Understanding Backup Permissions

Backup Permissions

You must have certain permissions to back up files and folders. If you are an administrator or a backup operator in a local group using Windows Vista, you can back up any file and folder on the computer to which the local group applies. However, if you are not an administrator or a backup operator and you want to back up files, then you must be the owner of the files and folders you want to back up, or you must have one or more of the following permissions for the files and folders you want to back up: Read, Read and Execute, Modify, or Full Control. You can also restrict access to a backup file by selecting the Allow only the owner and the administrator access to the backup data check box in the Backup Job Information dialog box. If you select this option, only an administrator or the person who created the backup file will be able to restore the files and folders.

To add a user to the Backup Operators group, double-click the Administrative Tools icon in the Control Panel, and then double-click the Computer Management icon in the Administrative Tools window. This opens the Computer Management Window. Next, click the arrow next to Local Users and Groups in the console tree, click Groups in the console tree, and then double-click Backup Operators in the Details pane. Next, click Add in the Backup Operators Properties dialog box, type the domain and user name of the person you want to make a backup operator in the form \Domainuser name, and then click OK. For more information about using Computer Management, see Chapter 18, “Administering Your Computer.”

File Systems

You can back up and restore data on either FAT or NTFS volumes. However, if you have backed up data from an NTFS volume used in Windows Vista, it is recommended that you restore the data to an NTFS volume used in Windows Vista instead of Windows 2000, or you could lose data as well as some file and folder features. For more information about FAT and NTFS disk file systems, see Chapter 15, “Maintaining Your Computer.”