Backing up XP and 2000 pro with Backup utility

[Guest]

When I try to back up my files using MS Backup utility, I get the message
that there is not enough room. I am backing up to an external hard drive
with 72 Gig. of room. I have used 4 gig. on the external harddrive. Why do
I get this message, and how can I "Back up everything on this computer"? I
have tried on 2 of my computers, my desktop & laptop, and get the same
message on both. There is only one partition on the external hd.
Thanks

 

[Guest]

Probably because it's formatted FAT32 which limits each
file to 4GB. Try formatting it as NTFS.

 

[Guest]

Can I reformat to NTFS now that the disk has data on it?

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Can I reformat to NTFS now that the disk has data on it?

You don't want to reformat it, you want to convert it. To convert
to NTFS, you use the CONVERT command. But first read
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm because there's an issue
regarding cluster size that isn't obvious.


Also note that conversion is a big step, affecting everything on
your drive. When you take such a big step, no matter how
unlikely, it is always possible that something could go wrong.
For that reason, it's prudent to make sure you have a backup of
anything you can't afford to lose before beginning.

 

[Alex Nichol]

When I try to back up my files using MS Backup utility, I get the message
that there is not enough room. I am backing up to an external hard drive
with 72 Gig. of room. I have used 4 gig. on the external harddrive. Why do
I get this message, and how can I "Back up everything on this computer"?

4GB is the limit of size of a file in FAT 32. And I rather think is
also built into the design of NTBackup, so that files can be stored on
FAAT 32 partitions without trouble. Check if the external disk is FAT
32 (which they quite often are if they come formatted), but either way I
think this is the limit you are hitting; on the size of backup file
rather than disk space.