Vista - Doing an "XP Like" Backup

Using Backup in Vista RTM it does not seem possible to configure a backup job
similar to that I used in XP, Full Backup, with nightly Incremental. In
addition, it will lot let me pick what I want to backup, which is My
Docuements on my main and several other systems on my network.

The Vista backup seems to make a bunch of assumptions that are not
necessarily what I want.

You can get part of the way there. Vista Automatic File Backup will let you
pcik from classes of files to backup on specific devices. It will also allow
you to schedule the backup job (and even notify you if action is needed at
some point). I believe it will start with a "full backup" of your selection
set and then apply "incrementals" using VSS (volume shadow copy). Even
without Automatic File Backup enabled I believe you can find previous version
of your files by right clicking the folder/file and selecting "Restore
Previous Versions". You just have to have System Restore points enabled for
the drive on which files/folders live.

Stuart.


"dnr" wrote:

> Using Backup in Vista RTM it does not seem possible to configure a backup job
> similar to that I used in XP, Full Backup, with nightly Incremental. In
> addition, it will lot let me pick what I want to backup, which is My
> Docuements on my main and several other systems on my network.
>
> The Vista backup seems to make a bunch of assumptions that are not
> necessarily what I want.

Also notice that file backup does not backup .EXEs and some other file
types.
And see my questions about file backup in
microsoft.public.windows.vista.general
--
Peter Meinl

"Stuart [MVP]" <StuartMVP@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F5C62DB4-1919-4E36-98BF-AA5D59659364@microsoft.com...
> You can get part of the way there. Vista Automatic File Backup will let
> you
> pcik from classes of files to backup on specific devices. It will also
> allow
> you to schedule the backup job (and even notify you if action is needed at
> some point). I believe it will start with a "full backup" of your
> selection
> set and then apply "incrementals" using VSS (volume shadow copy). Even
> without Automatic File Backup enabled I believe you can find previous
> version
> of your files by right clicking the folder/file and selecting "Restore
> Previous Versions". You just have to have System Restore points enabled
> for
> the drive on which files/folders live.
>
> Stuart.
>
>
> "dnr" wrote:
>
>> Using Backup in Vista RTM it does not seem possible to configure a backup
>> job
>> similar to that I used in XP, Full Backup, with nightly Incremental. In
>> addition, it will lot let me pick what I want to backup, which is My
>> Docuements on my main and several other systems on my network.
>>
>> The Vista backup seems to make a bunch of assumptions that are not
>> necessarily what I want.