Automatic File Backup

I have new PC with Vista Home Premium. My understanding is that once full
file backup is done, subsequent backups only include anything updated since
last backup. I did 2 backups only a week apart (with very little new in
between). My first backup used up 2 DVDs and took a really long time (like
1-2 hrs) which I thought was unusual since I've only used up 20% of my 250
GB hard drive. But even more weird was that, just one week later, my second
backup used up the first 2 DVDs from my first backup PLUS told me to insert
a brand new blank DVD to continue with the backup. At this point, I
cancelled the backup because I figured there must be something wrong. Why
would my 2nd backup take 3 DVDs when my first one only took 2 and I hardly
added or changed anything in between? And is it normal for backups to take
more than an hour in my case?

Michelle -- When I started out with my Vista Home Premium computer, I tried
to use DVD's as my backup media; however, this was futile for me because it
took too long and used many DVD's. I bought an external 160 GB USB drive
for about $60 that I use solely for backups and that has made my computer
backup management a breeze. The problem with backups subsequent to the first
one: most of your files do actually change between backups even though you
did not overtly change anything; things like your anti-virus program marking
the file as ok are enough to trigger the need to back it up again. Get that
external drive and you will be glad you did! Cheers....

"Michelle" <courtney-s@sssnet.com> wrote in message
news:2ECE6AE9-A75A-41B6-8566-ABE23F7319C8@microsoft.com...
>I have new PC with Vista Home Premium. My understanding is that once full
>file backup is done, subsequent backups only include anything updated since
>last backup. I did 2 backups only a week apart (with very little new in
>between). My first backup used up 2 DVDs and took a really long time (like
>1-2 hrs) which I thought was unusual since I've only used up 20% of my 250
>GB hard drive. But even more weird was that, just one week later, my
>second backup used up the first 2 DVDs from my first backup PLUS told me to
>insert a brand new blank DVD to continue with the backup. At this point, I
>cancelled the backup because I figured there must be something wrong. Why
>would my 2nd backup take 3 DVDs when my first one only took 2 and I hardly
>added or changed anything in between? And is it normal for backups to take
>more than an hour in my case?

Hello, my problem is with the external hard drive. I have bought a 320 gb
external hard drive for my weekly automatic backups, but it seems that all of
the backups are stored individually in the hard drive for a long time, so the
available space is about to be finished very soon.

Will the backup program delete the oldest backup file and continue, or will
I have to do something about that?

I have changed some settings after starting the oldest backup profiles (for
example, I have not included movies, etc), so does it has to do anything with
this problem?

As a last word, my external hard drive has a FAT format instead of the NTFS.

Thank you for your replies.

Are you doing incremental or complete backups each time?


--
Richard Hay
Windows Live Butterfly
Windows Beta Tester
http://WindowsObserver.com

"barbaros_akkurt" <barbarosakkurt@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:F02E0780-F103-4911-BBAB-CDBBB0B5F812@microsoft.com...
> Hello, my problem is with the external hard drive. I have bought a 320 gb
> external hard drive for my weekly automatic backups, but it seems that all
> of
> the backups are stored individually in the hard drive for a long time, so
> the
> available space is about to be finished very soon.
>
> Will the backup program delete the oldest backup file and continue, or
> will
> I have to do something about that?
>
> I have changed some settings after starting the oldest backup profiles
> (for
> example, I have not included movies, etc), so does it has to do anything
> with
> this problem?
>
> As a last word, my external hard drive has a FAT format instead of the
> NTFS.
>
> Thank you for your replies.