How to Back Up a Hard Drive

It's important to back up your critical files on at least a weekly basis. The following explains how to install and run Microsoft's built-in Backup utility in Windows XP.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• CD-R Discs
• CD-RW Burners
• CD-RW Discs
• Blank DVD Discs
• Hard Disks
• Microsoft Windows XP

1. Insert your Windows XP CD into the drive and double click it when it pops up on your desktop.

2. In Windows Explorer, double-click the ValueAdd folder, then Msft, and then Ntbackup.

3. Double-click Ntbackup.msi to install the Backup utility.

4. Click Backup to run Microsoft's Backup program.

How to Run the Backup Utility

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup to start the wizard.

2. Click "Next" to skip past the opening page, choose Back up files and settings from the second page, and then click Next.

3. Decide whether you want to back up everything or just certain things.

4. Decide where you want the backups saved to.

5. Set a schedule for regular backups.

Tips & Warnings

• CD-RW drives are great for backups, but they usually come with their own backup programs.

• To restore a disk from a backup, open the Tools menu in the Backup utility and select Restore Wizard.