backup utility

In an effort to try to negate the influence of my download of sp3 and its
negative effect on performance, I am getting ready to make some changes,
therefore, I want to do a backup first.

The utility that Windows supplies does does not allow me to backup if the
file size is the backup copy of the file size is larger than 4GB. It goes
back with a box thats says that is the max. size for fat32 file allocation.
How do we backup an entire drive to a USB harddrive (150GB). ??

Is there an easy way to back up and keep the file format of the exisiting
files, not security copy to a single file ??

manorway wrote:
> In an effort to try to negate the influence of my download of sp3 and its
> negative effect on performance, I am getting ready to make some changes,
> therefore, I want to do a backup first.
>
> The utility that Windows supplies does does not allow me to backup if the
> file size is the backup copy of the file size is larger than 4GB. It goes
> back with a box thats says that is the max. size for fat32 file allocation.
> How do we backup an entire drive to a USB harddrive (150GB). ??
>
> Is there an easy way to back up and keep the file format of the exisiting
> files, not security copy to a single file ??
>
>
Change the usb to NTFS.

While this answer may be unpalatable the best solution is to purchase decent
backup software. Remember that backups are the most important thing you can
do. While there are many good backup programs I personally prefer Acronis
TrueImage. www.acronis.com

--

Xandros


"manorway" <manorway@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:307CC64A-0DBB-44A8-BA22-6574C79245EB@microsoft.com...
> In an effort to try to negate the influence of my download of sp3 and its
> negative effect on performance, I am getting ready to make some changes,
> therefore, I want to do a backup first.
>
> The utility that Windows supplies does does not allow me to backup if the
> file size is the backup copy of the file size is larger than 4GB. It goes
> back with a box thats says that is the max. size for fat32 file
> allocation.
> How do we backup an entire drive to a USB harddrive (150GB). ??
>
> Is there an easy way to back up and keep the file format of the exisiting
> files, not security copy to a single file ??
>
>

"Big_Al" wrote:

> manorway wrote:
> > In an effort to try to negate the influence of my download of sp3 and its
> > negative effect on performance, I am getting ready to make some changes,
> > therefore, I want to do a backup first.
> >
> > The utility that Windows supplies does does not allow me to backup if the
> > file size is the backup copy of the file size is larger than 4GB. It goes
> > back with a box thats says that is the max. size for fat32 file allocation.
> > How do we backup an entire drive to a USB harddrive (150GB). ??
> >
> > Is there an easy way to back up and keep the file format of the exisiting
> > files, not security copy to a single file ??
> >
> >
> Change the usb to NTFS.
>
THANKS FOR THE ABOVE. I got it figured out as I looked at it a little
closer. Do you know why the backup will not let back up the whole hard drive,
even thought that is one of the 3 options. I was only able to back up the
files created by the users. Not programs and such.

manorway wrote:
>
> "Big_Al" wrote:
>
>> manorway wrote:
>>> In an effort to try to negate the influence of my download of sp3 and its
>>> negative effect on performance, I am getting ready to make some changes,
>>> therefore, I want to do a backup first.
>>>
>>> The utility that Windows supplies does does not allow me to backup if the
>>> file size is the backup copy of the file size is larger than 4GB. It goes
>>> back with a box thats says that is the max. size for fat32 file allocation.
>>> How do we backup an entire drive to a USB harddrive (150GB). ??
>>>
>>> Is there an easy way to back up and keep the file format of the exisiting
>>> files, not security copy to a single file ??
>>>
>>>
>> Change the usb to NTFS.
>>
> THANKS FOR THE ABOVE. I got it figured out as I looked at it a little
> closer. Do you know why the backup will not let back up the whole hard drive,
> even thought that is one of the 3 options. I was only able to back up the
> files created by the users. Not programs and such.

I don't use the built in backup program. And the consensus is that its
not very good. Problematic at best. There are third party programs
better suited. Acronis True Image Home is one of the leaders.

> "Big_Al" wrote:
>
>> manorway wrote:
>>> In an effort to try to negate the influence of my download of sp3
>>> and its negative effect on performance, I am getting ready to make
>>> some changes, therefore, I want to do a backup first.
>>>
>>> The utility that Windows supplies does does not allow me to backup
>>> if the file size is the backup copy of the file size is larger than
>>> 4GB. It goes back with a box thats says that is the max. size for
>>> fat32 file allocation. How do we backup an entire drive to a USB
>>> harddrive (150GB). ??
>>>
>>> Is there an easy way to back up and keep the file format of the
>>> exisiting files, not security copy to a single file ??
>>>
>>>
>> Change the usb to NTFS.
>>
> THANKS FOR THE ABOVE. I got it figured out as I looked at it a little
> closer. Do you know why the backup will not let back up the whole
> hard drive, even thought that is one of the 3 options. I was only
> able to back up the files created by the users. Not programs and
> such.

It isn't the backup program, it's the file type of the drive. FAT32
simply can not handle anything larger than that. NTFS can. The XP
backup utility is only echoing errors from the operating system, as
would anything else that encountered a file < 4 gig on a FAT32.

It's just a few keyclicks to change a drive from FAT to NTFS adn in
theory no data is damaged in the process.
BUT:
As with any operation like that, you should backup first (essentially
backing up your backup<g>, I know, but ... ).
If you have the room, just copy the USB data to a new folder on your
hard drive, do the switch to NTFS (in theory it's non-destrictive) on
the USB drive, then after it's been made NTFS, delete the copy you made,
unless something went astray and you need it. Unlikely, but wise to be
safe rather than sorry.
If you don't have the room, copy it to DVDs instead; you might need to
split it into smaller files with a splitter utility; lots of free ones
around. I put a backup on DVDs every three months and keep that at my
sister's home for off-premises storage.

