Back-up drive problem

[Antares 531]

I have a home built computer with an ASUS P7P55D motherboard, an Intel
processor and three hard drives. I am using Windows 7 Home Premium, SP
1 on this computer.

I have set these hard drives up such that drive C: is my client
programs drive, drive D: is my documents drive and drive F: is my
backup drive. I have things set up to do automatic back-ups each night
at 2:00 am. This has worked very well until recently. I now get a
backup failure notice and upon checking things out I find my drive F:
Backups drive is full. This is beyond my understanding because it has
the same files that are on my drive D: Documents drive.

The drive info is:
Drive C: Programs 465GB 54.7GB used 410GB free space
Drive D: Documents 465GB 166GB used 299GB free.
Drive E: CD/DVD drive.
Drive F: 465GB 465GB used 12MB free.

The file/folder content shown in Windows Explorer lists the exact same
folders/files on Drive F: as are shown on Drive D:

Why would drive F: be full while drive D is only about 1/3 filled?

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Gordon

 

[Ed Cryer]

I have a home built computer with an ASUS P7P55D motherboard, an Intel
processor and three hard drives. I am using Windows 7 Home Premium, SP
1 on this computer.

I have set these hard drives up such that drive C: is my client
programs drive, drive D: is my documents drive and drive F: is my
backup drive. I have things set up to do automatic back-ups each night
at 2:00 am. This has worked very well until recently. I now get a
backup failure notice and upon checking things out I find my drive F:
Backups drive is full. This is beyond my understanding because it has
the same files that are on my drive D: Documents drive.

The drive info is:
Drive C: Programs 465GB 54.7GB used 410GB free space
Drive D: Documents 465GB 166GB used 299GB free.
Drive E: CD/DVD drive.
Drive F: 465GB 465GB used 12MB free.

The file/folder content shown in Windows Explorer lists the exact same
folders/files on Drive F: as are shown on Drive D:

Why would drive F: be full while drive D is only about 1/3 filled?

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Gordon

There's only one explanation comes to mind given that you're sure about
the folders/files sameness. Drive F has far fewer usable sectors than
drive D.
Do a check scan of it and look at the report.

Ed

 

[Seth]

The file/folder content shown in Windows Explorer lists the exact same
folders/files on Drive F: as are shown on Drive D:

Why would drive F: be full while drive D is only about 1/3 filled?

Recycling bin?

 

[Antares 531]

Recycling bin?

I did a disk cleanup and emptied the recycle bin but this didn't
produce more than a miniscule gain in usable disk space.

 

[Antares 531]

There's only one explanation comes to mind given that you're sure about
the folders/files sameness. Drive F has far fewer usable sectors than
drive D.
Do a check scan of it and look at the report.

Ed

I think this is where the problem lies. I had though the backups were
one single copy of the files/folders on the drive that is being backed
up. Now, after some probing around in the darkness, it seems there may
be a separate copy made on the backup disk, each time it does it's
scheduled backup.

This computer is nearly two years old and it does an automatic backup
each night at 2:00 a.m. If there is a separate copy for each time the
backup is done this hard drive must have about 100 copies of the
backup file/folders hidden in the dark, somewhere. I'm wondering if it
shows me only the most recent backup but keeps all those earlier
backups in some kind of hidden file or otherwise inaccessible without
some password/administrator requirements.

Gordon

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I have a home built computer with an ASUS P7P55D motherboard, an Intel
processor and three hard drives. I am using Windows 7 Home Premium, SP
1 on this computer.

I have set these hard drives up such that drive C: is my client
programs drive, drive D: is my documents drive and drive F: is my
backup drive. I have things set up to do automatic back-ups each night
at 2:00 am. This has worked very well until recently. I now get a
backup failure notice and upon checking things out I find my drive F:
Backups drive is full. This is beyond my understanding because it has
the same files that are on my drive D: Documents drive.

