Windows 7: Why is W7 Saying Not Enough Backup Space?

Hi,

I have now tried two ways to do a Windows Backup. My desktop hard drive is only 250GB and I know I have 755GB fee on my 1TB external hard drive, because it told me (both in the System Image setup and on the drive properties; y'know with the pie diagram).

So I know I have over three times as much space as I need. But it won't let me do a Backup nor a System Image onto the external hard drive, and the reason given is "not enough free space"!

Anyone know why this might be?



Thanks a lot

Hi,

You may have to defragment the external HDD, if it's too fragmented it might not allow a backup the same as when shrinking a partition.

Also, what format is the HDD? NTSC or FAT32?

You may try it with another program like Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download or Free Backup Software: Paragon Backup & Recovery (Advanced) Free Edition - Overview .

Check to be sure that your "system reserved" partition is not the one that is less then 50MB or whatever it is complaining about. I had that happen to me once. My C drive was fine, my external was fine, but the hidden System Reserved partition was causing the issue.

The strange part was why the system reserved was mostly full. A few reboots later and it had magically cleared up space on it's own and I was fine.

It is NTFS, but I just got a worrying error box; saying I will have to format the external HDD if I want to use it.

But it has everything from my old PC that I want to keep! (less than 200GB that's why I bought a 1TB ext hard drive). I'm assuming formatting will get rid of everything on it!

Yes, I will defrag it, but I will use my old PC, or the new one might format it.

I always used Syncback on the old PC, and was currently thinking of the paid version Syncback SE. I will look at your recommendations too, thanks

Thanks, how do I find out whether it is System Reserved causing the problem?

What is the precise error message? If it has a reference to "shadow..." then

The system reserved partition needs shadow storage space. You can check this in Disk management (right click Computer>Manage>Disk Management) the system reserved (100MB) should be around 70% free. If you've got 50% free or more then this isn't your problem.

But you should also check the VSS space on the storage volume.
From an elevated command prompt
>vssadmin list shadowstorage

will show you the available shadow storage space on your backup volume.

Thanks, this may be a dumb question, but are you referring to the external HDD being more than 50%? (The C drive is only 46% I think). Because I'm afraid to even connect the external HDD now because of the problem mentioned above:
...error box; saying I will have to format the external HDD if I want to use it.

But it has everything from my old PC that I want to keep! (less than 200GB that's why I bought a 1TB ext hard drive). I'm assuming formatting will get rid of everything on it!

When I attempted the System Image, I got something mentioning the "Shadow..." I'll dig out the error screen shot I took.



Sorry but the last sentence in the box above doesn't even make sense to me. I must be thick, but I don't get it. I'm a lesdyxic () visual learner, so diagrams are better than words (and numbers) for me.

But like I said, none of that makes any difference if the £100 external HDD I bought is gonna be formatted and I lose the last backup from my old PC!

That is my more pressing concern now, as this is a problem no matter what tool I use for backup, so anyone have any suggestions, other than buy another ext. HDD?

Thanks a lot

I'm about 99% sure it's the system reserved partition. The error message says for volumes under 500MB, you need at least 50MB free. Well, the System reserved partition is 100MB...and if you got less than 50MB of free space on it, you will get the error message that you see above.

Right click my computer, Manage, go to Disk Management. Right click on the System Reserved partition at the front. Choose change drive letter and path. Assign it a drive, like X. Then open My Computer and check the Free space. I'd bet a dollar to a donut that you have less than 50MB free.

Here is an article explaining this exact problem;
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...4-efe2afa59b7c

In my case, the partition just magically cleaned itself up within a few hours and I was able to run backups. What caused it to drop for a period of time under 50MB is still a mystery to me.

And if one doesn't have a System Reserved Partition and gets this error, what would it be then?

Perhaps a hidden recovery partition created by the manufacturer that is nearly full that they are unaware of. Again, you can check it just like I showed with the "System Reserved" partition.

I ran into this same issue when I first started using Windows 7. That's why I am always piping up saying, "hey check your System Reserved partition". It bit me once and confused me for awhile...until I really read through that error. I was positive my C and D drive had at least 1GB free and so did my external drive. So, I started looking elsewhere.