Vista - Task scheduler question please

Can I configure the task scheduler to backup a certain group of files every
night? If so, where would I find instructions on how to do this?

Thanks in advance... Bob

"Bob Newman" <bobnewman@cox.net> wrote ...
> Can I configure the task scheduler to backup a certain group of files
> every night? If so, where would I find instructions on how to do this?

Hi Bob,

Vista's built-in backup utility automatically creates a scheduled task to do
regular backups. Go to Start, Accessories, System Tools, Backup Status and
Configuration. Note you must be an administrator to run this tool (why?
buggered if I know, I guess users don't back up??)

However there was a design decision in Vista, that the Backup tool would
select files to backup based on File *Type* - photos, music, documents etc;
rather than specific location. So you can't say, for example "backup
D:\Foo\Bar\MyThesis\*.pdf" or the like. I personally consider this also a
very poor and bone-headed design, but apparently it was intentional: the
Windows guys want us to start thinking about data at more abstract levels
than physical file location. So if you want to backup files from outside
your user directory, (but not backup the entire system every time), you will
need to use a 3rd party backup application. Many of these can be scheduled.

A cheap alternative, if you have disk space somewhere, is just to schedule a
batch file which runs a series of XCOPY or ROBOCOPY commands, copying
modified files every night to some safe location.

If you go to Start, Help, and search on "backup" you'll find a fair bit of
background info.

Other folks might have better ideas; hope this helps a bit,
Andrew

Thanks. I thought it would be something like that.

Bob

"Andrew McLaren" <andrew@somewhere.com> wrote in message
news:9B92785F-BD14-44D1-A5AE-CD56C807172B@microsoft.com...
> "Bob Newman" <bobnewman@cox.net> wrote ...
>> Can I configure the task scheduler to backup a certain group of files
>> every night? If so, where would I find instructions on how to do this?
>
> Hi Bob,
>
> Vista's built-in backup utility automatically creates a scheduled task to
> do regular backups. Go to Start, Accessories, System Tools, Backup Status
> and Configuration. Note you must be an administrator to run this tool
> (why? buggered if I know, I guess users don't back up??)
>
> However there was a design decision in Vista, that the Backup tool would
> select files to backup based on File *Type* - photos, music, documents
> etc; rather than specific location. So you can't say, for example "backup
> D:\Foo\Bar\MyThesis\*.pdf" or the like. I personally consider this also a
> very poor and bone-headed design, but apparently it was intentional: the
> Windows guys want us to start thinking about data at more abstract levels
> than physical file location. So if you want to backup files from outside
> your user directory, (but not backup the entire system every time), you
> will need to use a 3rd party backup application. Many of these can be
> scheduled.
>
> A cheap alternative, if you have disk space somewhere, is just to schedule
> a batch file which runs a series of XCOPY or ROBOCOPY commands, copying
> modified files every night to some safe location.
>
> If you go to Start, Help, and search on "backup" you'll find a fair bit
> of background info.
>
> Other folks might have better ideas; hope this helps a bit,
> Andrew
>