[LFCJohnSmith]

I am buying a new hard drive to use as storage on my pc so if I need to do a restore none of my saved data will be lost and so that I don't have to back any data on my pc up before I do a restore as it will already be backed up. What I want to know is what is the best way of creating a back up on a separate hard drive on my pc, is it to just copy and paste the My folder in windows which contains my docs, downloads etc to the new hard drive and would that actauly work or would the data still be stored on the C drive, or is there a better way to do it?

I don't really want to buy any software to do it and I am also running vista basic, your help would be appreciated.

[Nubbleet]

What is your Anti-Virus software? A lot of AV's have backup tools in them. You can set time/date etc.

[LFCJohnSmith]

It is McAfee so I will check that out thanks. What I was looking for was a real time back up not a once a day backup.

[office politics]

vista has a backup software builtin. you should be able to create a save set and set to schedule or run on demand. the save set will hold a list of files and or folders you wish to backup; this way you dont have to dig through your filesystem each time you want to perform a backup.

Using Backup Status and Configuration in Vista - Backup Files and Restore Files In Windows Vista

[Mak213]

He has Vista Home Basic which doesnt offer the built in Backup.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...s/default.aspx

Basically all he has is the network share center and the Windows Search. So he will have to find a 3rd party backup solution.

Maybe something listed here will be of help as well.

Ultimate List of Free Windows Vista Software from Microsoft - Windows Live

[Asphodel]

If all you want to backup is files, you don't need any software. Here's a good post about backup alternatives.