Vista Backup won't recognize external WD hard drive

Greetings Vista gurus,

I just bought a new Western Digital "Passport" external (USB) portable hard
drive. The drive is working fine, I can see it in Windows Explorer and
manually copy files to & from it. But when I try to use Windows Backup (from
Vista's Backup & Restore Center), I immediately get an error message that the
backup target drive failed: "The backup disk has a corrupted file system.
Fix it using the disk error checking tool, or choose a different backup
location." Western Digital tech support says that their hard drive is
obviously okay, since I can read from and write to it, and they do not
support Windows software.

Two questions....

(1) Why would Backup claim a corrupted file system when Vista can see, read,
and write to the same file system with other applications?

(2) What is "the disk error checking tool," where do I find it, and would
that help me?

Thanks much for any pointers or suggestions!

--Nevet

If you do not have too much information already on your external drive I
would copy it elsewhere. Then I would delete the drives partition and create
a new partition on the external hard drive. I would create this as a NTFS
partition which has more security and built in recovery than a fat32
partition.

Then, before I tried to store anything on the drive I would run an error
check on the drive.

From an elevated command prompt type chkdsk XXX: /f (where XXX is the drive
letter of your external drive).

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)



"Nevet" <Nevet@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BD62387D-D621-4F48-A75E-14575609ACD7@microsoft.com...
> Greetings Vista gurus,
>
> I just bought a new Western Digital "Passport" external (USB) portable
> hard
> drive. The drive is working fine, I can see it in Windows Explorer and
> manually copy files to & from it. But when I try to use Windows Backup
> (from
> Vista's Backup & Restore Center), I immediately get an error message that
> the
> backup target drive failed: "The backup disk has a corrupted file system.
> Fix it using the disk error checking tool, or choose a different backup
> location." Western Digital tech support says that their hard drive is
> obviously okay, since I can read from and write to it, and they do not
> support Windows software.
>
> Two questions....
>
> (1) Why would Backup claim a corrupted file system when Vista can see,
> read,
> and write to the same file system with other applications?
>
> (2) What is "the disk error checking tool," where do I find it, and would
> that help me?
>
> Thanks much for any pointers or suggestions!
>
> --Nevet

Thanks, Richard. I ran chkdsk /f and it reported no problems on the (FAT32)
drive. In fact, the drive seems fine for all applications except for Windows
Backup.

Can anybody recommend a third-party backup & restore application that works
with Vista? Or any other ideas as to why Windows Backup doesn't like my
external drive?

--Nevet

"Richard Urban" wrote:

> If you do not have too much information already on your external drive I
> would copy it elsewhere. Then I would delete the drives partition and create
> a new partition on the external hard drive. I would create this as a NTFS
> partition which has more security and built in recovery than a fat32
> partition.
>
> Then, before I tried to store anything on the drive I would run an error
> check on the drive.
>
> From an elevated command prompt type chkdsk XXX: /f (where XXX is the drive
> letter of your external drive).
>
> --
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>
>
>
> "Nevet" <Nevet@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:BD62387D-D621-4F48-A75E-14575609ACD7@microsoft.com...
> > Greetings Vista gurus,
> >
> > I just bought a new Western Digital "Passport" external (USB) portable
> > hard
> > drive. The drive is working fine, I can see it in Windows Explorer and
> > manually copy files to & from it. But when I try to use Windows Backup
> > (from
> > Vista's Backup & Restore Center), I immediately get an error message that
> > the
> > backup target drive failed: "The backup disk has a corrupted file system.
> > Fix it using the disk error checking tool, or choose a different backup
> > location." Western Digital tech support says that their hard drive is
> > obviously okay, since I can read from and write to it, and they do not
> > support Windows software.
> >
> > Two questions....
> >
> > (1) Why would Backup claim a corrupted file system when Vista can see,
> > read,
> > and write to the same file system with other applications?
> >
> > (2) What is "the disk error checking tool," where do I find it, and would
> > that help me?
> >
> > Thanks much for any pointers or suggestions!
> >
> > --Nevet
>
>

You are having a problem because the drive is formatted as fat32. Remember,
I said to format as NTFS. Fat32 has a file size limitation of 4 gig - max. A
full system backup is going to exceed this, and will therefore fail.

