Solved Folders with 0 contents on BU drive?????

[dunkinidaho]

When I first got this desktop computer I did a windows backup and restore to an ext. HD as recommeded. I have a "recovery" disc as well. I see now that when I open the ext. HD there are 2 folders both indicating "empty". One is "WindowsImageBackup" and one "Owner-PC". This ext. HD is a 1T drive. Besides these 2 empty files there are 6 other files that total roughly 120gb. That would leave 800+gb free. The problem for me is that the properties for this drive show only 160gb free and 771gb used. This is not possible, and yet it is. Are these 2 files empty or not???? If they are not empty why won't they open??

thanks

brian

 

[Pauly]

The files are indeed not empty but it is due to the way windows handles the backup files and the permissions for them, as you do not by default have access permission for the backup files windows does not natively see the file properties and therefore does not see their true size but instead recognises them as 0 byte files when they are in reality many GBs in size.
If you double click each folder in turn and click yes when prompted to access the folder they will reveal their true size but you will have to click into each sub folder (theres not many) before all files are revealed to windows

 

[dunkinidaho]

Folders

Would these files need to be updated from time to time or are they done only once.

 

[Pauly]

The files are a backup of your machine at the moment in time the backup was taken so generally it is a good idea to take a new backup from time to time so if you suffer catastrophic failure you can restore to a recent point in time.
Frequency is really up to you and dependant on how often you make significant changes to your system and whether you backup your personal data separately or not as that is generally the most important thing to have backed up