Protecting System Data

The data on your server is probably worth more than just about anything on your computer system. Data is the basis of everything you do in your business, and it's irreplaceable in many situations. Consequently, you'll want to back up the data and have it ready for a restore when necessary. Of course, before you can perform a backup, you need to install the Windows Server Backup features. To start a backup or recovery, you open the Windows Server Backup console, found in the Administrative Tools folder. You see the Windows Server Backup console. The following sections assume that you have the required support installed.

Performing a system backup

The Windows Server Backup console provides two techniques for performing a backup. You can either back up manually using a one-time backup or schedule a backup to run at regular intervals. The following sections describe both backup types.

Performing a one-time backup

A one-time backup lets you back up the system manually. You can perform such a backup immediately before you install a new piece of software or perform a major configuration task. It's never a good idea to back up manually all the time - reserve manual backups for special situations. The following steps describe how to perform a manual backup:

1. Click Backup Once in the Actions pane of the Windows Server Backup console.
   Windows Server Backup displays the Backup Options dialog box of the Backup Once Wizard. The first time you use this wizard, you must define the backup settings. However, after the first time, you can choose whether you want to use the previous settings or create new settings.
2. Select the Different Options option if you want to create a backup using different options, and then click Next.
   When you choose Different Options, you see a warning message that you'll lose your previous backups if you don't restore the catalog first. The purpose of this message is to warn you that you need to restore any old data that you need before you create the new backup. If this is your first backup, you don't have any old data, so using the Different Options option won't cause any problems. Click Yes if you want to create a new backup or No if you want to restore some old data first.
   After you make a choice about restoring the collection, you see the Select Backup Configuration dialog box. This dialog box lets you choose between performing a full backup or backing up only some of the information on your hard drive. Windows Server Backup doesn't provide the functionality of NT Backup, so you can't select individual folders, as you did in the past. If you choose the Full Server option, go to Step 4.
3. Choose Custom and click Next.
   You see the Select Backup Items dialog box. Place a check mark next to any of the volumes you want to back up. When you select Enable System Recovery, you must include the minimum number of volumes required to perform a complete system recovery. Using this option can increase the size of the backup significantly on multiboot hard drives but ensures that you can perform a complete recovery.
4. Click Next.
   You see the Specify Destination Type dialog box. You can choose to store the backup on a local drive, including a DVD drive, or on a shared remote drive.
5. Choose a destination type and click Next.
   The wizard displays either the Specify Remote Folder dialog box or the Select Backup Destination dialog box, depending on your choice of destination type. In both cases, you must provide the destination for the backup.
6. Specify the destination for the backup and click Next.
   You see the Specify Advanced Options dialog box. This dialog box requires that you choose a Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) option. Although this option sounds complicated, all it really does is ask whether you want to tell the hard drive that the files are backed up or leave the file attributes as is so that you can use a third-party application to perform a backup of your server applications. If your only backup method is Windows Server Backup, choose the VSS Full Backup option; otherwise, choose the VSS Copy Backup (Recommended) option.
7. Choose a VSS backup option and click Next.
   You see a confirmation dialog box, where you see the options you've selected.
8. Verify the options you've selected and click Backup.
   The Backup Once Wizard shows you the progress of the backup.
9. Click Close when the backup completes.
   The backup appears at the destination, in a folder named WindowsImageBackup.

Performing a scheduled backup

Creating a scheduled backup is essentially the same as creating a one-time backup. The steps for using the Backup Schedule Wizard are essentially the same as using the Backup Once Wizard. The only two differences are that you must include all the drives required for a system restore when making a scheduled backup and you have to provide a time for the backup. In fact, you can select multiple backup times.

A scheduled backup assumes that you have a disk specifically set aside for the purpose. If you try to use an existing disk, the system asks you to attach a disk that it can use to perform the backup. The Backup Schedule Wizard won't let you use a DVD or remote storage. Consequently, you may find that a scheduled backup has limited appeal unless you have the local hardware required to perform it.