If you format as NTFS you will have no such limitations.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)



"Nevet" <Nevet@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9DBFD9FC-A3FB-4903-BFBE-D9F0DAA63DB8@microsoft.com...
> Thanks, Richard. I ran chkdsk /f and it reported no problems on the
> (FAT32)
> drive. In fact, the drive seems fine for all applications except for
> Windows
> Backup.
>
> Can anybody recommend a third-party backup & restore application that
> works
> with Vista? Or any other ideas as to why Windows Backup doesn't like my
> external drive?
>
> --Nevet
>
> "Richard Urban" wrote:
>
>> If you do not have too much information already on your external drive I
>> would copy it elsewhere. Then I would delete the drives partition and
>> create
>> a new partition on the external hard drive. I would create this as a NTFS
>> partition which has more security and built in recovery than a fat32
>> partition.
>>
>> Then, before I tried to store anything on the drive I would run an error
>> check on the drive.
>>
>> From an elevated command prompt type chkdsk XXX: /f (where XXX is the
>> drive
>> letter of your external drive).
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Richard Urban
>> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>>
>>
>>
>> "Nevet" <Nevet@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:BD62387D-D621-4F48-A75E-14575609ACD7@microsoft.com...
>> > Greetings Vista gurus,
>> >
>> > I just bought a new Western Digital "Passport" external (USB) portable
>> > hard
>> > drive. The drive is working fine, I can see it in Windows Explorer and
>> > manually copy files to & from it. But when I try to use Windows Backup
>> > (from
>> > Vista's Backup & Restore Center), I immediately get an error message
>> > that
>> > the
>> > backup target drive failed: "The backup disk has a corrupted file
>> > system.
>> > Fix it using the disk error checking tool, or choose a different backup
>> > location." Western Digital tech support says that their hard drive is
>> > obviously okay, since I can read from and write to it, and they do not
>> > support Windows software.
>> >
>> > Two questions....
>> >
>> > (1) Why would Backup claim a corrupted file system when Vista can see,
>> > read,
>> > and write to the same file system with other applications?
>> >
>> > (2) What is "the disk error checking tool," where do I find it, and
>> > would
>> > that help me?
>> >
>> > Thanks much for any pointers or suggestions!
>> >
>> > --Nevet
>>
>>

Thanks, Richard. I tried that, still no cigar..... I moved my files off the
hard drive, deleted the FAT32 partition, created a new NTFS partition and
formatted it. CHKDSK reports no problem. Still, Backup fails immediately:
"The backup target drive F:\ failed with the following error: The backup
location could not be found or is not valid." I've removed my McAfee
firewall and anti-virus and rebooted, to no avail.

Any other ideas?

--Nevet

"Richard Urban" wrote:

> You are having a problem because the drive is formatted as fat32. Remember,
> I said to format as NTFS. Fat32 has a file size limitation of 4 gig - max. A
> full system backup is going to exceed this, and will therefore fail.
>
> If you format as NTFS you will have no such limitations.
>
> --
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>
>
>
> "Nevet" <Nevet@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:9DBFD9FC-A3FB-4903-BFBE-D9F0DAA63DB8@microsoft.com...
> > Thanks, Richard. I ran chkdsk /f and it reported no problems on the
> > (FAT32)
> > drive. In fact, the drive seems fine for all applications except for
> > Windows
> > Backup.
> >
> > Can anybody recommend a third-party backup & restore application that
> > works
> > with Vista? Or any other ideas as to why Windows Backup doesn't like my
> > external drive?
> >
> > --Nevet
> >
> > "Richard Urban" wrote:
> >
> >> If you do not have too much information already on your external drive I
> >> would copy it elsewhere. Then I would delete the drives partition and
> >> create
> >> a new partition on the external hard drive. I would create this as a NTFS
> >> partition which has more security and built in recovery than a fat32
> >> partition.
> >>
> >> Then, before I tried to store anything on the drive I would run an error
> >> check on the drive.
> >>
> >> From an elevated command prompt type chkdsk XXX: /f (where XXX is the
> >> drive
> >> letter of your external drive).
> >>
> >> --
> >>
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> Richard Urban
> >> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
> >> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> "Nevet" <Nevet@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:BD62387D-D621-4F48-A75E-14575609ACD7@microsoft.com...
> >> > Greetings Vista gurus,
> >> >
> >> > I just bought a new Western Digital "Passport" external (USB) portable
> >> > hard
> >> > drive. The drive is working fine, I can see it in Windows Explorer and
> >> > manually copy files to & from it. But when I try to use Windows Backup
> >> > (from
> >> > Vista's Backup & Restore Center), I immediately get an error message
> >> > that
> >> > the
> >> > backup target drive failed: "The backup disk has a corrupted file
> >> > system.
> >> > Fix it using the disk error checking tool, or choose a different backup
> >> > location." Western Digital tech support says that their hard drive is
> >> > obviously okay, since I can read from and write to it, and they do not
> >> > support Windows software.
> >> >
> >> > Two questions....
> >> >
> >> > (1) Why would Backup claim a corrupted file system when Vista can see,
> >> > read,
> >> > and write to the same file system with other applications?
> >> >
> >> > (2) What is "the disk error checking tool," where do I find it, and
> >> > would
> >> > that help me?
> >> >
> >> > Thanks much for any pointers or suggestions!
> >> >
> >> > --Nevet
> >>
> >>
>
>

