Backup is way too huge

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Hey Guys,

I have a external HD of 80G. Less than 10G is being utilized. When I try to
back it up, it tells me that the backup is too big for the volume. What is
making it so huge?

When I backup my C drive - 24G in a 60G HD - I get the same message. It says
the backup is 48+G, which it cannot handle. I'm sure I'm doing something
wrong but can't seem to figure out what it is.

Thaks for any help

Holly
 
Which of the dozens of backup programs are you using? What are the file
systems on the drives you are using. What are you trying to backup - your
internal drive to the external drive?

Write again and give complete information "plus"! You give nothing to allow
others to assist you.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
Hi,

What file system is the external drive using? If FAT32 and the backup file
exceeds 4GB, this won't work. This is a file size limitation, you would need
to use NTFS.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Dear Richard and Rick,

Thanks for responding to my problem. I'm backing up/ghosting an NTFS system.
There are no partitions, etc., and I'm using the standard Windows backup
because that's all I know about at this point. If there's something better,
shout.

I'll try to make my question more targeted: C, NTFS, which has 24 G worth of
files, is what I want to back up (the complete, whole shebang). I have a
second NTFS drive, D, which has a fresh, no frills installation of Windows
and few critical files copied from C, and contains 48G free space. When I
attempt to backup/ghost C onto D, at or near completion it kindly informs me
the backup, C, is too large for the D drive.

When I try to backup/ghost C onto C (maybe that's a no-no?) I get the same
answer, and no wonder to both. The backup is double the size of the original
files.
All I really want is to have either 1) A drive to boot into when C becomes
unstable, and to at least have the OS, my core apps and their associated
files OR, 2) Have a way to access C when things are so screwed up Last Known
or even Safe Mode doesn't help. I'm not very experienced at troubleshooting
and I'd welcome any plan that's idiot-proof.

Thanks

Holly
 
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