Windows 7: Low Disk Space for Backup-What files can I safely delete?

Hi. Using Windows 7 Home Edition 64bit. Backup drive is an external hard drive drive. Back up drive is full with weekly backups from April 2011 to January 2012 (print screen attached). Question is, since each subsequent back up targets changes since the previous backup, can I delete the earlier backups without impacting the later backups. Thanks for your help!

Hello DJE, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Instead of manually deleting the backup files, I would recommend to use OPTION ONE in the tutorial below to delete the backups that you do not want anymore instead. It will be a lot safer to do.

Backup User and System Files - Delete Backups

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks Shawn. I only have the one backup set (see attached screen) and don't want to delete it and have nothing until I backup again. If I can safely delete individual backups to free up space then i can start another set. Does that make sense?

DJE,

Unfortunalely, these created backups are incremental backups and not new backups. Incremental backups are added to the current (latest) Backup Set YYYY-MM-DD HHMMSS folder as a Backup Files YYYY-MM-DD HHMMSS folder. You will not be able to delete any of the Backup Files YYYY-MM-DD HHMMSS folders in that specific Backup Set YYYY-MM-DD HHMMSS folder with destroying the ability to restore that backup set. You can only safely delete Backup Set YYYY-MM-DD HHMMSS folders through the Manage space option in Backup and Restore.

For the future if you like to only create new backups (backup set folders), create a backup without it being on a schedule, then you could use the tutorial below to make it easy to create new backups whenever you like.

Backup - Make a "Create New Backup" Shortcut

In addition, you could also use Task Scheduler to run the program (shortcut) on a schedule to create new backups with it.

Task Scheduler - Create New Task

Thanks Shawn. That's what I thought. I think I'll copy the Backup Set to the C: drive and then do the delete and create function from the previous tutorial you sent. As long as the hard drive doesn't crash in the process I should be OK Thanks for the suggestions. Perhaps I'll do a new backup set once each month or even quarterly. Thanks for your help! Cheers.

You're most welcome DJE.

If you move a Backup Set folder to another location, then you will most likely not be able to restore it afterwards. Even if you move it back to it's original location before trying to restore it.

However, you could still manually extract files from the moved Backup Set folder if needed.

Backup - Manually Extract Files from in Vista & Windows 7