The Pros And Cons Of Windows XP Backup Software

When the new operating system Windows XP came out many of us were amazed at what Microsoft could still do. Reducing computer crashes to minimum, this new operating system was definitely promising and depending on which version you owned, it came with an integrated backup program. Before going out and buy a Windows XP backup software, you should seriously consider the full features of the basic backup program. Learning the pros and cons of the Windows XP backup system will help you realize if you need to actually spend additional money for your computer backup or if you can simply use the integrated backup program.

First of all, unlike Windows XP backup software the backup system within Windows XP does not create the same backups. What I mean is with Windows XP the backup system is called a system restore which will revert the computer to a previous state. Basically the computer goes back in time to a state where everything used to work perfectly. The system restore allows you to either create a checkpoint manually or periodically which can be very useful if your computer tends to crash a lot. As an integrated software, I find this to be very useful but it is also easy and convenient to use without having you to wait an eternity before creating your system restore checkpoint.

Depending on which version of Windows XP you own, buying an additional Windows XP backup software may be useless. If you are using Windows XP home edition you will be required to install the ntbackup.nsi which is the XP backup system manually. If you're using the Pro edition it should come with your computer already installed. It's very strange that the same program is included in both versions but only installed for one of them.

Now there is a strong reason why the integrated backup is not as good as a third-party Windows XP backup software. First of all, the integrated backup is within your operating system which means if your operating system should fail, there is a strong possibility that you will lose your integrated backup data. With a third party though, you have the possibility to create a backup on a separate disk partition which can be completely independent from your operating system. This means you can lose all the data that is in the same hard drive as your operating system in a system crash and your backup disk partition won't be affected.

If you are a home user and your computer is mostly for personal use, as long as you do not venture into dangerous territories the system restore included with Windows XP should be enough. If you use your computer to work, having a Windows XP backup software other than the system restore would be encouraged because losing a few digital pictures or few personal videos is acceptable but losing work projects that are due tomorrow could affect your future in a very negative sense. The system restore is pretty much easy and creates an image pretty fast but it has its flaws and you can't afford to take any risks if it's your work.

You probably realized by now that using only one backup system is not enough. Using a Windows XP backup software plus an additional system to keep your computer safe from harm doesn't mean you should buy all your backup software. Instead you can have one very strong backup system and a secondary system could be either a lot cheaper or basically free. As long as you have a plan B, you can rest assured that you won't be losing any data.

Tape Backup