totally fucked it up big time

[mbpark]

Hello,

System Restore only keeps certain system DLLs, and the registry. It's not in an intuitive format either.

When I've had systems go south and I've had the Ultimate Boot CD on me, I just go in and copy the registry back from one of its recovery points manually, as I don't trust Windows to do it for me. I did this yesterday to a machine that had XP Antivirus 2011.

Mac OS X and Time Machine, however, handle both user directories and system files. I've literally made a TM backup, put a new HD in a machine, formatted it, booted from a Mac OS X DVD, restored said backup, and booted a complete machine with a much larger hard drive. OS X Leopard didn't store the keychain (where your saved passwords are) in TM, but Snow Leopard can. I've already had a customer drop a MacBook Pro in an OR, buy a new one that night, restore his TM backup, and call me because TM in Snow Leopard didn't restore all his system patches the next day.

Until Microsoft gets this in Windows 8, get yourself a copy of Symantec Backup Exec or a similar product for Windows that backs up to an external HD (if you have little money, get Robocopy and run that to an external HD daily!). Or you can choose to get a Mac (Time Machine) or Linux (and just rsync your home directories) and get a much simpler solution.