Amen Brother-- absolutely backup backup backup--it can't be emphasized
enough. The stats that the One Care team compiled on Windows users who
backup properly--and that's not the enthusiasts that often frequent groups
like this--are in the 70 percentiles. Hopefully MSFT has taken an important
step forward with their Backup in Vista and one that is slightly less in
Windows One Care.

I'd use applications like Ghost or Acronis and Vista or One Care's backup as
well.

I keep my data on a separate drive, and make a copy of any important
document and keep it on m ore than one separate drive since the size isn't a
roadblock.

I would say though that much of the time, when there is a "no boot Vista or
XP" (most people don't learn every method to resolve a no boot XP and
Vista--and I've tried to post them) it can involve every drive or partition
on your hard drive.

CH


"Henry Jones" <henry@TheCheckIsInTheMail.com> wrote in message
news:%23o41R$xOHHA.448@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>I have been reading posts from people who upgrade, do clean installs,
>etc... then they complain about losing their data. Where is it? My data
>is gone.
>
> Even if you don't upgrade, your hard drive could crash and all your data
> could be gone in an instant. Do you back up your data?
>
> I have 3 hard drives in my PC. The C: drive, I only have applications and
> the OS on it. I also have a D: and an E: drive. I put all my data on the
> D: drive and then I copy what I have done to folders on the E: drive. If
> my C: drive goes down, I can reinstall the OS on a new drive and my data
> is safe on D: and E:. No problem.
>
> If my D: or E: drive goes down, I have a copy on the other drive. Still
> no problem. Further still, my important data, my MP3's, movies, etc.... I
> burn to CD or DVD when I get enough to fill one. I store these at my
> parents house just in case my house burns down. You never know..
>
> I am safe with my data, my data is important to me and sometimes data is
> more valuable than the hardware it is on. For instance, I am a software
> developer, so my custom software is worth thousands of dollars to me and
> my customers. It is worth the time and effort to back up what I have.
>
> If your data is important, you should take a few minutes out and make sure
> that your data is safe.
>
> Just my two cents worth...
>
>
> Henry
>
>