Best Windows XP file selection for backup?

[erc3]

Are there tips for selecting the right files/folders for a Mac/Retrospect/Server to backup a Windows XP machine? I'm looking for the equivalent of backing up a User's Home Folder in OSX, as a way of being able to recover a Users files, but not the System or Applications.

Our backups handle mostly Macs, and a few PC's.

I'm interested in the shortest backup time and lowest space usage.

[twickland]

It depends on what files you want to back up and how the user has configured their machine. Normally the "Documents and Settings" folder should capture the documents of all the various users, and the inner folders the documents of each specific user. However, we've got cases where the user is storing documents in some root level folder, or they also need to back up certain application data in addition to their normal documents. If they have gone though several system upgrades, they might have multiple "My Documents" folders and be using one (not necessarily the one in their user folder) or several or even none of them.

 

Best thing is to start by asking the user where they think they are storing their documents; then go to Configure> Volumes> Browse... in Retrospect to confirm.

 

Although it's nice from the point of saving time and media to minimize the number of files backed up, from the perspective of the end user, it's better to back up too much than too little.

[erc3]

Of course you are right about too much vs too little.

In this case, I have some control over how our Windows clients organize their machines. So, what I really need is a diagrammatic overview of how a Windows XP machine is supposed to be arranged...ideally. Funny; its such a basic question, yet surprisingly hard to find the simple answer. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places or with the wrong search terms. Or perhaps a long time Retrospect sys admin has a Selector already configured.

Many thanks for any suggestions.