Vista - Complete PC Backup: full vs. incremental

I would like to manually save different versions of Complete PC Backup, but Vista won't give me that option and will only save incremental backups. As someone noticed here on the forums, "using the scheduled backup is the only way to get the checkbox to create full backups, each and every time you want one". However, scheduled backups is not what I want to do, as I'm losing control of the exact PC versions.

Can I rename the earlier backup to something else (eg. "WindowsImageBackup1"), so Vista would create a new folder "WindowsImageBackup" and save a new full backup into it? If yes, when I rename the folder from "WindowsImageBackup1" back to "WindowsImageBackup" in order to restore the earlier version of PC, will it get corrupted or confuse Vista?

Hi Kub,

You can select a different location to save the complete PC backup on to have a different backup instead of incremental. For example, on another partition, drive, or CD/DVD.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

So if I want to save, say, five different PC configuratons, I would need to create five partitions on my USB HDD? Is it my only option? The simple trick with renaming folders won't work?

Sorry Kub,

It will only let you select a listed drive letter or CD/DVD and not any location in the drive.

Shawn

Yes, that's why I'm asking about the renaming trick:

Let's say, I save a Complete PC Backup and rename it to "WindowsImageBackup1". Then I save another backup on the same disk, and Vista automatically creates a new folder "WindowsImageBackup" for it. I rename it "WindowsImageBackup2", and go on... Finally, I have five different backups on the same disk. Whenever I want to restore from any of them, I rename the needed folder back to "WindowsImageBackup" and boot my restore DVD. Vista finds the right folder and ignores the other four, because they have modified names.

Will this trick work with Vista?

Alright, so the scheduled backup was not what you wanted, I tried. But, that
is where the checkbox is... and it has to be set to us the command line
function for making backups.

http://technet2.microsoft.com/window....mspx?mfr=true

From and elevated prompt: (if no options used, it defaults to the
*scheduled* backup options)
wbadmin start backup
[-backupTarget:{<TargetVolume> | <TargetNetworkShare>}]
[-include:<VolumesToInclude>]
[-allCritical]
[-noVerify]
[-user:<UserName>]
[-password:<Password>]
[-noinheritAcl]
[-vssFull]
[-quiet]

Pay particular attention to the -backupTarget command. You will see that you
can use other than the default and create the separate folders you were
looking to do. Unfortunately, this also means that you probably have to use
the command line option to restore the backup since it won't be standard
naming convention.



"kub" <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote in message
news:8eafa1838c651760ec25fef53ec92721@xxxxxx-gateway.com...

PS. The Backup Recovery command states it is only valid in Windows 2008, but
in the preceding paragraph it states it can be started from the Vista
Installation DVD by going to the Repair Option and opening a command prompt
from there. Then the command is similar to the backup:
wbadmin start sysrecovery

For more details, look at the previously supplied link.



"Mark" <jmhonzell@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:CDDB0BD7-1636-4450-A94E-D64845E5638B@xxxxxx

"kub" <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote in message
news:8eafa1838c651760ec25fef53ec92721@xxxxxx-gateway.com...The limitations of Vista's backup program are the reason I decided,
long ago, to purchase Acronis True Image Home 11. I do full backups only and
I can have them backed up to a location on one of my external hard drives. I
can then create a new folder and move it to that folder. I can then copy it
again or move it anywhere I wish on that drive or my other external drive. I
keep several different backups this way.
When I decide to restore I simply navigate to the particular folder I
want and restore the backup from within that folder. The individual backups
themselves retain the same name (all of them) but the folders can be renamed
to your heart's desire, such as backup 01, 02, 03, etc. etc. etc. or you can
rename them according to date, software, etc., etc., etc.

C.B.


--
It is the responsibility and duty of everyone to help the underprivileged
and unfortunate among us.

C.B. wrote:

Please forgive me for butting in C.B., but I have a tender spot in my
heart for folks who give recommendations for Acronis True Image. I
bought it based on a recommendation very similar to yours and it turned
out to be a very expensive headache. I could get it to do a disc image,
but never could get it to do a data backup. It is extremely buggy,
complicated and difficult to use. Finally, when I uninstalled it, I
ended up with a damaged master boot record. They're tech support forum
has more traffic than this NG, and that should indicate something to all
of us. If it works for you, I'm glad. I will preach against it.

--
Dave T.

On Thu, 29 May 2008 16:45:14 -0700, "Dave T." <davey@xxxxxx>
wrote:
If that was true, you wouldn't be seeing all the recommendations for
it.

YOU may have had problems with it, but apparently you're in the
minority... here or elsewhere.