Hi, Nevet.

Have you found and used Disk Management? Ever since Windows 2000, DM has
been the tool to use for creating, deleting, formatting and otherwise
managing hard drives (plus optical drives, USB thumb drives, etc.).

To find it, you can right-click Computer, then Manage, then Disk Management.
(But I prefer to Run diskmgmt.msc; I use this so often that it's on my Quick
Launch.)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)

"Nevet" <Nevet@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:75FE8D1E-8A17-4EB6-A61F-044E3776FA03@microsoft.com...
> Thanks, Richard. I tried that, still no cigar..... I moved my files off
> the
> hard drive, deleted the FAT32 partition, created a new NTFS partition and
> formatted it. CHKDSK reports no problem. Still, Backup fails
> immediately:
> "The backup target drive F:\ failed with the following error: The backup
> location could not be found or is not valid." I've removed my McAfee
> firewall and anti-virus and rebooted, to no avail.
>
> Any other ideas?
>
> --Nevet
>
> "Richard Urban" wrote:
>
>> You are having a problem because the drive is formatted as fat32.
>> Remember,
>> I said to format as NTFS. Fat32 has a file size limitation of 4 gig -
>> max. A
>> full system backup is going to exceed this, and will therefore fail.
>>
>> If you format as NTFS you will have no such limitations.
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Richard Urban
>> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>>
>> "Nevet" <Nevet@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:9DBFD9FC-A3FB-4903-BFBE-D9F0DAA63DB8@microsoft.com...
>> > Thanks, Richard. I ran chkdsk /f and it reported no problems on the
>> > (FAT32)
>> > drive. In fact, the drive seems fine for all applications except for
>> > Windows
>> > Backup.
>> >
>> > Can anybody recommend a third-party backup & restore application that
>> > works
>> > with Vista? Or any other ideas as to why Windows Backup doesn't like
>> > my
>> > external drive?
>> >
>> > --Nevet
>> >
>> > "Richard Urban" wrote:
>> >
>> >> If you do not have too much information already on your external drive
>> >> I
>> >> would copy it elsewhere. Then I would delete the drives partition and
>> >> create
>> >> a new partition on the external hard drive. I would create this as a
>> >> NTFS
>> >> partition which has more security and built in recovery than a fat32
>> >> partition.
>> >>
>> >> Then, before I tried to store anything on the drive I would run an
>> >> error
>> >> check on the drive.
>> >>
>> >> From an elevated command prompt type chkdsk XXX: /f (where XXX is the
>> >> drive
>> >> letter of your external drive).
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Regards,
>> >>
>> >> Richard Urban
>> >> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>> >>
>> >> "Nevet" <Nevet@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:BD62387D-D621-4F48-A75E-14575609ACD7@microsoft.com...
>> >> > Greetings Vista gurus,
>> >> >
>> >> > I just bought a new Western Digital "Passport" external (USB)
>> >> > portable
>> >> > hard
>> >> > drive. The drive is working fine, I can see it in Windows Explorer
>> >> > and
>> >> > manually copy files to & from it. But when I try to use Windows
>> >> > Backup
>> >> > (from
>> >> > Vista's Backup & Restore Center), I immediately get an error message
>> >> > that
>> >> > the
>> >> > backup target drive failed: "The backup disk has a corrupted file
>> >> > system.
>> >> > Fix it using the disk error checking tool, or choose a different
>> >> > backup
>> >> > location." Western Digital tech support says that their hard drive
>> >> > is
>> >> > obviously okay, since I can read from and write to it, and they do
>> >> > not
>> >> > support Windows software.
>> >> >
>> >> > Two questions....
>> >> >
>> >> > (1) Why would Backup claim a corrupted file system when Vista can
>> >> > see,
>> >> > read,
>> >> > and write to the same file system with other applications?
>> >> >
>> >> > (2) What is "the disk error checking tool," where do I find it, and
>> >> > would
>> >> > that help me?
>> >> >
>> >> > Thanks much for any pointers or suggestions!
>> >> >
>> >> > --Nevet

