Windows Vista: Backup From Command Line
Regular backing up ones' data is the only way to guarantee there will be no significant consequences resulting from unexpected data loss.
There's an utility allowing to perform backup of your Vista-powered computer data onto a hard disk drive, or to a shared folder on a remote computer.
The utility is called wbadmin and a typical command line could be
wbadmin start backup –backupTarget:Z: -include:C: -quiet
The parameters have obvious meaning. '-backupTarget' is the drive letter of a drive where the backup will be created (don't forget to attach an additional HDD for such a purpose). '-include' specifies a comma-separated list of drives to back up. '-quiet' means operate quietly wherever possible.
It should be noted that backup target may also be represented by a GUID volume identifier, i.e. something like
\\?\Volume{923de215-1948-ba65-c718-81a58c30029a}
or an Universal Naming Convention identifier for a shared resource, i.e.
\\computername\sharename
The backup will be saved under WindowsImageBackup\<ComputerName> folder, where <ComputerName> is the name of the computer you are running backup on. In case a share is used as backup storage, parameters '-user' and 'password' may be used to authenticate.
The first time the command is run, it creates a backup image file, .vhd file. The subsequent runs willl update that file.
This command may as well be run from Task Scheduler (do not forget to use a username with backup operator or higher privileges).
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