8Backup and recovery

Recovering system information

Tools provided by the operating system and Recovery Manager software are designed to help you with the following tasks for safeguarding your information and restoring it in case of a system failure:

Backing up your information regularly to protect your important system files.

Making a set of recovery discs (Recovery Manager software feature). Recovery discs are used to start up (boot) your computer and restore the operating system and software programs to factory settings in case of system failure or instability.

Creating system restore points (operating system feature). System restore points allow you to reverse undesirable changes to your computer by restoring the computer to an earlier state.

Recovering a program or driver (Recovery Manager software feature). This feature helps you reinstall a program or driver without performing a full system recovery.

Performing a full system recovery (Recovery Manager software feature). With Recovery Manager, you can recover your full factory image if you experience system failure or instability. Recovery Manager works from a dedicated recovery partition on the hard drive or from recovery discs you create.

Backing up your information
When to back up

On a regularly scheduled basis

NOTE: Set reminders to back up your information periodically.

Before the computer is repaired or restored

Before you add or modify hardware or software

110 Chapter 8 Backup and recovery