Automated System Recovery Disk

Computers have become the irreplaceable storage depots for all electronic information in today's world. However, they are machines after all and they too are susceptible to failures. A computer has multiple reasons for failure that could attribute to hardware failures (power failures) or software failures (operating system). So the information stored in machine has to be secured, should any such unwelcome conditions occur. In such cases, ASR disk offers an effective solution.

Automated System Recovery Disk for XP
The Windows automated system recovery (also known as ASR) is an extension to the regular backup and restore protocol. The disk is an inbuilt functionality of Windows operating system which records and stores the state of the Windows operating state at intermittent intervals of time. If at all there is a system failure, the operating state can be recovered through this recovery disk. The recovery is done in a two stage process.

• Boot Recovery Process: A fresh copy of Windows is used for installation in the target machine on a temporary basis.
• Operating System Restore Process: This process restores the data files of the lastly saved Windows installation. This happens with the help of the backup and restore application. In the backup process, all the system services and all disk content associated with the computer operating system are saved. All this information is contained in a file which is created by the disk. The file further contains disk configurations and restore procedures.

ASR disk reads the disk configurations from the file created and restores all the disk partitions, volumes and signatures required to start the machine. The restore process can be started by pressing F2, in the text mode of operating system setup.

Preparing ASR Disk
Given below are the steps to be followed to create an automated system recovery disk.

• Click on Start. Navigate as Start→Accessories→System Tools→Backup
• You will now find a backup utility wizard popping up. This wizard gives you three options, Backup wizard (advanced), Restore wizard (advanced) and Automated system recovery wizard.
• Select the third option and you will find the automated system recovery wizard popping up. This helps in creation of the ASR disk and the backup files for the data. So click next.
• The wizard will now ask you for the preference of the location as to where you want your data to be saved. Also maintain a floppy disk (1.44 MB)/CD to create a recovery disk that will come handy whenever any system failures are encountered.
• The wizard now prompts you to click on the Finish to commence with the backup process. Once the Finish is clicked, the backup process kick starts by transferring all the relevant information to the necessary location specified above. Meanwhile, the wizard will ask you to insert the external media to start with making the recovery disk. Once the floppy disk or the CD is inserted, the recovery process writes all the requisite data to the external media. After the complete backup and recovery, remove the external media, label it with the purpose and keep it safe. This disk will come handy in system failures, should they happen in future.

The Automated system recovery disk is not integrated with the operating system in Windows XP. Although it is available in the backup utility of Windows XP Home, it is functional only in Windows XP Professional.

Using ASR Disk
When your machine encounters a system failure, the first thing to be done is reboot. When rebooting, press F2 to enter the Windows setup. The setup screen will prompt you to enter the automated system recovery disk which has been already prepared. After inserting the disk, the formatting of C: starts. Once the formatting and the disk partitioning is over, the automated system recovery wizard pops up, prompting you to enter the path of backup files. Click Next and the wizard will prompt for system restoration. Click on Finish. The restoration will take a while. At the end, your system will be restored!

Microsoft recommends automated system recovery disk strongly. However this method should be considered only if other means of recovering the operating system fail to succeed. For instance, if you encounter a sudden system failure, the system pops up with a message asking you to try the Safe Mode Boot. But in case, you are unable to recover the system through such means, ASR disk is the only palpable option. Nowadays many sites offer free downloads and hence downloading them is not a problem at all. Microsoft itself offers free ASR downloads. All you have to do is click on "Download a Windows XP recovery disk from Microsoft" in their site. Click on "Download", and "Save" it in the external media. Automated system recovery disk is an important activity. One cannot secure a system persistently as the system is always vulnerable to viruses and worms in the Internet. So the best way is to take a backup of important files and make a Windows XP recovery disk. It will surely save you a lot of unwelcome troubles!