I'm a recent convert from WIN98 to XP.
I had what I read are the typical headaches; NSW failing to install
until I found and ran SymNRT. And I had problems installing the
printer until I located the required drivers. I still need to check
that the scanner will work as well as the connections to the MP3-pod
and camera. However, making a back-up is a priority.

I've GOOGLed the NG on the subject and see the good advice to use a
removable USB HD which is on my "ToDoList". I also see folks
suggesting GHOST or ACRONIS's product.

1. What is the advantage of using either of these products over the
Backup utility that comes with XP? I liked MSBackup in 98 because I
could easily restore individual files. I'm currently backing up to a
seperate (but installed) drive, hence the future move to a removable
drive.

2. Assume I wish to keep using the utility, I typically do a clean-up
before doing the backup. I delete the contents of c:\windows\temp,
c:\windows\intern~1, and both the protected and unprotected deleted
files that Norton protects along with trash produced by my mailreader
and NG reader. Are there other areas I could delere?

Regards, Mike

Actually the best back up utility in xp is the file transfer wizard.Open the
wizard,set told computer Set which files,settings,folders etc, for it to
save,save the data in a new folder that you create,once the data is
collected,
move to a cd.

"Michael Horowitz" wrote:

> I'm a recent convert from WIN98 to XP.
> I had what I read are the typical headaches; NSW failing to install
> until I found and ran SymNRT. And I had problems installing the
> printer until I located the required drivers. I still need to check
> that the scanner will work as well as the connections to the MP3-pod
> and camera. However, making a back-up is a priority.
>
> I've GOOGLed the NG on the subject and see the good advice to use a
> removable USB HD which is on my "ToDoList". I also see folks
> suggesting GHOST or ACRONIS's product.
>
> 1. What is the advantage of using either of these products over the
> Backup utility that comes with XP? I liked MSBackup in 98 because I
> could easily restore individual files. I'm currently backing up to a
> seperate (but installed) drive, hence the future move to a removable
> drive.
>
> 2. Assume I wish to keep using the utility, I typically do a clean-up
> before doing the backup. I delete the contents of c:\windows\temp,
> c:\windows\intern~1, and both the protected and unprotected deleted
> files that Norton protects along with trash produced by my mailreader
> and NG reader. Are there other areas I could delere?
>
> Regards, Mike
>

For more long-term backups (weekly/monthly/daily, whatever suits you best),
I would not use the File and settings transfer wizard. It sure is easy, but
it's not designed to be a backup application. If you want to get your
settings and documents from the Win98 to the XP machine (one time activity
really), the files and settings transfer wizard is the way to go, though.

Ghost and TrueImage are good at making backups of entire drives. This sounds
not like what you are looking for. Usual operation of Ghost will mean you
create an image of your entire drive, and you restore that image. If you
want to extract a single document, this is a bit overkill.

MS Backup is still very usable, it's not the most brilliant user interface
around but it does the job.
Personally, I like Genie Backup Manager, which has a free Lite version that
has all options I need. It's somewhat easier to use in my view, but for
features it's no better or worse than MS Backup.

So, it depends much on what you want to do:
- one time move files from old to new machine: files and settings transfer
wizard
- create image of HDD in stable state to recover system fast if things went
wrong: trueimage/ghost
- scheduled backup of documents: msbackup.

Please note that most OEM machines do not have MS Backup!

"Andrew E." <eckrichco@msn.com> wrote in message
news:BA6622ED-99E1-496C-AA2C-E49DBC8D8B59@microsoft.com...
> Actually the best back up utility in xp is the file transfer wizard.Open
> the
> wizard,set told computer Set which files,settings,folders etc, for it
> to
> save,save the data in a new folder that you create,once the data is
> collected,
> move to a cd.
>
> "Michael Horowitz" wrote:
>
>> I'm a recent convert from WIN98 to XP.
>> I had what I read are the typical headaches; NSW failing to install
>> until I found and ran SymNRT. And I had problems installing the
>> printer until I located the required drivers. I still need to check
>> that the scanner will work as well as the connections to the MP3-pod
>> and camera. However, making a back-up is a priority.
>>
>> I've GOOGLed the NG on the subject and see the good advice to use a
>> removable USB HD which is on my "ToDoList". I also see folks
>> suggesting GHOST or ACRONIS's product.
>>
>> 1. What is the advantage of using either of these products over the
>> Backup utility that comes with XP? I liked MSBackup in 98 because I
>> could easily restore individual files. I'm currently backing up to a
>> seperate (but installed) drive, hence the future move to a removable
>> drive.
>>
>> 2. Assume I wish to keep using the utility, I typically do a clean-up
>> before doing the backup. I delete the contents of c:\windows\temp,
>> c:\windows\intern~1, and both the protected and unprotected deleted
>> files that Norton protects along with trash produced by my mailreader
>> and NG reader. Are there other areas I could delere?
>>
>> Regards, Mike
>>