How to delete system area from backup disk?

[Neil]

I was installing a new HD in my laptop and used the Seagate Acronis software
to clone the HD to a Maxtor external USB drive. I later figured out that
was the wrong thing to do, I should have (and did) make a drive image on the
external drive and restore it. That worked fine but now my 320GB external
HD is down to 275GB and I can find no way to delete the clone files that I
copied there from my laptop because they contain system files and apparently
Vista protects them to the point that I can find no way to delete them.
Tried the acronis software and Vista Disk Management with no luck. I am
running Vista Home Prem.

Thanks for any help
Neil

 

[Richard Urban]

Format the drive!

 

[JohnDavid]

Try 'taking ownership' using the following tutorial link, then delete:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67717-take-ownership-file.html