Vista - vista backup

I just bought a new PC. It had Vista installed on it, so I did not recieve
an installation CD. I decided that I needed to do a backup in case of a
crash. When I got to the screen to do a backup, there was a message that
system files would not be included in the backup. If my PC crashed those
system files would be quite neccessary.
How can I do a complete backup, everything on the harddrive?

Tom Cook wrote:
> I just bought a new PC. It had Vista installed on it, so I did not recieve
> an installation CD. I decided that I needed to do a backup in case of a
> crash. When I got to the screen to do a backup, there was a message that
> system files would not be included in the backup. If my PC crashed those
> system files would be quite neccessary.
> How can I do a complete backup, everything on the harddrive?

www,acronis.com Not free.

That said, I would contact the good folks where you bought the computer
and demand a recovery DVD.

Alias

"Tom Cook" <Tom Cook@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B6750AE4-FB49-43FA-9A49-5EEC6FB0D669@microsoft.com...
>I just bought a new PC. It had Vista installed on it, so I did not recieve
> an installation CD. I decided that I needed to do a backup in case of a
> crash. When I got to the screen to do a backup, there was a message that
> system files would not be included in the backup. If my PC crashed those
> system files would be quite neccessary.
> How can I do a complete backup, everything on the harddrive?

I was advised to first make a Recovery Disc in lieu of having an
installation CD/DVD from the manufacturer. You can type "Recovery Disc
Creation" in the start menu and go from there. As a later task, you can set
up your Automatic Backup in the "Backup and Restore Center".

"John Hanley" wrote:

>
> "Tom Cook" <Tom Cook@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B6750AE4-FB49-43FA-9A49-5EEC6FB0D669@microsoft.com...
> >I just bought a new PC. It had Vista installed on it, so I did not recieve
> > an installation CD. I decided that I needed to do a backup in case of a
> > crash. When I got to the screen to do a backup, there was a message that
> > system files would not be included in the backup. If my PC crashed those
> > system files would be quite neccessary.
> > How can I do a complete backup, everything on the harddrive?
>
> I was advised to first make a Recovery Disc in lieu of having an
> installation CD/DVD from the manufacturer. You can type "Recovery Disc
> Creation" in the start menu and go from there. As a later task, you can set
> up your Automatic Backup in the "Backup and Restore Center".
>
>


I did not know there was a recovery disk for vista. ?

"farbuncle" <farbuncle@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:054D943C-6B90-4F2B-8786-7FA975AE0C59@microsoft.com...
>
>
> "John Hanley" wrote:
>
>>
>> "Tom Cook" <Tom Cook@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:B6750AE4-FB49-43FA-9A49-5EEC6FB0D669@microsoft.com...
>> >I just bought a new PC. It had Vista installed on it, so I did not
>> >recieve
>> > an installation CD. I decided that I needed to do a backup in case of
>> > a
>> > crash. When I got to the screen to do a backup, there was a message
>> > that
>> > system files would not be included in the backup. If my PC crashed
>> > those
>> > system files would be quite neccessary.
>> > How can I do a complete backup, everything on the harddrive?
>>
>> I was advised to first make a Recovery Disc in lieu of having an
>> installation CD/DVD from the manufacturer. You can type "Recovery Disc
>> Creation" in the start menu and go from there. As a later task, you can
>> set
>> up your Automatic Backup in the "Backup and Restore Center".
>>
>>
>
>
> I did not know there was a recovery disk for vista. ?

There is no recovery disk for Vista. This is a computer recovery disc you
make (from the files in a recovery partition on the hard drive), that
supposedly can be used to restore the computer to its 'out of the box'
condition, wiping out an changes and all of your data on the hard drive.
I've found the recovery to be close, but not identical to the 'out of the
box' condition.

-Paul Randall

I would suggest you use a free program called DriveImage XML (Look it up of
Google) It's a much better backup program then Microsoft AND it will allow
you to do a complete 'ghost' type backup for easy restoral. I tested it
with XP and Vista and it seems to work well.

Joel
"Paul Randall" <paulr901@cableone.net> wrote in message
news:O4IgF7mxHHA.5068@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>
> "farbuncle" <farbuncle@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:054D943C-6B90-4F2B-8786-7FA975AE0C59@microsoft.com...
>>
>>
>> "John Hanley" wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> "Tom Cook" <Tom Cook@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>>> news:B6750AE4-FB49-43FA-9A49-5EEC6FB0D669@microsoft.com...
>>> >I just bought a new PC. It had Vista installed on it, so I did not
>>> >recieve
>>> > an installation CD. I decided that I needed to do a backup in case of
>>> > a
>>> > crash. When I got to the screen to do a backup, there was a message
>>> > that
>>> > system files would not be included in the backup. If my PC crashed
>>> > those
>>> > system files would be quite neccessary.
>>> > How can I do a complete backup, everything on the harddrive?
>>>
>>> I was advised to first make a Recovery Disc in lieu of having an
>>> installation CD/DVD from the manufacturer. You can type "Recovery Disc
>>> Creation" in the start menu and go from there. As a later task, you can
>>> set
>>> up your Automatic Backup in the "Backup and Restore Center".
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> I did not know there was a recovery disk for vista. ?
>
> There is no recovery disk for Vista. This is a computer recovery disc you
> make (from the files in a recovery partition on the hard drive), that
> supposedly can be used to restore the computer to its 'out of the box'
> condition, wiping out an changes and all of your data on the hard drive.
> I've found the recovery to be close, but not identical to the 'out of the
> box' condition.
>
> -Paul Randall
>