Severe loss of disk space after backup

[John L]

Although I have read various threads about similar problems, none seem to
provide me with an answer to this problem - help please.

I have a simple system on which my 300Gb drive D is used solely for data
backups (restore points are on C. For months all worked well with small
increments in disc usage, as expected. I could could easily maintain two
backup sets and, to free disc space, delete the oldest and start a new one.

Everything then changed for no reason which I could identify. Drive D:
became almost full and backups would fail. Deletion of a backup set was
followed rapidly by the disk becoming full again. In frustration I twice
re-formated drive D: to make a fresh start.

A recent sequence during which few changes were made to my data is as follows:

Format D: - used space 98Mb
After 1st backup - used space 81Gb - as expected
After 2nd backup - used space 86Gb - seems reasonable
After 3rd backup - used space 167Gb - no explanation - has backup data been
duplicated?
Then, 2 days later, it jumps to 248Gb so I turn backup off.

 

[DonH]

I could be wrong, but i think you may be backing up your backups. Check
your backup options and make sure you arent backing up your back up
drive along with your primary drive.

I'm having a similar problem and your post made me think...I've moved most
of my default folders from C:\ to D:\ with the rest of my data. I'm still not
comfortable with the way Vista handles those redirects. In backing up both C:
(no choice) and D:, am I backing up those same files again? And...where are
the shadow copies stored? With shadow copies, it seems that backing up daily
is overkill. Especially for database files like Outlook and QuickBooks that
change constantly.

Comments?

 

[John L]

Thanks - at first backing up my backups seemed a strong contender but after a
little investigation, I doubt if this is happening. I have laboriously looked
through the zip files in my two most recent backups and all pathnames start
with 'C' - not my backup drive. It is interesting to note that much of the
backed-up data has not knowingly been touched for a long time.

In 'backup settings', I can see how to specify the backup drive but there
doesn't seem to be a way of saying 'backup C: only' - any ideas?

Incidently, I had left indexing on the backup drive. I guess this is
pointless and a waste of time. I wonder, could it possibly have on bearing on
what data is backed-up?