I am using xp pro on laptop with no floppy drive. I would like to make a
disaster recovery disk along with a backup of my system files but back up
requires a floppy. I have a cd burner and an external hard drive - can
someone help me. I would need instructions to be not too technical as I am
not sure I understand some answers already given for similar questions. I
appreciate that some of you are very knowledgeable and welcome your expert
answers.

Yvonne wrote:

> I am using xp pro on laptop with no floppy drive. I would like to make
> a disaster recovery disk along with a backup of my system files but
> back up requires a floppy. I have a cd burner and an external hard
> drive - can someone help me. I would need instructions to be not too
> technical as I am not sure I understand some answers already given for
> similar questions. I appreciate that some of you are very
> knowledgeable and welcome your expert answers.

You don't mention what backup program you want to use. You want to have
layered backups. Here are some suggestions:

1. With an imaging program like Ghost or Acronis TrueImage, make an
image of your system and save it on the external hard drive. Both Ghost
and True Image have the ability to boot your computer from CD in order
to restore the image, so there is no need for a floppy drive.

2. Back up data files regularly. If you want to automate this, use a
backup program like SecondCopy from www.centered.com or BackUpMyPC from
Stomp. Store the backed up data in a file on the external hard drive.

3. Burn the data files to CD or DVD on a regular basis and either take
off-site or put in a fireproof filing cabinet or otherwise safe place.

If you are unsure how to do any of the above steps, hire a local
professional to come and show you.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Many thanks for your clear and helpful reply

"Malke" wrote:

> Yvonne wrote:
>
> > I am using xp pro on laptop with no floppy drive. I would like to make
> > a disaster recovery disk along with a backup of my system files but
> > back up requires a floppy. I have a cd burner and an external hard
> > drive - can someone help me. I would need instructions to be not too
> > technical as I am not sure I understand some answers already given for
> > similar questions. I appreciate that some of you are very
> > knowledgeable and welcome your expert answers.
>
> You don't mention what backup program you want to use. You want to have
> layered backups. Here are some suggestions:
>
> 1. With an imaging program like Ghost or Acronis TrueImage, make an
> image of your system and save it on the external hard drive. Both Ghost
> and True Image have the ability to boot your computer from CD in order
> to restore the image, so there is no need for a floppy drive.
>
> 2. Back up data files regularly. If you want to automate this, use a
> backup program like SecondCopy from www.centered.com or BackUpMyPC from
> Stomp. Store the backed up data in a file on the external hard drive.
>
> 3. Burn the data files to CD or DVD on a regular basis and either take
> off-site or put in a fireproof filing cabinet or otherwise safe place.
>
> If you are unsure how to do any of the above steps, hire a local
> professional to come and show you.
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
>

Yvonne wrote:

> Many thanks for your clear and helpful reply

You are very welcome. You might find this information I wrote useful:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...tml#Backing_Up
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page3.html#11-2-05

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

You may also want to look at DataMills Relative Rev Backup
(http://www.datamills.com).

You can use it to protect your data, as well as create a frequent
system state snapshots.

Its main feature is that it can create an archive of backup versions
that goes months back without multiplying backup space or time. That
way you will be able to recover files/folders that have been
corrupted/deleted few hours or many months before.

Joe Rom King
http://www.datamills.com