremental backup. It marks files as having been backed up (the archive attribute is cleared). If you use a combination of normal and incremental backups, you will need to have the last normal backup set as well as all incremental backup sets in order to restore your data.
A normal backup copies all selected files and marks each file as having been backed up (the archive attribute is cleared). With normal backups, you need only the most recent copy of the backup file or tape to restore all of the files. You usually perform a normal backup the first time you create a backup set.
Backing up your data using a combination of normal backups and incremental backups requires the least amount of storage space and is the quickest backup method. However, recovering files can be time-consuming and difficult because the backup set can be stored on several disks or tapes.
Backing up your data using a combination of normal backups and differential backups is more time-consuming, especially if your data changes frequently, but it is easier to restore the data because the backup set is usually stored on only a few disks or tapes.
We recommend just choosing a type of NORMAL and each time this runs the complete set of data will be backed up. Although this creates the largest size of backup files it is the easiest to restore.
Choose Normal and Click Next
Verifying your backup will double (or more) the total time for the backup to complete but if you wish to make sure all your data is completely read and written to the destination area you could click this box.
Disable Volume Shadow copy should also be selected. We have had some backup routines fail unless it is checked. Note that any open files will be skipped during the backup. 3 Choose to verify if you like, check 'Disable volume shadow copy', and click Next
We recommend that you replace the existing backups otherwise
you will continue to use up more and more disk space and the backups will
eventually fail. Plus, since we
recommend the type
Click the Replace the existing backups radio button.
Check the Allow only the owner and the Administrator access to the backup data and to any backups appended to this medium so that only you have access to this data. Most any file that gets stored on external storage can be viewed by anyone who logs into the machine so this option is essential. In addition, the administrator should be allowed access in case you cannot get to this backup data file as a safe guard in the event of any unforeseen issues.
Check this box and click “Next”
Click on the Later radio button click on the Set Schedule Button to schedule when this backup will run.
Choose Weekly and a start time (after hours preferably) and schedule it to run every week (we recommend Tuesday – Friday) but choose other days if your data changes on other days. Click OK to continue.
You will be prompted to enter a username and password, enter your EUP\USERNAME and password and confirm it so this process can run under your credentials. Click ok and this will bring you back to the previous backup wizard screen.
Click “Next” (you may be asked to enter your username and password once again, we do not know why this occurs but enter it one more time and click OK).
Congratulations! You have configured and scheduled your backup process to run unattended. Click FINISH to exit the wizard.
NOTE: You can view your schedule job and get a status by going to Start-Settings-Control Panel and double clicking on the “Scheduled Tasks” icon and reviewing the Next Run Time and Last Run Time of your scheduled task to ensure that it is still scheduled to run.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to a security design in the Windows Operating System, you must remain logged in for scheduled tasks to execute. We recommend that you LOCK your system when you leave or walk away from your office. You can do this by pressing CTRL-ALT-Delete keys and clicking on the Lock Computer button or a quicker way is to just hold down the Windows key and press the L key. You will still be logged in and only you can “unlock” the system with your username and password. We also recommend powering off your monitor (but not your system of course) when you leave at the end of the work day.
Windows Backup Utility – Restoring Your Data
To access Windows Backup choose “Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Backup”
The following screen will appear:
Click “Next” to run Windows Backup in Wizard Mode
Do you wish to Backup or Restore data files?
Click on the Restore files and settings radio button and click “Next”
You can select an entire backup container file to restore or expand the list of backup files by double clicking on the name in the left window pane. You can expand through the levels to find the folder(s) you need and then in the right window pane you can check the folder(s) and/or file(s) you need to restore. Note a red exclamation mark on any folder(s) or file(s) depicts that a file exists that was not copied during the backup process. More than likely this scenario exists because the file was in use by some other application when the backup process tried to copy it.
Click “Next” once you have selected the data you need.
At this point you can click the Finish button and the restoration process will begin to restore the folder(s) and file(s) you choose. However, if you wish to change where and how the files should be restored and the security settings then you can click on the Advanced button. By default the restore function will check to see if the file(s) exist and compare them and only restore them if they are newer than any existing files with the same name. This is normally all that you would need. We will not go through the advanced settings in this document but feel free to review these when you run the restore process by clicking on the Advanced button.
Once you click the finish button, the restoration process status window will pop up and show you the ongoing status. When the process completes, the status window will display an option to review a report of what was done. This is a useful report to review especially if there are errors with the process. Feel free to experiment with smaller data files to restore by choosing various advanced settings and reviewing the reports that are created. For example, you may have some data files that you want to restore to a removable USB key rather than placing them back on your local hard drive, choose the advanced button and route the destination to your USB drive. Enjoy.