4. Getting Started with NTBackup<.h3>

Getting Started with NTBackup Part I

There are a number of available products on the market designed specifically for consumer-grade backup strategies. Even so, it's easy to overlook Microsoft's own native utility. The program is called Backup, resides in a file named ntbackup.exe, and arrives bundled with nearly every notebook computer. The gotcha here is that not every notebook makes this program readily available - ntbackup may sometimes be hidden within a compressed recovery partition or nestled away in some rarely visited folder in the file system. If you're lucky, the following menu sequence should reveal this tool: Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Backup. Even if this path doesn't lead to ntbackup.exe on your notebook, if you're running Windows it's probably in there somewhere, and well worth the time and effort you'll expend in finding and learning how to use it.

All Windows 2000 and 2003 Server versions, plus XP Professional and Home editions include ntbackup.exe. But on Windows XP desktops, the Professional version, including Media Center Edition, is the only one where the backup program is installed by default. For Windows XP Home edition, you must either load up the XP Home installation medium or locate an installation file online (provided you trust the source). If you have the installation CD handy, navigate to your CD ROM drive (in our example, that's the E: drive) then navigate to the path specified below.

E:\VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP\Ntbackup.msi

For Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) editions of XP, like those used on HP or Dell notebooks, ntbackup.exe or its installer ntbackup.msi may be found in the compressed portion of the recovery image on your hard drive. That said, you will really have to search high and low for it. In the interest of preserving time, here is a good online resource where you can readily obtain ntbackup.msi. Also, some OEM manufacturer recovery discs do contain an unchecked option labeled "Microsoft Value Added content." If that applies to your recovery discs, that is where you can enable and perform NTBackup installation along with a few other interesting odds and ends.

Note: Some vendors supply specific instructions for installing applications such as ntbackup.exe. For example, on its Customer Care pages