Platinum Edition Using® Microsoft® Windows® XP

Thinking About Backups

There are few things that elicit as big an “Uh-Oh” as when a computer dies and the realization hits home that all your data may be at risk. Unfortunately, it's human nature to ignore this aspect of responsible computing until it's too late to do anything other than re-create the lost data.

NOTE Detailed discussion of backups can be found in Chapter 25, “Managing Your Hard Disks.” However, we'll discuss some backup strategies here, since it's wise to do some advance backup planning before you begin using a system. Do see Chapter 25 for more thorough discussion of the backup program provided with Windows XP.

As I think back to the very first backup I did of a computer, memory serves that it took about 50 floppy disks to ...