Automated system recovery (ASR) is a feature of the Windows XP operating system that can be used to simplify recovery of a computer's system or boot volumes. ASR consists of two parts: an automated backup, and an automated restore. The backup portion can be accessed in the Backup utility under System Tools. ASR should be used only as a last resort because in preparation for a restore ASR will format the system and boot volumes, making other, less-drastic recovery methods impossible.