Automated System Recovery overview in Windows XP
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SUMMARY
The purpose of this article is to describe Automated System Recovery in Microsoft Windows XP and to list supported information between the original release of Microsoft Windows XP, Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP-1), and Windows XP Service Pack 1a (SP-1a).
MORE INFORMATION
Microsoft recommends that you regularly create Automated System Recovery (ASR) sets as part of an overall plan for system recovery so that you are prepared if the system fails. ASR should be a last resort for system recovery. Use ASR only after you have exhausted other options. For example, you should first try Safe Mode Boot and Last Known Good.

ASR is a two-part system; it includes ASR backup and ASR restore. The ASR Wizard, located in Backup, does the backup portion. The wizard backs up the system state, system services, and all the disks that are associated with the operating system components. ASR also creates a file that contains information about the backup, the disk configurations (including basic and dynamic volumes), and how to perform a restore.

You can access the restore portion by pressing F2 when prompted in the text-mode portion of setup. ASR reads the disk configurations from the file that it creates. It restores all the disk signatures, volumes, and partitions on (at a minimum) the disks that you need to start the computer. ASR will try to restore all the disk configurations, but under some circumstances it might not be able to. ASR then installs a simple installation of Windows and automatically starts a restoration using the backup created by the ASR Wizard.

For more information about how to set up and use Automated System Recovery in Microsoft Windows XP, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...ntain/asr.mspx