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Learn How To Install Windows XP Home Backup Utility

When you buy your computer, it certainly cost you a lot of money! You might have spent from hundreds to thousands of dollars for a mere computer. It is definitely one of the valuable things that one could own. However, the very important part is the data that you have on the hard drive of the computer. It took you quite a time to really create, build, and process your data. And if one little occasion like power outage or lightning might have struck your place, this could lead to data lost. Hope you know that it is not easy to make a backup with your Windows XP Home backup utility. But don’t worry, let’s make things simple to do.

The very first thing that you need to do is to get a backup device of your choice. You can have a CD, DVD, tape drive or maybe go and get a second hard drive installed in your computer.  So you have two hard drives then, but the second hard drive doesn’t need to be the same or equal in capacity as your main one. An older or a smaller hard disk would serve as a backup device. Just make sure it has lots or more free storage space than main drive’s ‘used’ space.

How to install a second hard drive?

Make sure your motherboard has two ATA or IDE connectors in it. This means that the primary connector should have two drive connectors. The main hard drive is connected to the end connector, while the second hard drive is connected to the middle connector.

Each hard drive has a jumper at the back in which the jumper on your main hard drive will be set to “MASTER” and the jumper on the second hard drive which is your backup drive should be set to “SLAVE”. Make sure the power connector is also connected to the second drive.

Upon restarting your computer, the second hard drive should then be recognized automatically. Normally, it is the E: drive as D: is used for CD-ROM drive.
How to format the second hard drive?

If this is a used hard disk, you definitely need to reformat it to remove any previously installed programs and softwares or some file access rights. All you need to do is follow these steps:

Select Start | Settings | Control Panel | Administration Tools | Computer Management. In the "Computer Management" window, under "Storage", click on "Disk Management". Right click on the backup disk's drive letter (you can easily determine it). You will see a popup menu, select All Tasks | Format... In the Warning dialog box that appears, click on the "Yes" button. Now, in the "Format" dialog box, in the "File system" drop-down list, select NTFS. Click on the "OK" button. Again, in the Warning dialog box that appears, click on the "Yes" button. And you are now done!

The next thing to do is to install the Windows XP Backup Utility

By default, the backup utility for Windows XP Home Edition is not installed. So you definitely need to install it manually using your CD-ROM. Below are the steps to do it:

1. After inserting the CD-ROM, open Control Panel's "Add or Remove Programs" utility. In the "Add or Remove Programs" utility", click on the "Add New Programs" button, then click on the "CD or Floppy" button.

2. In the "Run Installation Program" dialog box that appears, navigate to the VALUEAD/MSFT/NTBACKUP folder on the CD-ROM and select the file NTBACKUP.MSI. Click on the "Finish" button. The Backup utility will be installed.

How to perform a full backup for your computer?

In order to perform a backup, you just Select Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Backup to open the Backup Utility. Now, in the "Backup or Restore Wizard", click on the "Advanced Mode" link. In the "Backup Utility" dialog box, select the "Backup" tab and set the checkbox next to the drive to backup (C:) and set the checkbox next to "System State".

In the "Backup media or file name" text box, enter the path to the file for the backup (example E:\Backup.bkf). You will see the "Start Backup" button, click it.

In the "Backup Job Information" dialog box that appears, set the radio button next to "Replace the data on the media with this backup". Click on the "Start Backup" button. The "backup Progress" dialog box will appear.

Please note that the whole process could perhaps take 30 minutes or more on an hour depending on the amount of data you have in your main hard drive. Once you’re done with the backup, just simply turn off the computer and remove the data and power cables. In case you need to do a backup in the future, just reinstall the cables then a Please note that the whole process could perhaps take 30 minutes or more on an hour depending on the amount of data you have in your main hard drive. Once you’re done with the backup, just simply turn off the computer and remove the data and power cables. In case you need to do a backup in the future, just reinstall the cables then again.
 



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