Can't do a system back-up

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Guest

Hi all
I have windows vista and purchased an external hard-drive (120Gb) for
back-ups etc. I am trying to do a windows complete pc back-up and restore
image but get a message telling me the external drive is not big enough. It
registers on the pc as having 111Gb of free space and I only need 40gb to do
the back-up. Can anyone advise how I can resolve this. I'm nervous about
getting a system crash and losing everything!

Many thanks
 
Hi all
I have windows vista and purchased an external hard-drive (120Gb) for
back-ups etc. I am trying to do a windows complete pc back-up and restore
image but get a message telling me the external drive is not big enough. It
registers on the pc as having 111Gb of free space and I only need 40gb to do
the back-up. Can anyone advise how I can resolve this. I'm nervous about
getting a system crash and losing everything!
Click to expand...



Reformat the external drive as NTFS.

Presumably the external drive is FAT32, and FAT32 has a file size
limit of 4GB. If you try to write a file larger than 4GB to it (and
presumably that's what's happening) you get the very misleading
message you describe.
 
Hi Ken
Thannks for the advice. I've checked and the format was done on NTFS. Any
other suggestions of what the problem might be?
Thanks again
 
Hi Ken
Thannks for the advice. I've checked and the format was done on NTFS. Any
other suggestions of what the problem might be?
Thanks again
Click to expand...


Sorry, no. Are you sure it's NTFS? How are you determining this?
 
Hi Ken
When I highlight the external hard drive and look under properties, it says
File System NTFS. But here's a weird thing - I bought another external drive
with way more capacity than i needed, and exactly the same thing has happened.

All suggestions gratefully received!!
 
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