Backup help required please

[Guest]

Hello,

I am using WXP on a 12mth old PC. I have Windows own backup utility and all
I want it to do via the wizard is backup all my documents.........sounds
simple but I keep getting a message that I have run out of space on the
medium to which I am backing up, but this is an external HD with 253GB free
space!!!

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Zilbandy]

I have Windows own backup utility and all
I want it to do via the wizard is backup all my documents.........sounds
simple but I keep getting a message that I have run out of space on the
medium to which I am backing up, but this is an external HD with 253GB free
space!!!

I don't use the Windows backup utility, but more than likely, the
problem has to do with the format of the external drive. If it is
formatted as FAT32, then the maximum file size of any file is 4gb.
Your backup file is likely larger than that. You need to reformat the
external drive to NTFS, which can handle files into the terabytes.

To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt, open the Command
Prompt window (Start / Run / type CMD and hit enter). In the command
prompt window, type the following:

convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing, "convert D: /fs:ntfs" (without the quotes) would
format drive D: with the ntfs format.

This should not delete any data already on the external drive, but
just to be on the safe side, backup important data first.

If you need a better backup utility, you might look into Acronis True
Image. It's not free, but it's well worth the price, in my opinion.