NOTE: YOu can go form FAT to NTFS OK, it's easy to do, but you can
NOT go back to FAT the same way; it takes a reformat to go bck to FAT.

Proceed to do your backup using ntbackup from XP and you'll be all set
to make your system mods.

HTH

Twayne

> manorway wrote:
>>
>> "Big_Al" wrote:
>>
>>> manorway wrote:
>>>> In an effort to try to negate the influence of my download of sp3
>>>> and its negative effect on performance, I am getting ready to make
>>>> some changes, therefore, I want to do a backup first.
>>>>
>>>> The utility that Windows supplies does does not allow me to backup
>>>> if the file size is the backup copy of the file size is larger
>>>> than 4GB. It goes back with a box thats says that is the max. size
>>>> for fat32 file allocation. How do we backup an entire drive to a
>>>> USB harddrive (150GB). ?? Is there an easy way to back up and keep
>>>> the file format of the
>>>> exisiting files, not security copy to a single file ??
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Change the usb to NTFS.
>>>
>> THANKS FOR THE ABOVE. I got it figured out as I looked at it a little
>> closer. Do you know why the backup will not let back up the whole
>> hard drive, even thought that is one of the 3 options. I was only
>> able to back up the files created by the users. Not programs and
>> such.
>
> I don't use the built in backup program. And the consensus is that
> its not very good. Problematic at best. There are third party
> programs better suited. Acronis True Image Home is one of the
> leaders.

The concensus isn't "good" because it's basic and no bells & whistles.
It's a perfectly acceptable alternative to purchased 3rd party programs
if/when they aren't available. In fact, I still use it all the time to
create system state saves.
It is NOT problematic; it just doesn't have the bells & whistles of a
Norton's Ghost or Acronis' True Image. It works very well except that
catastrophic recovery of an entire system drive is more of a pain to do
than with one of the two above alternatives.

Twayne

> While this answer may be unpalatable the best solution is to purchase
> decent backup software. Remember that backups are the most important
> thing you can do. While there are many good backup programs I
> personally prefer Acronis TrueImage. www.acronis.com
>
>
> "manorway" <manorway@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:307CC64A-0DBB-44A8-BA22-6574C79245EB@microsoft.com...
>> In an effort to try to negate the influence of my download of sp3
>> and its negative effect on performance, I am getting ready to make
>> some changes, therefore, I want to do a backup first.
>>
>> The utility that Windows supplies does does not allow me to backup
>> if the file size is the backup copy of the file size is larger than
>> 4GB. It goes back with a box thats says that is the max. size for
>> fat32 file allocation.
>> How do we backup an entire drive to a USB harddrive (150GB). ??
>>
>> Is there an easy way to back up and keep the file format of the
>> exisiting files, not security copy to a single file ??

It also deosn't answer/confirm the OP's original query.

Twayne wrote:
>> manorway wrote:
>>> "Big_Al" wrote:
>>>
>>>> manorway wrote:
>>>>> In an effort to try to negate the influence of my download of sp3
>>>>> and its negative effect on performance, I am getting ready to make
>>>>> some changes, therefore, I want to do a backup first.
>>>>>
>>>>> The utility that Windows supplies does does not allow me to backup
>>>>> if the file size is the backup copy of the file size is larger
>>>>> than 4GB. It goes back with a box thats says that is the max. size
>>>>> for fat32 file allocation. How do we backup an entire drive to a
>>>>> USB harddrive (150GB). ?? Is there an easy way to back up and keep
>>>>> the file format of the
>>>>> exisiting files, not security copy to a single file ??
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Change the usb to NTFS.
>>>>
>>> THANKS FOR THE ABOVE. I got it figured out as I looked at it a little
>>> closer. Do you know why the backup will not let back up the whole
>>> hard drive, even thought that is one of the 3 options. I was only
>>> able to back up the files created by the users. Not programs and
>>> such.
>> I don't use the built in backup program. And the consensus is that
>> its not very good. Problematic at best. There are third party
>> programs better suited. Acronis True Image Home is one of the
>> leaders.
>
> The concensus isn't "good" because it's basic and no bells & whistles.
> It's a perfectly acceptable alternative to purchased 3rd party programs
> if/when they aren't available. In fact, I still use it all the time to
> create system state saves.
> It is NOT problematic; it just doesn't have the bells & whistles of a
> Norton's Ghost or Acronis' True Image. It works very well except that
> catastrophic recovery of an entire system drive is more of a pain to do
> than with one of the two above alternatives.
>
> Twayne
>
>

That's what I mean by problematic. It has problems. And 'not good'
means just that. It's not bad either, it just could be better.
Like anything else, if it works for the user, fine. But then, is
anything great? :-)

"manorway" <manorway@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:307CC64A-0DBB-44A8-BA22-6574C79245EB@microsoft.com...
> In an effort to try to negate the influence of my download of sp3 and its
> negative effect on performance, I am getting ready to make some changes,
> therefore, I want to do a backup first.
>
> The utility that Windows supplies does does not allow me to backup if the
> file size is the backup copy of the file size is larger than 4GB. It goes
> back with a box thats says that is the max. size for fat32 file
> allocation.
> How do we backup an entire drive to a USB harddrive (150GB). ??
>
Change the format of the USB drive to NTFS.
> Is there an easy way to back up and keep the file format of the exisiting
> files, not security copy to a single file ??
>
>
Perhaps you are looking for the cloning operation. I can't remember seeing
this option
with ntbackup. ATI or Ghost have provided cloning for a long time.

Speaking of time, cloning a 250GB drive to another 250GB drive take a lot of
it.

Now that I see that you mentioned file formats, there is no difference
between NTFS and FAT files.
The difference lies in the folders.

Jim