How To Backup Vista to a Network Share
I like my data. Pictures, music, videos, documents…great stuff. I cry a little bit to think that it could all vanish should one of my kids cannonball off the top bunk onto my laptop. Hence the need for a complete PC backup to a network share. Vista has a slick new method for backing up your data. A complete Vista backup essentially creates a Virtual Hard Disk file (VHD) which could, in theory, be mounted with Microsoft Virtual PC.
So off we go in search of the new backup features in Windows Vista:
- Start
- Control Panel
- Backup and Restore Center
- Back up computer
The first thing you’ll notice is that you can only backup to a local hard drive or multiple DVDs. This is fine if you’ve got a USB hard drive or a bunch of DVD’s. However, I want to backup to a network location (i.e. UNC path). Enter the powerful WBAdmin utility. TO THE COMMAND PROMPT ROBIN!
Here’s how your would do a one time backup to a network share:
- Command Prompt
- wbadmin start backup -backupTarget:UNC_PATH_HERE -include:C: -quiet
- Grab a healthy snack and watch your ones and zeros zing across the network
Now let’s take a look at automating this job with the Task Scheduler:
- Start
- Control Panel
- Administrative Tools
- Task Scheduler
- Action
- Create Basic Task
- Give it a name like “Technullogy Rocks”
- Set your schedule on the “Task Trigger” screen
- Select “Start a program” on the “Action” screen
- Enter “wbadmin.exe” in the “Program/script” textbox
- Under “Add arguments” type “start backup -backupTarget:UNC_PATH_HERE -include:C: -quiet” (without quotes)
- Click Finish and do a happy dance (be sure your friends don’t see this step – it could lead to a an awkward moment)
