Rescue your Operating System might constitute a exceptionally good idea in disaster cases. With the Automated System Recovery Wizard from Windows XP Professional we can simply generate an image of your Windows Operating System.
I believe that Windows XP it's a great OS, yet, extended time utilization can damage vital registries, a number of malware can harm indispensable Windows dlls that make your Operating System difficult to use in time. In these situations it's good to have a backup solution. And fortunate there are some great techniques to perform it, although I desire to talk in relation to Automated System Recovery practice (or ASR method) who arrives included Windows XP Professional itself. The pro is that we don't require to set up several specialized package and it is very simple to accomplish.
Only tools you need are: a blank diskette, the Windows XP Professional CD and enough free space to the location where you want to put the backup file. The utility is named backup and it can be found in Start - Programs - Accessories - Backup. More quickly to access it is to type in Start - Run : ntbackup, which is the name of the this small program. when you start it and the welcome screen appears you select the Advanced Mode. In the Advanced Mode of the Backup Utility you have three options to choose: Backup Wizard, Restore Wizard and Automated System Recovery Wizard. The first option is if you want to do a manual selection of the directories and partitions, for example if you have important files located elsewhere. The second is used to restore a previously made backup. The third is used to make a clone of the entire Windows Operating System which is usually located on C:\ partition. If by any circumstance your Windows OS is placed elsewhere(another drive) you can choose the first option and select manually from the drives.
If you choose Automated System Recovery Wizard you are asked on the next screen only about the location of the backup file where it would be created. You can put whatever name and location you want. It requires only to have enough free drive space. Finishing the Automated System Recovery Preparation Wizard is just the final stage. When you click on Finish the program will begin processing and then the backup operation will begin. The backup is made in one file which is having *.bkf extension. The process can take about ten minutes but could be also less. After the image of the operating system is completed you are asked to insert the floppy disk. This is needed if your system fails to boot and you must boot from the Windows XP installation disk. The floppy will help you start the rescue program and restore the backup image.
After the completion you can remove the floppy from its drive. You can also do scheduled automated backups with Schedule Jobs.