The drive info is:
Drive C: Programs 465GB 54.7GB used 410GB free space
Drive D: Documents 465GB 166GB used 299GB free.
Drive E: CD/DVD drive.
Drive F: 465GB 465GB used 12MB free.

The file/folder content shown in Windows Explorer lists the exact same
folders/files on Drive F: as are shown on Drive D:

Why would drive F: be full while drive D is only about 1/3 filled?

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Gordon

1. If your backups are like mine, a new (incremental) backup adds files
to the backup set, so that set grows until you start over with a new
full backup.

2. I would strongly recommend against using an *internal* drive for
backup, on the off-chance that an electrical glitch would fry all of
your internal drives.

Actually, I use two external drives, backing up alternately on one,then
the other. When the incremental backup sets start to get too big, I'll
erase the backup on one drive and start over. When I feel secure that
one is OK, I'll do the same on the other drive.

 

[Char Jackson]

I think this is where the problem lies. I had though the backups were
one single copy of the files/folders on the drive that is being backed
up. Now, after some probing around in the darkness, it seems there may
be a separate copy made on the backup disk, each time it does it's
scheduled backup.

This computer is nearly two years old and it does an automatic backup
each night at 2:00 a.m. If there is a separate copy for each time the
backup is done this hard drive must have about 100 copies of the
backup file/folders hidden in the dark, somewhere. I'm wondering if it
shows me only the most recent backup but keeps all those earlier
backups in some kind of hidden file or otherwise inaccessible without
some password/administrator requirements.

You failed to mention, or I missed it, which program you're using to
do your backups, what kind of backups it's configured to do, and what
program you're using to determine what's actually on the backup drive.

 

[Zaidy036]

I have a home built computer with an ASUS P7P55D motherboard, an Intel
processor and three hard drives. I am using Windows 7 Home Premium, SP
1 on this computer.

I have set these hard drives up such that drive C: is my client
programs drive, drive D: is my documents drive and drive F: is my
backup drive. I have things set up to do automatic back-ups each night
at 2:00 am. This has worked very well until recently. I now get a
backup failure notice and upon checking things out I find my drive F:
Backups drive is full. This is beyond my understanding because it has
the same files that are on my drive D: Documents drive.

The drive info is:
Drive C: Programs 465GB 54.7GB used 410GB free space
Drive D: Documents 465GB 166GB used 299GB free.
Drive E: CD/DVD drive.
Drive F: 465GB 465GB used 12MB free.

The file/folder content shown in Windows Explorer lists the exact same
folders/files on Drive F: as are shown on Drive D:

Why would drive F: be full while drive D is only about 1/3 filled?

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Gordon

I do not know which b/u program you are using BUT look at RoboCopy with
the /MIR option. Very easy to use and can generate a full log of its
actions. It will be very fast after the first run and can easily be set
up using Task Scheduler.

 

[Jeff Layman]

I have a home built computer with an ASUS P7P55D motherboard, an Intel
processor and three hard drives. I am using Windows 7 Home Premium, SP
1 on this computer.

I have set these hard drives up such that drive C: is my client
programs drive, drive D: is my documents drive and drive F: is my
backup drive. I have things set up to do automatic back-ups each night
at 2:00 am. This has worked very well until recently. I now get a
backup failure notice and upon checking things out I find my drive F:
Backups drive is full. This is beyond my understanding because it has
the same files that are on my drive D: Documents drive.

The drive info is:
Drive C: Programs 465GB 54.7GB used 410GB free space
Drive D: Documents 465GB 166GB used 299GB free.
Drive E: CD/DVD drive.
Drive F: 465GB 465GB used 12MB free.

The file/folder content shown in Windows Explorer lists the exact same
folders/files on Drive F: as are shown on Drive D:

Why would drive F: be full while drive D is only about 1/3 filled?

Any suggestions?

Try using something like SequoiaView to see what is using up your hard disk.
http://majorgeeks.com/SequoiaView_d5041.html

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Gordon.

