Two of the biggest problems with Windows Vista Backup
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/backup.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2007.09.backup.aspx
are
1. You cannot choose what files/folders to include and exclude (other than the pretty much useless categories photo, vidoe, document etc.),
2. it ignores some filetypes automatically.
Neither has documentation on what filetypes it is using.
(see http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/pages/file-backup-in-windows-vista-faq.aspx for FAQ on why it does some of the things it does for the "core consumers")
Even when it is doing "full backup" (not the complete backup) for the first time you use it, it is not really full backup. For our Lenovo Thinkpad T400, it only backups 160,251 files off the 283,750 files.
On a test with 1004 filetyes that are registered with our T61 and T400 laptops, 71 filetypes are skipped
.386
.8bc
.8be
.8bf
.8bi
.8bs
.8bx
.8by
.8li
.acs
.asp
.aspx
.aw
.bak
.bat
.cat
.cgi
.chm
.cmd
.com
.config
.cpl
.desklink
.dll
.dl_
.drv
.evtx
.exe
.ex_
.fon
.gmmp
.hlp
.hta
.icm
.inf
.ini
.isp
.jar
.jnlp
.js
.jsp
.lib
.manifest
.mapimail
.mda
.msi
.msc
.ocx
.ost
.p7r
.pdb
.php
.pif
.pl
.pnf
.pyc
.reg
.scr
.sdb
.sys
.tlb
.vxd
.vbs
.wmz
.wsc
.wsf
.xla
.xll
.xlm
.xrm-ms
.zfsendtotarget
If you select pictures, you get 75 types
.8ba
.8bp
.ahs
.ai
.ase
.bmp
.cin
.clp
.cov
.cr2
.crw
.dcp
.dcpr
.det
.dib
.dng
.dwt
.emf
.eps
.erf
.exr
.fxg
.gif
.hdr
.ico
.iff
.jfif
.jp2
.jpe
.jpeg
.jpg
.mac
.mdi
.mnu
.mos
.mrw
.msp
.nef
.orf
.pbm
.pcd
.pct
.pcx
.pdd
.pdn
.pdp
.pef
.pic
.pict
.png
.pnt
.pntg
.ps
.psb
.psd
.psp
.pspimage
.pxr
.qti
.qtif
.raf
.raw
.rgb
.rle
.sgi
.shh
.srf
.sta
.targa
.tga
.tif
.tiff
.wdp
.wmf
.x3f
If you select music, you get 51 types
.aac
.ac3
.adts
.aif
.aifc
.aiff
.amr
.au
.caf
.cdda
.data
.fla
.flac
.gsm
.kar
.m1a
.m3u
.m3url
.m4a
.m4p
.mad
.mid
.midi
.mka
.mod
.mp1
.mp2
.mp3
.ogg
.oma
.pcm
.ra
.ram
.rm
.rmi
.rmj
.rmm
.rmp
.rpm
.sd2
.sfr
.smi
.smil
.snd
.swa
.voc
.vox
.wav
.wax
.wma
.xm
If you select videos, you get 58 types
.3g2
.3gp
.3gp2
.3gpp
.asf
.asx
.avi
.dcr
.dif
.dir
.divx
.dv
.f4v
.flc
.flv
.ifo
.ivf
.m1s
.m1v
.m2v
.m4v
.mfp
.mkv
.mov
.mp2v
.mpa
.mpe
.mpeg
.mpg
.mpg4
.mpv2
.mqv
.mswmm
.ogm
.ppj
.pproj
.prproj
.prsl
.qt
.qtl
.rmvb
.rmx
.rnx
.rp
.rts
.rtsp
.rv
.rvx
.spl
.ssm
.swf
.tvvi
.vfw
.vob
.wm
.wmv
.wmx
.wvx
If you select e-mail, you get 8 types
.contact
.eml
.msg
.oft
.pab
.pst
.wab
.xst
If you select documents, you get 178 types
.accda
.accdb
.accdc
.accde
.accdr
.accdt
.ade
.adobebridge
.adp
.as
.asax
.asc
.ascx
.ashx
.asmx
.ast
.axd
.c
.cfc
.cfm
.cpp
.cs
.css
.csv
.dic
.disco
.doc
.dochtml
.docm
.docmhtml
.docx
.dot
.dothtml
.dotm
.dotx
.dwfx
.etd
.exc
.fdf
.h
.htm
.html
.hxa
.hxc
.hxd
.hxe
.hxf
.hxh
.hxi
.hxk
.hxq
.hxr
.hxs
.hxt
.hxv
.hxw
.ics
.info
.iqy
.jsx
.jsxbin
.jtx
.lbi
.log
.m
.m15
.maf
.mar
.mdb
.mde
.mht
.mhtml
.mno
.mst
.mw
.nws
.odc
.odp
.ods
.odt
.ofn
.ols
.one
.onepkg
.otf
.pdf
.php3
.php4
.pot
.pothtml
.potm
.potx
.ppa
.ppam
.ppi
.pps
.ppsm
.ppsx
.ppt
.ppthtml
.pptm
.pptx
.ps1
.ps1xml
.pub
.pubmhtml
.pwz
.py
.pyw
.qdb
.qdf
.qdt
.qfx
.qht
.qhtm
.qtx
.rels
.rem
.resx
.rqy
.rt
.rtf
.scp
.sct
.sdp
.shtm
.shtml
.sldm
.sldx
.slk
.sln
.smf
.sml
.snippet
.soap
.ste
.stm
.thmx
.txt
.vb
.vcf
.vdx
.vscontent
.vsd
.vss
.vst
.vstemplate
.vsx
.vtx
.wbk
.web
.wiz
.wri
.wrl
.wrz
.wtx
.xdr
.xfdf
.xht
.xhtml
.xlam
.xlk
.xls
.xlsb
.xlshtml
.xlsm
.xlsmhtml
.xlsx
.xlt
.xlthtml
.xltm
.xlw
.xlxml
.xml
.xps
.xsl
.xslt
.xsn
If you select TV shows, you get 1 type
.dvr-ms
If you select compressed files, you get 31 type
.7z
.b64
.bhx
.bin
.bz
.bz2
.c2d
.cab
.cue
.gi
.gz
.gzip
.hqx
.iso
.lha
.lzh
.mim
.rar
.tar
.taz
.tbz
.tbz2
.tgz
.tib
.tz
.uu
.uue
.wrl.gz
.xxe
.z
.zip
If you select additional files, you get 531 types