Does backup software lock you in?

Solution 1:

Cobian either supports various common compression standards, but the encryption will lock you in if you use that. Without compression, it's essentially a straight copy, so there's no lock-in. I've found that it's very good for this kind of backup, as you can do timestamped backups, allowing you to very easily keep multiple copies of your data on the drive.

I can't speak for any of the others in the list, as I've not used them. The other software I've worked with in ntbackup (a bit limited, but can work reasonably), and Symantec's BackupExec - which is massive overkill for what you want. However, if you do chose it, the format is .bkf, which is shared with ntbackup. I've also used various rsync based programs, which are essentially direct copies, so no lock-in.

Solution 2:

The Windows backup utility included with Vista or Windows 7 stores its backups as normal ZIP files, allowing easy retrieval even without the software. Full-volume backups are VHDs, as far as I know; that format is openly documented so other software supporting it should exist.

^{Yes, I know it's not XP but the OP is likely not the only one interested in this and wouldn't start a poll otherwise.}