My suspicion is the one you mentioned in your next post in this thread:

If there is a separate copy for each time the backup is done this hard
drive must have about 100 copies of the backup file/folders hidden in the
dark, somewhere.

As we often discuss in the Quicken newsgroup, there is a significant
difference between a "backup" and an "archive". Far too many users (myself
included, sometimes) confuse the two and store far too many unneeded - and
never used - backups.

An archive preserves something important for posterity. It might be
important years or even decades from now.

A backup is just insurance against a failure - machine or human - that makes
us unable to continue our normal activities. Like an expired auto insurance
policy, it is seldom useful except as a curiosity. If we have a string of
daily backups of our computer disk, we almost never need to look back to the
one from a month ago. Once we've verified that yesterday's backup is good,
then we are not likely to ever look at the one from last week. Of course,
if yesterday's backup is not good, then we need to go back, back, back...
until we find the last good one. But, once we've found that good one, all
the previous ones are disposable. (Also, of course, we need the latest
complete set of full+incremental backups if that is the system we use.)

You might want to keep a very few strategically dated ones - last year-end,
for example. But NOT EVERY daily backup!

I'll bet that if you delete about 99 of your 100 backups you'll never miss
them - and you'll have plenty of room for the next hundred or so. ;<)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2011 (Build 15.4.3538.0513) in Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1


"Antares 531" wrote in message

I have a home built computer with an ASUS P7P55D motherboard, an Intel
processor and three hard drives. I am using Windows 7 Home Premium, SP
1 on this computer.

I have set these hard drives up such that drive C: is my client
programs drive, drive D: is my documents drive and drive F: is my
backup drive. I have things set up to do automatic back-ups each night
at 2:00 am. This has worked very well until recently. I now get a
backup failure notice and upon checking things out I find my drive F:
Backups drive is full. This is beyond my understanding because it has
the same files that are on my drive D: Documents drive.

The drive info is:
Drive C: Programs 465GB 54.7GB used 410GB free space
Drive D: Documents 465GB 166GB used 299GB free.
Drive E: CD/DVD drive.
Drive F: 465GB 465GB used 12MB free.

The file/folder content shown in Windows Explorer lists the exact same
folders/files on Drive F: as are shown on Drive D:

Why would drive F: be full while drive D is only about 1/3 filled?

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Gordon

 

[Antares 531]

Hi, Gordon.

My suspicion is the one you mentioned in your next post in this thread:

You were right. I had a humongous collection of old backups and they
were all "invisible" in the ordinary MS Windows Explorer window. I did
some probing around and somehow got these files visible, then deleted
all but the last few copies. All is okay, now. Thanks, Gordon

I can't remember what I did to make these old backup files visible, or
why they were invisible to begin with|???

 

[Char Jackson]

You were right. I had a humongous collection of old backups and they
were all "invisible" in the ordinary MS Windows Explorer window. I did
some probing around and somehow got these files visible, then deleted
all but the last few copies. All is okay, now. Thanks, Gordon

I can't remember what I did to make these old backup files visible, or
why they were invisible to begin with|???

The bigger question might be, what other system changes did you make
while you were rummaging around and trying different things?

You should probably get in the habit of taking notes so that you know
where to go if you need to undo one of your changes.

 

[Antares 531]

The bigger question might be, what other system changes did you make
while you were rummaging around and trying different things?

You should probably get in the habit of taking notes so that you know
where to go if you need to undo one of your changes.

Right, but I think I "went by the rules" and didn't create any
changes.
The process I used was:
Start>Control Panel>Action Center, then in the left column I clicked
on Backup and Restore, then Manage Space. I then clicked the View
Backups in the pop-up window.
This was a slow, tedious process but I did a one-by-one delete of all
the older files, keeping only the very recent backups. This seems to
have worked well and my backup drive is now only about 1/3 filled.

This was sort of like looking for a hubcap that I had lost from my
jeep somewhere in the backroads wilderness, but I did finally find
what I was looking for.

Gordon