HOW TO: Perform Complete Backups of the Windows 2000 Server Operating System

Your backup and recovery planning for Microsoft Windows 2000 Server should include a complete backup of Windows 2000 Server. To do a complete backup for Exchange, you must also back up both the System State data and the operating system files on the server running Windows 2000. This article describes how to perform a complete backup of the Windows 2000 Server operating system.

Perform Complete Backups of the Operating System

A backup of Windows 2000, including the System State data and the boot and system partitions, is called a Windows backup set. A Windows backup set must contain the following data and must be backed up as part of the same backup operation:

• The System State data.
• The boot partition (the disk partition from which your computer starts; this partition contains files in the root folder such as Ntldr and Boot.ini).
• In addition to the boot partition, or instead of it, you must back up the system partition (the disk partition on which Windows is installed).

Note If you installed Windows 2000 on the hard disk partition that is used to start your computer (known as the active partition), your boot partition and system partition are the same.

To back up Windows operating system files, select the drive letters of your computer's boot partition and system partition in the Windows 2000 Backup utility. Back up System State data by selecting the System State option in Backup. When you perform a System State backup, Backup automatically backs up all the System State data that is relevant to your computer. Because of the dependencies among System State components, you cannot back up or restore individual components of System State data by using Backup. However, you can restore the following types of System State data by restoring a System State data backup to a different location:

• Windows 2000 registry files
• Windows 2000 boot files
• SYSVOL directory files
• Cluster database information files

Important You cannot restore the Microsoft Active Directory directory services database, the Certificate Services database, or the COM+ Class Registration database to a different location.

Create a Windows 2000 Backup Set

In preparing to restore the Windows 2000 operating system configuration information, you must restore the server's System State data and its operating system files; these data and files must be part of the same backup set.

Create backup sets for Windows 2000 frequently; create them weekly, if possible. Generally, the older your backup sets are, the more likely you are to have problems, such as operating system configuration issues, that you must resolve before you can restore Exchange. To create a Windows 2000 backup set:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.
2. In the Backup dialog box, click the Backup tab. In the console tree, click to select the check boxes next to the drive letters for your boot partition and system partition, and then click to select the System State check box.
3. In the Backup destination list, perform one of the following steps.
   • Click File if you want to back up files and folders to a file. If you do not have a tape device installed on your computer, this option is selected by default and cannot be changed.
   • Select a tape device if you want to back up files and folders to a tape.
4. Next to the Backup media or file name option, click Browse to select a location and file name for your backup.
5. Click Start Backup.
6. In Backup Job Information, type a backup description in the Backup description text box, set the appropriate options, and then click Start Backup. For more advanced options, you can click the Advanced button. In the Advanced Backup options, you can select the backup type that you in the Backup_Type box. You can also chose to do each of the following:
   • Back up data that is in Remote Storage.
   • Verify data after backup.
   • Automatically back up the System Protected Files with the System State.
   After the backup is complete, you can verify the success of the backup. In Event Viewer, click Application Log in the console tree, and then make sure that there are no errors that indicate that the backup was unsuccessful.