Creating Backups and Preparing for Problems

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.

Configuring Previous Versions

Using System Restore to restore files and settings does not affect personal data. You can recover your computer to a restore point without affecting your application data, cached files, or documents. System Restore doesn't write any information to any of your personal document folders, either. However, as a new feature in Windows 7, restore points include previous versions of your data. Because of this, you should enable System Protection for all disks on your computer that store system and program data as well as disks that store personal data. If you've configured System Protection only for the System disk, you should update the configuration to include any disks that store personal data as well.