Windows Vista Backup and Restore Made Easy and Secure

Windows Backup
Windows Vista provides valuable new innovations to help ensure you never lose information that is important to you. Windows Vista offers multiple layers of backup and restore protection from hardware failure, user error, or other issues. These innovations include system restore enhancements, a new feature called Windows Backup, and a related feature: Previous Versions, based on the Volume Shadow Copy technology which was first introduced with the Windows Server product family. These features are presented in a single, unified Windows Backup and Restore Center.

Backup and Restore Center
The Backup and Restore Center gives you one place where you can work with all the backup-related features available in your edition of Windows Vista. For example, the File and Folder backup and restore wizards are prominently displayed for easy access.

System Restore
System Restore was introduced in Windows XP to allow people to restore their computers to a previous state without losing personal data files (for example, Microsoft Office Word documents, graphics files, and e-mail messages). You don’t have to worry about taking system snapshots with System Restore—it automatically creates easily identifiable restore points, which you can use to revert your system to the way it was at a previous time. Restore points are created both at the time of significant system events (such as when you install applications or drivers) and periodically (each day). You can also create and name restore points at any time.

System Restore in Windows XP is based on a file filter that watches file changes for a certain set of file extensions, and copies files before they are overwritten. If you encounter a problem, you can roll back the system files and the registry to those from a previous date when the system was known to have worked properly.

In Windows Vista, System Restore allows recovery from a greater range of changes than in Windows XP. The file filter system for system restore used in previous versions of Windows is replaced with a new approach: Now, when a restore point is requested, a shadow copy of a file or folder is created. A shadow copy is essentially a previous version of the file or folder at a specific point. Windows Vista can request restore points automatically, or do so when you ask. When the system needs to be restored, files and settings are copied from the shadow copy to the live volume used by Windows Vista. This improves integration with other aspects of backup and recovery and makes System Restore even more usable.

Windows Backup
Windows Vista helps you easily back up PC settings, files, and applications when and where you choose, with the convenience of automated scheduling.

Windows Vista provides a backup experience that is more comprehensive and even easier to use than the basic backup utility included in Windows XP. The new Windows Backup feature gives you more choices for storing your backed-up information. You can choose to back up to CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, an external hard disk connected to your PC by USB or IEEE 1394, another hard disk on your PC, or to another PC or server connected to your network.

Windows Vista makes the backup process even easier than it is in Windows XP. You no longer have to remember to regularly back up your data. You can use a simple wizard to schedule when and where you want it backed up.

Of course, backup is only as useful as the recovery experience, which has been expanded in scope and usefulness in Windows Vista. A wizard helps you select the files or folders to restore and prompts you for restore media. Then it restores the files you select.

Previous Versions
Have you ever accidentally saved over a file you were working on? Accidental file deletion or modification is a common cause of data loss. Windows Vista includes another useful innovation to help you protect your data: Previous Versions. This feature automatically creates point-in-time copies of files as you work, so you can quickly and easily retrieve versions of a document you may have accidentally deleted.

Content from Microsoft.com
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/foreveryone/backup.mspx