Vista - How to undo backup which has caused the second HD to fill to capac

I have a new Core2 Duo laptop with two internal 120GB hard drives and Vista
Home Premium installed by the manufacturer. The machine worked well until I
recently decided to start backing up using the Vista backup feature. Overtime
the drive (that appeared to be vacant earlier) filled to the point where
warnings appeared everytime I started the machine. When I look at the
properties of this full drive, the pie chart is indeed very full. However
when I look at its contents I find only 26.2 GB. I contacted the
manufacturer and was told that to solve the problem I would have to reinstall
the software from the recovery disk and start all over. I find this solution
unaccepatble as I have spent much time loading software and files.

I have eliminated unwanted programs, and defragmented the full disk with no
significant change in the pie chart.

I have since bought a 500GB external hard drive to store files and backup.
I have not begun to use it. Before I do I would like to clear the full D
drive.

How does one undo the backup a get back to where I was??

Additional info: C Drive has 82GB in it. D Drive has near 120 GB.
Toshiba Satellite X205

Thanks for any suggestions that you may render!

--
FGA-P.E.

The space is probably being used for System Restore Points and "Previous Versions" (Shadow Copies) of files.

Since you have an external drive to which you want to save your data, the quickest way for you to clear your D: would be to copy whatever relevant data you have there to your external drive. If you have re-directed any personal user folders (Pictures, Document, etc) to D:, restore them to their default locations. Once you have done this, format the drive. When the format is complete, restore any personal user folders back to D:, and you'll have a nice, clean D:

dzomlija,
Thanks for your response.
The full drive in question shows 26.2 GB of the back up files under my name.
If I follow your suggestion, using the external hard drive, I could backup
my data and video files from the C drive tothe external drive. Could I then
delete the 26.2 GB in the full drive directly?

I was told by Toshiba the D drive has the operating system on it. (Also i
checked the max shadow: it is 16.6 GB ). She also said something about one
drive mirrors what is on the other; I didn't quite get that explanation.

When you say format the D drive, I assume you mean to reload the software
from the recovery disk. That will format both drives won't it? Won't that
will wipe out all the software that has taken so much time to load and
organize?

--
FGA-P.E.


"dzomlija" wrote:

If you are the 26.2 GB is being used only by the backup files created by Windows Backup, then simply deleting them will free up that space.

I'm guessing that this 26.2 GB is being taken up by relatively few files? Can you provide a listing of the folder contents? An attached screenshot will do.

On laptops, specifically Toshiba, the C: contains your operating system, and the D: is usually empty when the machine is new. There should be a third (hidden) partition that contains the recovery image.

Unless the computer physically has 2 separate hard disks, I don't really see how mirroring could have been setup. If you have, for example, two 200GB drives on your system, and you've setup the one to mirror the other (using a RAID controller), then you'll only have 200GB storage space. If the drive fails, then the data is not lost, because the mirror is still working. Theoretically, it should simply be a matter of removing the failed hard disk.

But a RAID Mirror setup is highly unlikely in a laptop, and a software based mirror will slow down the computer too much to be of any real value.

In my experience, using the recovery partition should only wipe the C: back to a factory default state, with the assumption that the D: has been used for personal user data, but it wouldn't hurt to have copies of whatever data exists on either partition somewhere else - for example your external drive.

Don't mess with your system restore on D. It is hidden. Delete your backup
or move to your other drive.

"EE-Gene" <EEGene@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:C4EE0C9D-889D-4886-BD1C-2E1066D0202D@xxxxxx

What I observe with my Vista backups -- Vista does not report the size of
the latest backups until you actually open the folder(s). This is probably
why your pie chart shows as full but you only 'see' 26.2 GB. 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 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 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.


"EE-Gene" <EEGene@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:C4EE0C9D-889D-4886-BD1C-2E1066D0202D@xxxxxx

dzomlija, John Hanley, John Barnes,
Thanks all for your responses. Here is some feedback to your responses and
additional questions.

The "26.2 GB" are my files. There are many backup files listed chronologic
order. After the first two of 26.2GB, some of the later ones have 0 GB
indicating to me failed back ups. (Actually as I have now expanded the view,
the properties are 82 GB! Wonder why it changes as I expand and check
each?) I have deleted those with 0GB backup. I will continue to delete
these after setting up my external drive.

Also on this drive is a Catalog Folder of 28 MB. These appear to be related
to Restore & Backup. Through this path I have turned off the Automatic Backup.

Another folder on with a long name of letters and digits includes
mrt.exe._p and mrtstub files. Any clue as to what these are for?

The Toshiba X205 does have two physical 120GB hard drives. It is a high end
($2K)machine set up for gaming. I chose it so that I could prepare home
movie and video DVDs using Pinnacle software. The Toshiba description does
not say anything about Raid.

The device manager for disk drives tells me there are a Toshiba, Fujitsu
and a IMD-0 devices as well as those for the printer and the External drive.
Are these the three suggested?

I have read under Disc Group Hardware & Devices that there are Vista issues
related to writing on the external drive and that NTFS should be used instead
of FAT32 (See comments by Richard Urban & Mike Hall). Pinnacle, the software
house for video editing suggests that I use a separate hard drive to store
the video files apart frm the software. Should I set up the external drive
in any particular way as to store backups, video files and in the NTFS format?

Thanks again!

--
FGA-P.E.


"dzomlija" wrote:

John,
Thanks!
See my post under dzomlija.
--
FGA-P.E.


"John Barnes" wrote:

John,
Thanks!
See my post under dzomlija.
--
FGA-P.E.


"John Hanley" wrote: