backup wants to format drive

I have noticed that the last scheduled backup did not complete, so I started it manually. At some point, a window popped up and asked me to format (!) the target drive, which had been in use for over the year and several backups stored on it. There were about 80Gb of space left, which may not be enough for another backup, so I would have expected a warning message - but format seems drastic. How can I stop the format suggestion?

It is very weird, I have deleted some lder backups, and as I am typing this I have a message on my screen saying:

You need to format the disk in drive I: before you can use it.

Do you want to format it?

Obviously I decline, but would like to backup.

What sort of backup are you doing

file/folder (.zip)
System image (.vhd)
or the two

What space does a total backup take.

When doing an image alone to an existing disk if given the option, do not tick the format box if you have data partitions you want to remain unformatted.

Golden said:

Hi,

Can you run a chkdsk from an elevated command promt on the drive to check the status of it first?

Note : don't specify any switches with the chkdsk yet - lets first see what it coughs up.

Regards,
Golden

Looks ok to me, maybe a bit low in space...

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Windows\system32>chkdsk i:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is BigDrive.
WARNING! F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.
CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
343808 file records processed.
File verification completed.
162 large file records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
0 EA records processed.
0 reparse records processed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
346792 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.
0 unindexed files recovered.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)...
343808 file SDs/SIDs processed.
Security descriptor verification completed.
1493 data files processed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
33688848 USN bytes processed.
Usn Journal verification completed.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.
625129280 KB total disk space.
505240508 KB in 37543 files.
34672 KB in 1494 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
462148 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
119391952 KB available on disk.
4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
156282320 total allocation units on disk.
29847988 allocation units available on disk.
C:\Windows\system32>

mjf said:

What sort of backup are you doing

file/folder (.zip)
System image (.vhd)
or the two

What space does a total backup take.

When doing an image alone to an existing disk if given the option, do not tick the format box if you have data partitions you want to remain unformatted.

I found a folder in WindowsImageBackup that has today's date and a VHD file of about 127Gb. This certainly looks like a way too big file representing today's failed backup. Looks like I will have to do some cleaning up.

I did not find a box with formatting options.

Golden said:

I agree - there doesn't appear to be any issues.

Can you do the backup without formatting, or won't it let you get past that point?

Regards,
Golden

The only option is to format or to cancel. I will try to clean up and create space. Should there not be an option to compress the images? I used Acronis on XP and was able to fit backups on a few DVDs not too long ago.

Have a look in Disk Management window - see what that tells you about the drive win sys image wants to format, post a screenie.

vhd files do not support compression.