Backup in progress

[makeshiftpat]

I was just sitting here on the computer and I look down and I see that there is a backup in progress going on. I did not start one. Is this something that my computer is supposed to regularly do or is something else going on? I am not a COMPLETE newb, but I am not very experienced. Thank you for any help and you will be repped.

 

[richc46]

Welcome
There are many scheduled tasks, one of which is back up.
You can go to search and type task scheduler to see all the scheduled tasks,
Back up is a regularly scheduled task. I set all my tasks to occur on Sunday Morning.
I disabled defrag (too many not good for hard drive)
I Disabled System Restore, scheduled backup, I can make one manually and they are made with every update and download. I have enough.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/12444-task-scheduler-create-new-task.html

 

[makeshiftpat]

Thank you. I think I have posted on here 3 or 4 times with questions and have always had excellent help.

One follow-up question: Backup is basically what happens every time a restore point is created?... and so it is basically pointless? Is that correct?

 

[richc46]

You have Windows 7 and there are 3 different back ups.
The first is called System Image. It makes an image of your hard drive. In case of a virus or other major problem, you can use the system image to make things good again.
The second is Sytem Restore, this is a picture of your OS. If you ever have a problem, that the OS becomes corrupted etc. You can go back to good times by using one of the System Restore Points.

The third is back up and restore. It makes copies of your documents etc. If you delete an imporatnt document, you can restore it with backup and restore.

None are pointless, if you ever need one, you will be glad that you have the back up.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html
Windows 7 Features: Backup and Restore

These can be done manually, or in your case, on schedule using Task Scheduler

 

[Brink]

Hello Pat,

In addition, a Backup and System Restore serve different purposes.

A backup allows you to select what user and system files and file types you want to be backed up. You can also have this done automatically on a schedule. This way you can restore any specific files from this backup as you like.

Creating restore points, by Windows 7 or manually by you, are just system backups that contain information about registry settings and other system information that Windows 7 uses. System restore points do not include the personal user files. This allows you to do a System Restore to return all of Windows 7 system files back to how they were when the restore point was created.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[makeshiftpat]

Ok. Great guys. Thanks a lot. There's always something more to learn when it comes to computers. That's what I like about them (when I have the time to learn). I had almost been hoping recently that a virus would pop up so that I would have a reason to learn more about the workings of my computer. Thankfully, a virus didn't, but now I have something to learn.

From my original post. I let the backup continue while waiting on an answer and it ended up it was backing up to my flash drive which filled up because it only had 7 gigs on it. Come to think of it, backups are pretty big, does it just use that much space or does it store them on my hard drive because it was only 35% done and it filled 7 gigs.

I see now. I need backup to backup important files that I don't want to lose. This will take several DVDs and should be done rarely if I don't have anything especially important.

 

[richc46]

May I suggest, an external hard drive. It is a one time expense, but it is much better than DVD, for back up purposes. Maybe even a large capacity finger drive.

 

[makeshiftpat]

Thank you for the help. I will be getting an external hard drive soon. I was already considering spending the money to put music and pictures on to get them off of here. Now this is another reason. I would be pretty damn pissed if my hard drive failed and I couldn't get my files.

Thanks again for the knowledge. The two of you have been repped.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Pat. I'm glad that we can help.

Backups can take up some space. With that size, you may have had a system image or a lot of files included in the backup.

It's usually best to either use another HDD or another partition on your Windows 7 HDD if you are able for backups that has more space on them.

You could also use step 4 in the tutorial below the next time you get ready to make a backup to make changes to your backup to try and make it smaller by only including what you need to have backed up. For example, remove having the system image included in the backup if you do not have a larger drive or partition to backup to instead.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/615-backup-user-system-files.html

 

[richc46]

If as Brink suggests a System Image may be included, I have found out, regardless of claims, System Image and CDs do not work nicely together.
I understood, however, that you just wanted to save your documents.

 

[makeshiftpat]

One last thank you to Shawn and Richard. I really appreciate the help.

 

[richc46]

You are very welocme.
Let us know how our suggestions worked out.

 

[Brink]

One last thank you to Shawn and Richard. I really appreciate the help.

You're most welcome Pat. Just let us know if you have any other questions on it.

 

[makeshiftpat]

I do have one more question. I came home from the Super Bowl tonight. I left my laptop on because I was in a rush before I went out. (I almost never do that) When I come home it says backup in progress. I look at the details and it is trying to backup to my Heroes of Might and Magic 3 disk in the E drive. WTF? I didn't ask it to backup. Any ideas why this is happening recently when I've had the computer for 11 months and have never had this happen before?

 

[Brink]

Hi Pat,

Double check using step 4 in the tutorial below by selecing the correct HDD for the scheduled backup for the destination HDD to create the backup to. That should change the backup settings and take care of it for you, but it will create another backup afterwards though.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/615-backup-user-system-files.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn