Windows 7: Windows Image Backup file taking up 400GB+

Hi guys, thanks for looking at this.

We've had a desk top for some time now, and we have two drives, as you might expect, the C Drive & D Drive.



We have never used the D Drive, but it has been getting filled up slowly in a .vhd file, starting with the title D:WindowsImageBackup.

This wasn't a problem initially, but now this drive has only 7% of its space left, and I've no idea what this file does.

If it is a back up, what do I need to do to get it under control, as this cannot carry on!

I'm sure this has been asked before, but:

• Can I get rid of this file;
• What am I risking if I do;
• What else do I need to consider?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Sonny

It's a Windows system image backup file. Are you sure somebody else using the computer is not taking regular images or scheduled a task to get a system image.

Hi sonnymack and welcome to seven forums.

The WindowsImageBackup file is where Windows stores its image backups of your system. Presumably you have been running this on a regular basis. You can delete this folder but you will no longer have any backup images of your system until you run the backup again.

That might be the case, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't done deliberately; I wouldn't know how to. What kind of programs do that? Forgive my ignorance, I'm not too good at this stuff.

Thanks for the advice. I didn't even know I'd been running a backup. The last one was taken on 1/8/11, by the looks of things.

If you open the Control Panel. Under System and security there is a link Backup your system. This will take you to the backup center where you will be able to see what is going on.

If you make regular scheduled backups with Windows, the default includes a tick in the system image box. This means that in addition to backing up your personal files and folder you are making an image as well stored in the protected folder [WindowsImageBackup]. This can be added to each time taking up extra HDD space.
Also, your file/folder backups can grow over time consuming more disk space.

You need to become familiar with these to manage your backup space. The tutorials area of the forum have good information on this topic.

As mjf says the tutorials are really good and easy to understand. A good place to start would be Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup and the related links at the bottom of the tutorial. Backing up your computer can save all sorts of trouble if things go wrong.

Thanks very much for all of the advice guys, I will be back in touch if I have any problems. Kudos.

You are welcome sonnymack. We will be here if you have further questions.