Windows & DOS: Issues & Discussions

I am trying to use the Windows XP's backup utility (start -> all programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Backup) to backup the whole system to another drive or a large USB flash drive to safeguard myself and the files. However, the backup utility gives error in both cases, ie. it won't backup to another drive (E:\) or usb drive.. The error is exactly like this:

Code:

Backup Status
Operation: Backup
Active backup destination: File
Media name: "WindowsXP_Backup.bkf created 5/22/2007 at 8:20 PM"

Backup Status
The files for the recovery diskette could not be created.  The operation was aborted.

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The operation did not successfully complete.

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does anyone know what's happening?

regards

Perhaps try synctoy instead?

"diskette" means floppy disk. The drives you are trying to use are not floppy disks. Microsoft's backup program only supports floppys for a bootable restore disk.

actually even if I tried using the A: (floppy) drive it gave me same error message. on the other hand, how can I fit the whole system into a 1.44MB floppy?

I'll check out Ygor's suggestion though.

The recovery diskette is just a bootable disk to get the ball rolling. I have never used Microsoft's backup utility, so I don't really know how well it works. I backup to writable dvd's using the Acronis backup utility. It's not free, but I have used it to restore my entire system after a disk swap.

Actually, I wonder how you can backup to a thumb drive. You must have a small C drive or a very big thumb drive.