backup backs up files.....

...system restore only saves system files.

The difference is that if you restore from a system restore and files you've saved etc since the last one are unaffected.

If you restore from a backup, then those new files will be lost (if it's a full restore)

There is no way of anticipating or beating hardware failure, though, but system restore and backing up regularly do help avoid data loss

Posted By: Karnivore, Jul 22, 18:59:31