How to Run Automated Backups in Windows Vista

We talked recently about automated backups in Windows XP, but I had a few emails regarding automated backups in Windows Vista. Doing these backups in Vista is very easy with the new feature, the Windows Backup and Restore Center.

To access the Windows Backup and Restore Center you simply click start - control panel, then click on the Backup and Restore Center icon.

In the Windows Backup and Restore Center you can backup your data in two ways, an Automatic Backup and a Complete PC Backup.

Automatic Backup

An Automatic Backup lets you set the feature to automatically backup your data at a stage you select. So it can backup your data daily, weekly or monthly. To set this feature you must;

• Click on the Back up files button in the Windows Backup and Restore Center
• Here you can select where you want to save your backups to, your hard disk, a DVD or CD.

• Now you have to select which disks you wanted included in the backup

• Then you select what file types you wanted in your backup

• In this next stage you can select how often you want the automated backups to run. If it is your first backup the computer will do a full backup first, then do the automated backups at your selected time.

You now simply click the Save settings and start backup button and your computer will either start the full backup or run the Automated backup on your selected date.

We recommend you set your computer to run backups at least weekly, but if you do have plenty of data being added daily you might want to consider running the automated backups daily.

Complete PC Backup

Doing a Complete PC Backup is easy but you may need a decent amount of space to completely backup your whole disk, so we recommend you use a decent external hard drive for this process.

To get started you must;

• Click on Back up computer in the Windows Backup and Restore Center
• Here you will come to a page asking where you want to save the backup, just connect your external hard drive and select it from the drop down (as you see from the image I really need an external)

• Click next, then all you have to do is click start backup.
• Then just sit back and wait for the full backup to take place

We recommend that you do a complete backup every 6 months, or even do it more often if you add plenty of data on your computer often. One thing I can't stand is loosing data, so make sure you backup your stuff guys!

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