Backup Question

[Davet102]

I'm using Windows Vista.

I have been using the Backup utility to back up the seletced files to an
external Hard Drive.

I have plenty of space on the drive.

I just want to ask these questions before I have to clear out the drive.

1. Does the Backup completely backup every file eveytime it runs or does it
just back up the files that only changed?

2. Is there a way to set it up to do a complete backup everytime?

3. If it does the "incremental" backup (only the files that changed) how do
I go about deleting old backups when I may need them?

All the backup files seem to be a different size. The bery first one is huge
and all the ones after that are very much smaller and andom in size. That is
why I asked about the "incremental" backup.

Thanks

Bob

 

[Jon]

I'm using Windows Vista.

I have been using the Backup utility to back up the seletced files to an
external Hard Drive.

I have plenty of space on the drive.

I just want to ask these questions before I have to clear out the drive.

1. Does the Backup completely backup every file eveytime it runs or does
it
just back up the files that only changed?

Only the files that have changed (except for the first run)

2. Is there a way to set it up to do a complete backup everytime?

Not on a scheduled basis, but you can "start a new full backup" manually at
any time which creates a new backup set. You'll see it's in a separate
folder if you browse to the backups drive and look in the folder with the
same name as your computer.

3. If it does the "incremental" backup (only the files that changed) how
do
I go about deleting old backups when I may need them?

You can create a new backup set as suggested in 2, and then delete the other
folder manually from the backups folder (eg via explorer). [NB To fully
clear up you'd need to delete some 'ghost entries' in wbcat files, but that
takes up no space and isn't strictly required ]

All the backup files seem to be a different size. The bery first one is
huge
and all the ones after that are very much smaller and andom in size. That
is
why I asked about the "incremental" backup.

Thanks

Bob

Yep, sounds like you already understand the incremental process.

There's a pretty good Channel 9 video on it if you want to explore it in
more detail.


Windows Vista "Time Warp": Understanding Vista's Backup and Restore
Technologies
http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=286303