Running out of space on my backup drive.....what to do ?

Question

I keep getting msgs about my backup drive "D" is full, but every time I go to the "control panel" and click on "performance and maintanence" to "clear up space on your hard drive", nothing happens. I'm choosing "backup D" to cleanup....but nothing happens.

Is there a way to clear the whole backup drive ?? Would that screw everything up ?? I know, I admit it......I am a puter idiot. We just joined the rest of the world this year, broke down and got a computer.....so I'm really just learning.

Please help

Answer 1

Sounds like your computer is setup to backup your files automatically from wherever you bought your computer (HP,Dell, etc). When you bought your computer, lets say that you purchased a 40Gig hard drive. Even though you may only have 1 drive, it was split in two (called partitions). The partition that you normally work on is called the "C" drive (which the lettering method goes back decades, but kept for continuity). The second partition is the "D" drive. Think of a filing cabinet having different drawers in it - same concept.

If you open "My Computer" (assuming that you are windows), you will see the two drives (even though it actually one physical drive - each partition has its own letter). Anyway, if you right click (use the right button on the mouse, not the left) on the icon (picture) of the drive, and select "Properties", you will see how much space is used and free. You can also figure out the sizes of each partition.

Now, if you don't know what is backed up, I am not sure what you are going to actually see on the D drive if you double-click, because the PC manufacturer may have these files hidden from you.

There are ways to adjust the partition sizes (or even eliminate one), but as you admit to being a "nub" (pronounced New-be), I would not try to change these things on your own. Find a couple of local computer shops, and meet the owners or managers. Get a feel for who you want to do business with, then explain your situation. Get their advise and cost estimates before you do anything. Use a professional instead of a teen "wiz kid".

Given what you said above, I would see if they could tell you exactly what has been backed up, how it is continuing to be backed up, and maybe what could be done to keep your computer happy for the next year or two. Expect to spend about $100 for this. More is too much.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Normally, we backup only files that are important to us and difficult or time-consuming to recreate.

Perhaps you should set aside some time and decide what is worth keeping.

For starters, you could sort the files by date created, then delete the oldest files. Open a folder, click View, click Details. click on the heading "Date Created." Files will be sorted in that order.

If you just joined the rest of us this year, what have you been doing to have accumulated so much "stuff"?

Personally, I do not backup on the hard drive. When the PC crashes some day, and it will, all is lost. I keep backups on flashdrives. When external hard drives come down in price, I will buy one of those.

Answer 3

If you are using this drive only for backup information I can recommend you to use Acronis True Image. This software can backup your entire pc without copying catch, hibernate and other (useless for restoring) files, so it will increase your free space. After all with True Image you can backup your data to DVDs, CDs or FTP servers.

Answer 4

I would suggest that, u format your d: . But before that you take back up if the data is important.
You can either try, Disk Fregmentor and compression, but this will just give u a littlebit extra space, not too helpful. Its better you format your drive. I would have done that.

Answer 5

If you don't really know what you are doing don't be deleting all kinds of stuff or your computer or it will really be messed up.
Let someone who knows what there doing and watch and learn.
Good luck