My external 500gb drive is being used for both Vista File Backup and
Complete PC Backup. It says I now have only 70gb free on the drive? I'm
puzzled on the disk usage. My file backups go into a folder under the
PC-Name folder called Backup Set 2007-08-05 230745 but the folder properties
says it has 0 bytes usage in 33 folders. I've been doing a scheduled file
backup once a week since August 5, 2007. Now my Complete PC Backup is under
WindowsImageBackup\PC-Name\Backup 2008-01-03 052342 and the folder
properties says it is using 91gb with 10 files inside. There are no other
Backup folders under WindowsImageBackup, just a Catalog folder taking 24kb
of space. I'm wondering where the remaining used space is at? I tried
changing folder view options to show hidden and system folders but they
don't account for the missing space. I wanted to delete a bunch of the old
File Backups to make room for more Complete Backups. I'm getting an error
when trying to start a Complete PC Backup saying there is not enough space
on the drive? The File Backup still works.
__________________
Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit, Intel Q6600 CPU, 2gb RAM, 500gb RAID-0 HD,
Nvidia 8800GTX 768mb GPU, 22" Widescreen LCD, Asus/ViXS Combo-210E TV Tuner,
Creative SoundBlaster X-FI Audio, Logitech MX518 Gaming Mouse, Logitech
Premium Stereo Headset, external Lacie 500gb USB backup drive

What I observe with my Vista backups -- Vista does not report the size of
the latest backups until you actually open the folder(s). So, go to your
drive; open the PC-name folder; then open the Backup Set folder (this may
require you to say yes to the UAC prompt); open the first Backup Files
folder, and then repeat for each of the Backup Files folders (may require
UAC permission at each one). When you have opened all of them, then the
folders going up the ladder back to the drive will report the actual size of
the folders (in the Folder Tips or in Properties). No doubt that with your
backups going back to August 2007, the total size of your Backup Set will be
quite large. My backup drive is only 160 GB and I can get about three
months out of it, then I just go in and flat delete all the Backup Set(s)
and start the cycle over. As far as I know, Vista has no mechanism to
delete your old backups, this is up to the user. Let us know how you make
out with this.
--
HP Pavilion - 2GB RAM - Core2 Duo CPU
Vista Home Premium
Office 2007

"Steve Mavronis" wrote in message
. ..
My external 500gb drive is being used for both Vista File Backup and
Complete PC Backup. It says I now have only 70gb free on the drive? I'm
puzzled on the disk usage. My file backups go into a folder under the
PC-Name folder called Backup Set 2007-08-05 230745 but the folder
properties says it has 0 bytes usage in 33 folders. I've been doing a
scheduled file backup once a week since August 5, 2007. Now my Complete PC
Backup is under WindowsImageBackup\PC-Name\Backup 2008-01-03 052342 and
the folder properties says it is using 91gb with 10 files inside. There
are no other Backup folders under WindowsImageBackup, just a Catalog
folder taking 24kb of space. I'm wondering where the remaining used space
is at? I tried changing folder view options to show hidden and system
folders but they don't account for the missing space. I wanted to delete a
bunch of the old File Backups to make room for more Complete Backups. I'm
getting an error when trying to start a Complete PC Backup saying there is
not enough space on the drive? The File Backup still works.
__________________
Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit, Intel Q6600 CPU, 2gb RAM, 500gb RAID-0 HD,
Nvidia 8800GTX 768mb GPU, 22" Widescreen LCD, Asus/ViXS Combo-210E TV
Tuner, Creative SoundBlaster X-FI Audio, Logitech MX518 Gaming Mouse,
Logitech Premium Stereo Headset, external Lacie 500gb USB backup drive

Thanks, John. That appears to be the case. I guess I will delete all backups
(file backup sets and complete pc backup sets) and start them over. It will
probably be easier to delete everything on the drive (or quick format) since
its only used for Vista backups.

"John Hanley" wrote in message
...
What I observe with my Vista backups -- Vista does not report the size of
the latest backups until you actually open the folder(s). So, go to your
drive; open the PC-name folder; then open the Backup Set folder (this may
require you to say yes to the UAC prompt); open the first Backup Files
folder, and then repeat for each of the Backup Files folders (may require
UAC permission at each one). When you have opened all of them, then the
folders going up the ladder back to the drive will report the actual size
of the folders (in the Folder Tips or in Properties). No doubt that with
your backups going back to August 2007, the total size of your Backup Set
will be quite large. My backup drive is only 160 GB and I can get about
three months out of it, then I just go in and flat delete all the Backup
Set(s) and start the cycle over. As far as I know, Vista has no
mechanism to delete your old backups, this is up to the user. Let us
know how you make out with this.
--
HP Pavilion - 2GB RAM - Core2 Duo CPU
Vista Home Premium
Office 2007

"Steve Mavronis" wrote in message
. ..
My external 500gb drive is being used for both Vista File Backup and
Complete PC Backup. It says I now have only 70gb free on the drive? I'm
puzzled on the disk usage. My file backups go into a folder under the
PC-Name folder called Backup Set 2007-08-05 230745 but the folder
properties says it has 0 bytes usage in 33 folders. I've been doing a
scheduled file backup once a week since August 5, 2007. Now my Complete
PC Backup is under WindowsImageBackup\PC-Name\Backup 2008-01-03 052342
and the folder properties says it is using 91gb with 10 files inside.
There are no other Backup folders under WindowsImageBackup, just a
Catalog folder taking 24kb of space. I'm wondering where the remaining
used space is at? I tried changing folder view options to show hidden and
system folders but they don't account for the missing space. I wanted to
delete a bunch of the old File Backups to make room for more Complete
Backups. I'm getting an error when trying to start a Complete PC Backup
saying there is not enough space on the drive? The File Backup still
works.
__________________
Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit, Intel Q6600 CPU, 2gb RAM, 500gb RAID-0 HD,
Nvidia 8800GTX 768mb GPU, 22" Widescreen LCD, Asus/ViXS Combo-210E TV
Tuner, Creative SoundBlaster X-FI Audio, Logitech MX518 Gaming Mouse,
Logitech Premium Stereo Headset, external Lacie 500gb USB backup drive

"John Hanley" wrote in message
...
What I observe with my Vista backups -- Vista does not report the size of
the latest backups until you actually open the folder(s). So, go to your
drive; open the PC-name folder; then open the Backup Set folder (this may
require you to say yes to the UAC prompt); open the first Backup Files
folder, and then repeat for each of the Backup Files folders (may require
UAC permission at each one). When you have opened all of them, then the
folders going up the ladder back to the drive will report the actual size
of the folders (in the Folder Tips or in Properties). No doubt that with
your backups going back to August 2007, the total size of your Backup Set
will be quite large. My backup drive is only 160 GB and I can get about
three months out of it, then I just go in and flat delete all the Backup
Set(s) and start the cycle over. As far as I know, Vista has no
mechanism to delete your old backups, this is up to the user. Let us
know how you make out with this.
--
HP Pavilion - 2GB RAM - Core2 Duo CPU
Vista Home Premium
Office 2007

And what happens if your drive locks up and you can't get to your backups?

What a false sense of security.

"Canuck57" wrote in message
news:O_FCj.87689$w94.54808@pd7urf2no...
And what happens if your drive locks up and you can't get to your backups?

What a false sense of security.

Yeah that would be my luck. The bad thing is that the Vista File backup and
Complete PC Backup are supposed to automatically discard the oldest backup
sets to make room for new ones. That feature seems to be broken. I'm hoping
Microsoft is fixing this in the coming Vista service pack.