Windows 7 includes a number of backup features that
can help
safeguard your computer against disaster. The ones you’ll want to
use are
as follows:- System Protection
Used to back up the configuration
and settings of your
computer for easy restoration without having to reinstall the
operating system
- Previous Versions
Used to back up previous
versions of files and folders so that
you can easily recover your data
- Automated Backup
Used to back up your
personal data and optionally your system
drives automatically so that you can recover it easily
- System Image Backup
Used to back up your system
drives and optionally your data
drives so that you can recover the operating system from a
backup
image
None
of these features is meant to be used in lieu of the other; you
should configure and use all four backup features. As part of
periodic
maintenance, you should also regularly check the status of these
features.
1. Configuring System
Protection
You use System Protection to fix problems and
undo changes
to Windows. With System Protection enabled, your computer makes
periodic
snapshots of the system configuration. These snapshots are called
restore points.
Restore points include
Windows settings, device settings, and
program settings. Restore points are intended to be used to
recover your
computer to the state it was in prior to performing a task that
changed
the configuration of the operating system, devices, or programs.
If your
computer has problems starting or isn’t working properly because
of a
configuration change, you can use a restore point to restore the
computer to the point at which the snapshot was made. For example,
suppose your computer is working fine until you install a security
patch
or a service pack. Although you uninstall the update, your
computer
still doesn’t work correctly, so you decide to use System Restore
to
restore the computer using a snapshot taken prior to the update.
System Protection can
provide several different types of restore
points. One type, System Checkpoint, is scheduled by the operating system
and occurs at regular intervals. Another type of snapshot,
Installation
Restore Point, is created automatically based on events that the
operating system triggers when you install applications. Other
snapshots, known as Manual Restore Points, are ones you create
manually.
You should create a Manual Restore Point prior to performing any
operation that might cause problems on your computer.
You can restore your computer when
it is running in normal mode or
safe mode. In normal mode, a restore point is created prior to
restoration of the computer. But in safe mode, a restore point is
not
created, because changes you make in safe mode aren’t tracked and
you
can’t undo them using restore points. However, you can use safe
mode to
restore any previously created restore point.
You control how System
Protection works using the System
Protection tab of the System Properties dialog box. System
Protection
saves system checkpoint information for all monitored drives and
requires at least 300 MB of disk space on the System volume to
save
restore points. System Protection reserves additional space for
restore
points as necessary—up to 100 percent of the total disk
capacity—but
this additional space is always available for user and application
storage. If System Protection needs to create a restore point and
has no
more allocated space, the operating system overwrites previously
created
restore points.
You
can manage System Protection monitoring of your computer by
completing these steps:
Click→Control Panel→System and
Security→System→System
Protection in the left pane.
System
Protection is enabled on the System disk by default
(see Figure 1).
You should enable System Protection on all disks that store
system,
program, and personal files.
To
configure System Protection for a volume, select the volume
in the Protection Settings list, and then click Configure.
This
displays the “System
Protection for” dialog box, shown in Figure 2.
If you are configuring System Protection for the System
volume
or a volume on which you’ve installed programs, choose the
“Restore system
settings and previous versions of
files” option to keep copies of system settings and previous
versions of files. This option ensures that you can restore
the
computer and programs and also recover previous versions of
important data files.
If
you are configuring System Protection for a data volume
choose the “Only restore
previous versions of files” option to
keep previous versions of files but not keep copies of system
settings. This option ensures you can recover previous
versions of
important data files but doesn’t try to track system settings
(which
data volumes don’t have).
If
you don’t want the volume to use System Protection, choose
the “Turn off system protection” option. This option
turns
off System Protection but is not recommended because you will
not be
able to restore the computer or recover previous versions of
files.
If you’ve enabled System
Protection, you can use the Disk
Space Usage slider to adjust the maximum disk space that
System
Protection can use. When the maximum size is reached, System
Protection deletes older restore points to make room for new
ones.
When you are finished making
configuration changes, click OK
to the return to the System Properties dialog box. Repeat
steps 5–9
to configure other volumes.
You can create a manual restore point for all drives that have
system protection turned on by following these steps:
Click
Start→Control Panel→System and Security→System→System
Protection in the left pane→Create.
Enter
a description for the restore point and then click
Create.
When your computer finishes creating the restore
point, click
OK.
