How to Back Up Data from Hard Drive(s) to External Media
How to Back Up Data to a CD Using the Windows Backup Utility

If you have data on the hard drive of your computer that you want to back up to a CD, you can use the Windows Backup utility to do so. This utility comes with Windows 98, 2000, and XP computers. However, you must format the CD before you can use the Backup utility.

How to use the Windows Backup Utility
  1. If you have not already done so, format the CD you will use.
  2. Click Start in the lower-left corner of the computer's desktop .
  3. Click All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Backup.

You should see the Welcome to the Backup or Restore Wizard dialog box that looks similar to the following:

 

  1. Click Next. You should see the Backup or Restore dialog box that looks similar to the following:

  1. Click the radio button in front of the Back up files and settings option.
  2. Click Next. You should see the What to Back Up dialog box that looks similar to the following:

At this point, you have a number of options about the data you want to back up. In most cases, you want to back up at least some of the data in your My Documents folder.

  1. Click the radio button in front of the My documents and settings option.
  2. Click Next. You should see the Backup Type, Destination, and Name dialog box that looks similar to the following:

You can now specify the location to which you will back up the data.

  1. Use the drop-down arrow below the Choose a place to save your backup field to select the location to which you will back up the data. For example, in the dialog box above, the individual is going to back up her data to a CD-RW disc in drive D: on her computer (i.e., D:\).

NOTE
If your computer has a Zip drive, and you don't need to back up more than 250MB of data, you can back up your data to a Zip disk if you prefer.

  1. Under the Type a name for this backup field, type a name for the backup data file.

You may already have a naming scheme for backups (e.g., mydocs904, as shown in the dialog box above, indicating a back up of the My Documents folder created in September 2004). If you do not already have a naming scheme, create one that clearly defines what the data is and when it was backed up.

  1. Click Next. You should see the Completing the Backup or Restore Wizard dialog box. Examine the information in this dialog box. If it is correct, click Finish. Your data will be backed up to the location you selected using the file name you created.

NOTE
If the information in this dialog box is not correct, click Back to change the option(s) you want to correct.