Windows backup confused! why other drive is included

scripttron75 · 21 Oct 2015

I noticed that other day when i went to backup my Windows 7 box to my external drive the backup was selecting my F drive as well as my C drive. why? so to do the backup i disconnected the F drive rebooted and did the backup no issue. why is windows selecting this drive as part of the backup. I have included a pic of my F drive with the folders that are on the drive as far as hidden ones and also the backup selection for Windows backup. is there a fix for this?

scripttron75 · 22 Oct 2015

can anyone assist? i really do not want to format my drives and start a rebuild of windows to fix this. if i did not provide a enough info here goes:

basically I have drive C with Windows 7 on it i am using the built in Windows backup feature for win7 pro. well something happened to the backup were it also wants to backup the F drive along with also i do have 3 other drives installed as well but they are not part of this issue just fyi. I do not want to backup drive F: only a drive image of windows7 to an external drive. why is the backup including drive F: how would i clear this off the backup seleciton as it is grayed out and i can not unselect it?

Golden · 22 Oct 2015

Can you post a screen capture image of your Disk Management screen please? I suspect your System Reserved partition is on F drive, but we need to confirm that.

Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

System Reserved is seen as critical by Windows which is why it wants to back it up.

Layback Bear · 22 Oct 2015

Guess what?

Golden has a great little tutorial that will help you post your Disk Management.

Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

scripttron75 · 24 Oct 2015

ok here is my disk management screenshot.

RolandJS · 24 Oct 2015

Windows can only have one Active Partition, if there are two, problems such as this topic describes.
I noticed two partitions marked Active -- System Reserved [which normally should be Active] and your F-partition.
And, it might help in the long run to convert all your partitions past the letter C from Primary to Logical.
For now, F-partition should not be Active. The aforementioned is from my experience with Windows 7 Pro.

scripttron75 · 24 Oct 2015

Roalnd does that mean i need to take the folders off the F drive and format to get it to a logical disk?

scripttron75 · 24 Oct 2015

and will this screwup my windows 7 OS ?

RolandJS · 24 Oct 2015

Don't delete or move any folders or files. Do not format a thing.
Something similar to Acronis Disk Manager, a partition manager [free or fee], is all that is needed. Microsoft Disk Management can change a drive letter, I don't think it can [un][mark] a partition Active. Again, all that's needed is a partition manager that will remove drive letter assignment from System Reserved partition and mark it Active; then I think Windows will automatically re-letter the remaining partitions. I think your Windows OS partition will become C again; if not -- have the partition manager reLetter it C.

RolandJS · 26 Oct 2015

scriptron75, I did add the missing but understood "not" in my post right above this one.
Were you able use a partition manager to remove drive letter assignment from System Reserved partition? and mark it Active?
Did F become C? concerning the Windows OS partition?