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Windows Backup, Used Space, & Partition Questions
I am very new to Windows Backup and have a few questions. Actually, my first question is not really specific to Windows Backup, but I notice it whenever I go to Disk Management to view my backups, so I hope it's okay if I ask it here.
Partition Question:
I have the following partitions on Disk 0:
100MB - 70% free
C:906.34GB - which has 82% or 739.03GB free
25.07GB OEM partition which is listed as 100% free
Isn't that 25GB OEM partition the Recovery partition? If so, why is it listed as 100% free? And what is the 100MB NTFS partition for?
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Now for my Windows Backup questions:
I ran Windows Backup for the first time Thursday night morning. I chose the "Let Windows choose, recommended" option - "Windows will automatically select user files... A system image will be created including system files, drivers, registry settings, Windows and all of your programs. These items will be backed up on a regular schedule".
It took 6 or 7 hours to complete. When it was done, my 1TB external hdd had 661.51 GB free space. I was surprised because my 1TB desktop hdd still had 742 GB free space. I didn't anticipate the backup to take up more space, and I'm hoping someone can explain to me why it does. Is it because it copies virtually the entire hard drive and then also makes a specific image of the operating system, registry and installed programs?
I have a lot of free space, so it's not an issue right now... but I could see how it might become an issue down the line. If I had realized the backups take up much more space, I probably would have bought a bigger external hdd for that purpose.
Today, the scheduler kicked in and the backup ran again. I was anticipating that it would be very quick and just make a few changes in my user files. It did seem to do that, but it took about 3 hours this time, and I think it also made another system image.
Desktop hdd currently has 739GB free and the external went from 661GB free after the first backup to 589GB free after the second backup.
So it looks like each time Windows Backup runs, it adds another system image - at about 72GB.
When I mount the VHS, I see this:
file: myname-pc 194 GB
folder: WindowsImageBackup 142 GB which contains the following two folders:
So if the WindowsImageBackup contains the mountable image with my user files, what does the file "myname-pc" contain? Does that now have two system images? Or are the system images the mountable images that I have browsed from the "Backup 2010-07-12000011"?- myname-pc
- Backup 2010-07-12000011 -- which I can explore it and see all my folders and files.
If I can find the first system image, can I delete it and just keep the second one? They are probably nearly identical since it's been less than three days and I haven't really made any changes.
Or am I totally wrong in thinking that my user files are separate from the system image?
I'm sorry if this is presented in a confusing manner. I think I am getting more confused as I try to explain it and figure out what's what.
As you can probably guess, I don't have much of a tech background.
Thanks in advance for any clarification! :)