Anybody who has spent any significant time on a computer knows what it is like to lose valuable data due to a failed hard drive or scratched/lost cd. The moment of acceptance that valuable data has been lost forever brings with it a determination to never again operate without a reliable backup. That moment also comes with an introduction to a whole new frustration with computers - how to actually backup one's data.

Backing up one's data can be a nightmare. The "Ntbackup" utility that comes with Windows XP (I've avoided Windows Vista like the swine flu) is certainly more versatile than Win98's laughable "briefcase" program, but it runs from a command line whose syntax bears this form:

ntbackup backup [systemstate] "@bks file name" /J {"job name"} [/P {"pool name"}] [/G {"guid name"}] [/T { "tape name"}] [/N {"media name"}] [/F {"file name"}] [/D {"set description"}] [/DS {"server name"}] [/IS {"server name"}] [/A] [/V:{yes|no}] [/R:{yes|no}] [/L:{f|s|n}] [/M {backup type}] [/RS:{yes|no}] [/HC:{on|off}] [/SNAP:{on|off}]

To be fair, the help area of XP does elaborate on the above, but let's keep perspective here. The need is to back data up - not get a degree in running Ntbackup. Even once you've come up with a complete and accurate command to run, I doubt you want to type it in every time you want to back your files up - not to mention any other commands you create for backing up other areas of your computer with info not in your main data area. I guess you could always put all your command lines in a batch file and run them all that way. What are batch files you ask? Yeah, let me tell you about something far more simple instead.