Microsoft has updated and re-released Windows NT Backup on March 27, 2008, making it available as a free download. The move comes as the utility needs to keep up the pace with the evolution of the latest Windows client and server operating systems. Microsoft released both Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 RTM/SP1 to manufacturing on February 4, 2008. Windows Server 2008 was launched officially at the end of the past month, while Vista SP1 was released to the general public on March 18.

Version 1.0 of Windows NT Backup dropped on March 27 is tailored to both Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008. The utility is designed to enable users of Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 to restore backups that were created on the previous versions of the operating systems, namely Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. In the move from XP and Windows Server 2003, Microsoft has evolved the backup infrastructure of the two platforms.

The default Windows NT Backup was built in as a component of XP and Windows Server 2003 and produced backups of a format that doesn't play well with Vista SP1, or the final version of Windows Server 2008. This is why Microsoft has overhauled the free utility in order to permit the restoration of older format backups on its latest platforms. The old .bkf files, produced by NT Backup, are an illustrative example of the incompatibility created via the new backup capabilities of Vista and Windows Server 2008.

But just running Windows NT Backup in either Vista SP1 or Windows Server 2008 is not sufficient. In order for backups to be restored successfully, the Removable Storage Management feature has to be enabled. All editions of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1 and RTM are supported by the new Windows NT Backup.

You will be able to download Windows NT Backup - Restore Utility from here.