R.C.,

Yes, I used Disk Management to create and format the hard drive.

To reiterate, the hard drive itself is fine. I can read and write to it
(now using an NTFS partition) from Windows Explorer and other applications.
My only problem is using Windows Backup in Vista, which *immediately* fails,
with an error message that "the backup location cannot be found or is not
valid."


"R. C. White" wrote:

> Hi, Nevet.
>
> Have you found and used Disk Management? Ever since Windows 2000, DM has
> been the tool to use for creating, deleting, formatting and otherwise
> managing hard drives (plus optical drives, USB thumb drives, etc.).
>
> To find it, you can right-click Computer, then Manage, then Disk Management.
> (But I prefer to Run diskmgmt.msc; I use this so often that it's on my Quick
> Launch.)
>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
> rc@grandecom.net
> Microsoft Windows MVP
> (Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)
>

I could be wrong, but I think Windows Backup has some problems of its own.
I'm trying out the Windows Live One Care, which has a backup program very
similar to the Vista backup program (I expect using some of the same code),
and I have lots of problems with the program not recognizing DVD disks that
it made and verified. It will then say the disk isn't in the drive or isn't
a valid backup disk. Of course, this is a slightly different type of error,
but it is possible your drive is fine but the backup program is just not
working correctly.

"Nevet" wrote:

> R.C.,
>
> Yes, I used Disk Management to create and format the hard drive.
>
> To reiterate, the hard drive itself is fine. I can read and write to it
> (now using an NTFS partition) from Windows Explorer and other applications.
> My only problem is using Windows Backup in Vista, which *immediately* fails,
> with an error message that "the backup location cannot be found or is not
> valid."
>
>
> "R. C. White" wrote:
>
> > Hi, Nevet.
> >
> > Have you found and used Disk Management? Ever since Windows 2000, DM has
> > been the tool to use for creating, deleting, formatting and otherwise
> > managing hard drives (plus optical drives, USB thumb drives, etc.).
> >
> > To find it, you can right-click Computer, then Manage, then Disk Management.
> > (But I prefer to Run diskmgmt.msc; I use this so often that it's on my Quick
> > Launch.)
> >
> > RC
> > --
> > R. C. White, CPA
> > San Marcos, TX
> > rc@grandecom.net
> > Microsoft Windows MVP
> > (Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)
> >
>

Thank you, Jo! That sounds right. I assumed all along that the problem was
with Vista Backup, since the disk is recognized and works fine with other
applications. Can any Microsoft insiders confirm this, or provide a
workaround or patch?

Alternately, can anybody recommend an inexpensive Vista-compatible
third-party backup utility? I would like to be able to specify which files
and folders to back up (something I couldn't figure out how to do with
Windows Backup), including system and application configuration information
(Registry, Start menu, Favorites, etc.), and be able to have both manual
(forced) backups and automatic (timed) ones, with only incremental file
changes copied each time. Is there anything out there that fits the bill?

Thanks, --Nevet

"Jo" wrote:

> I could be wrong, but I think Windows Backup has some problems of its own.
> I'm trying out the Windows Live One Care, which has a backup program very
> similar to the Vista backup program (I expect using some of the same code),
> and I have lots of problems with the program not recognizing DVD disks that
> it made and verified. It will then say the disk isn't in the drive or isn't
> a valid backup disk. Of course, this is a slightly different type of error,
> but it is possible your drive is fine but the backup program is just not
> working correctly.
>

Hi,
I have the same problem. If anyone can help, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

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