ZIP drives are a joke, and USB memory keys are too
slow and too small. Tapes are so far beyond pass?©, most Vista-compatible
backup software doesn??™t even support tape drives.
The only choice for backing up a modern PC is a removable hard disk.
Shortly after the initial release of Vista, a 500 GB 3.5-inch hard disk cost
about $100, with a decent external enclosure adding only $30. (If you??™re not
a do-it-yourselfer, prebuilt solutions are about 50% more.)
There are basically three software-based backup technologies included with
Windows Vista:
Back Up Files
The Back Up Files wizard attempts to make it easy to back up your personal
data onto any drive??”removable or otherwise??”and restore individual
files as needed. Just open the Backup and Restore Center
(Figure 6-11) and click the Back up files button.
Unfortunately, this feature is severely limited. For one, you can??™t choose
which files to back up, but rather only which types of files to back up
(and there??™s not much latitude there, either). Next, the Back Up Files
wizard tool won??™t back up your system files, your Registry, or anything
else you??™d need to quickly rebuild your PC in the event of a catastrophe;
for that, you??™ll need the Complete PC Backup and Restore tool (discussed
next) or third-party backup software (such as that included with
some external hard disk products).
But what??™s most frustrating about Back Up Files is how easily it trips up.
The first time you use the Back Up Files wizard, it asks you to choose a
destination, select files to back up, and??”in all editions except Home
Basic??”schedule future backups.
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