Question About Vista Backup Options

I was about to experiment with Vista's backup wizard when I discovered that I
could not choose say all of "my documents" for backup... I had to select from
categories that MS thought users needed... such as songs, pictures, etc. I’ve
gone through the info section and can find no advanced options so I can
choose what files I want. For instance I want to backup downloaded software
I've purchased yet the wizard says it will not save executables. I also want
my documents preserved in the directory structure I've worked with for the
past 10 years... yet there doesn't seem to be a way to do so. So I’ll be
damned if I’m going to even start the darn thing. Please tell me I'm wrong
and MS hasn't created a braindead backup utility.

Well, if you want more granular backup options, its best you look to a third
party solution or use the built in burning wizard and drag your files into
an Explorer window then choose burn. Backup in Vista is trying to make
things easy to backup and restore thats why it has such a rigid approach.
--
Andre
Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
My Vista Quickstart Guide:
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog...3DB!9709.entry
"ulTRAX" <> wrote in message
news:204E7644-1DE1-4275-9333-...
>I was about to experiment with Vista's backup wizard when I discovered that
>I
> could not choose say all of "my documents" for backup... I had to select
> from
> categories that MS thought users needed... such as songs, pictures, etc. I've
> gone through the info section and can find no advanced options so I can
> choose what files I want. For instance I want to backup downloaded
> software
> I've purchased yet the wizard says it will not save executables. I also
> want
> my documents preserved in the directory structure I've worked with for the
> past 10 years... yet there doesn't seem to be a way to do so. So I'll be
> damned if I'm going to even start the darn thing. Please tell me I'm wrong
> and MS hasn't created a braindead backup utility.

"Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Well, if you want more granular backup options, its best you look to a
> third party solution or use the built in burning wizard and drag your
> files into an Explorer window then choose burn. Backup in Vista is trying
> to make things easy to backup and restore thats why it has such a rigid
> approach.
> --
> Andre
> Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
> My Vista Quickstart Guide:
> http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog...3DB!9709.entry
> "ulTRAX" <> wrote in message
> news:204E7644-1DE1-4275-9333-...
>>I was about to experiment with Vista's backup wizard when I discovered
>>that I
>> could not choose say all of "my documents" for backup... I had to select
>> from
>> categories that MS thought users needed... such as songs, pictures, etc.
>> I've
>> gone through the info section and can find no advanced options so I can
>> choose what files I want. For instance I want to backup downloaded
>> software
>> I've purchased yet the wizard says it will not save executables. I also
>> want
>> my documents preserved in the directory structure I've worked with for
>> the
>> past 10 years... yet there doesn't seem to be a way to do so. So I'll be
>> damned if I'm going to even start the darn thing. Please tell me I'm
>> wrong
>> and MS hasn't created a braindead backup utility.
>
>
Speaking of backups, I used Ghost 10 to do complete drive backups on my old
win2k machine. New computer has Vista Home Prem and I was disappointed
that it's backup only allowed you to back up data, but not do a complete
partition backup. I recently installed Nero 8 and it's BackItUp
application. It has a "Drive Backup" feature that seems to work like Ghost,
but in reading the Nero help files, it seems to say the drive backup doesn't
copy system files and there are some other things that make me wonder if it
can actually be used to accurately back up and restore a complete drive.
Does anyone have any experience using Nero 8's backup feature with Vista?

Ultimate and Business both have a Complete Partition backup option. It is
called: Backup your computer. It is separate from Backup Files.

"Nick D." <> wrote in message
news:20DDAC9C-C32E-4028-8176-...
>
>
> "Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Well, if you want more granular backup options, its best you look to a
>> third party solution or use the built in burning wizard and drag your
>> files into an Explorer window then choose burn. Backup in Vista is trying
>> to make things easy to backup and restore thats why it has such a rigid
>> approach.
>> --
>> Andre
>> Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
>> My Vista Quickstart Guide:
>> http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog...3DB!9709.entry
>> "ulTRAX" <> wrote in message
>> news:204E7644-1DE1-4275-9333-...
>>>I was about to experiment with Vista's backup wizard when I discovered
>>>that I
>>> could not choose say all of "my documents" for backup... I had to select
>>> from
>>> categories that MS thought users needed... such as songs, pictures, etc.
>>> I've
>>> gone through the info section and can find no advanced options so I can
>>> choose what files I want. For instance I want to backup downloaded
>>> software
>>> I've purchased yet the wizard says it will not save executables. I also
>>> want
>>> my documents preserved in the directory structure I've worked with for
>>> the
>>> past 10 years... yet there doesn't seem to be a way to do so. So I'll be
>>> damned if I'm going to even start the darn thing. Please tell me I'm
>>> wrong
>>> and MS hasn't created a braindead backup utility.
>>
>>
> Speaking of backups, I used Ghost 10 to do complete drive backups on my
> old win2k machine. New computer has Vista Home Prem and I was
> disappointed that it's backup only allowed you to back up data, but not do
> a complete partition backup. I recently installed Nero 8 and it's
> BackItUp application. It has a "Drive Backup" feature that seems to work
> like Ghost, but in reading the Nero help files, it seems to say the drive
> backup doesn't copy system files and there are some other things that make
> me wonder if it can actually be used to accurately back up and restore a
> complete drive. Does anyone have any experience using Nero 8's backup
> feature with Vista?

I used backup in an early version of Nero, I think it was version 6, it was
slow, messy and just awkward, but you had granular control over what you
could backup.
--
Andre
Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
My Vista Quickstart Guide:
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog...3DB!9709.entry
"Nick D." <> wrote in message
news:20DDAC9C-C32E-4028-8176-...
>
>
> "Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Well, if you want more granular backup options, its best you look to a
>> third party solution or use the built in burning wizard and drag your
>> files into an Explorer window then choose burn. Backup in Vista is trying
>> to make things easy to backup and restore thats why it has such a rigid
>> approach.
>> --
>> Andre
>> Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
>> My Vista Quickstart Guide:
>> http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog...3DB!9709.entry
>> "ulTRAX" <> wrote in message
>> news:204E7644-1DE1-4275-9333-...
>>>I was about to experiment with Vista's backup wizard when I discovered
>>>that I
>>> could not choose say all of "my documents" for backup... I had to select
>>> from
>>> categories that MS thought users needed... such as songs, pictures, etc.
>>> I've
>>> gone through the info section and can find no advanced options so I can
>>> choose what files I want. For instance I want to backup downloaded
>>> software
>>> I've purchased yet the wizard says it will not save executables. I also
>>> want
>>> my documents preserved in the directory structure I've worked with for
>>> the
>>> past 10 years... yet there doesn't seem to be a way to do so. So I'll be
>>> damned if I'm going to even start the darn thing. Please tell me I'm
>>> wrong
>>> and MS hasn't created a braindead backup utility.
>>
>>
> Speaking of backups, I used Ghost 10 to do complete drive backups on my
> old win2k machine. New computer has Vista Home Prem and I was
> disappointed that it's backup only allowed you to back up data, but not do
> a complete partition backup. I recently installed Nero 8 and it's
> BackItUp application. It has a "Drive Backup" feature that seems to work
> like Ghost, but in reading the Nero help files, it seems to say the drive
> backup doesn't copy system files and there are some other things that make
> me wonder if it can actually be used to accurately back up and restore a
> complete drive. Does anyone have any experience using Nero 8's backup
> feature with Vista?