I have just one Internal HD (C) and one External drive (E). I'm trying to backup the "E" drive folders to a Backup folder on the "C" drive.
Does that help?
What you are wanting to do is a very bad idea that is backwards from what you should be doing. Backups should be kept on external drives that do not get connected to the computer except when updating the backup. The reason is, to be safe, your backups need to be kept isolated from your computer to avoid the risk of infection if the computer gets infected or loss should the internal drive fail.
Ideally, you should keep your data folders and files isolated from your System folders and files (Operating System and Programs). On a computer with only one internal drive, you would need three partitions: the System Reserved Partition, the C: partition, and a data partition (can be any unused drive letter you choose between D and Z). The System Reserved should be left alone but will typically be 100MB. The C: partition should be sized to take all your System files (OS and Programs) plus at least 15% to avoid excess fragmentation and a little more space for possible future expansion (such as additional programs). The remaining drive space can be assigned to a data partition.
The reason for separating your System files from your data files is no one backup program is ideal for backing up programs and data. System files can't be merely copied from one drive or partition to another and still be bootable. They have to be either imaged or cloned. Imaging is similar to film photography in that the imaging program acts like a camera that takes a picture of a drive or partition and saves as an image, which is like the negative that is made by a film camera. Like a photo negative, an image is not a usable copy of the drive or partition but is used instead to restore the drive or partition you imaged, much like a photo negative is used to make a photo print. The advantage of imaging over cloning is images are compressed, taking up less room than original drives or partitions. You can also keep multiple images on the same backup drive, allowing you to choose how far back in time you need to go to get a clean restore.
Cloning makes an exact copy of the drive or partition being cloned. While ideal for migrating from one drive to, say, a larger drive or from a HDD to a SSD, it is not as ideally suited for making backups because you will only have one backup per drive or partition. Imaging is better for backups.
Macrium Reflect Free is one of the most popular imaging/cloning programs used by people here at Seven Forums. It's the one I recommend.
While imaging or cloning can be used to backup data, it takes up far too much time since every folder and file you have has to be written to the image or clone every time you update your backup. A faster, more efficient way to backup data is to use a folder/file syncing program, such as
FreeFileSync. A folder/file syncing program, when set to Mirror, compares folders on a source drive or partition on your computer to folders on a destination drive or partition, then copies any new or changed folders and files on the source to the destination, then deletes any folders and files on the destination that are not on the source. This gives you an essentially exact copy of the source on your destination. FreeFileSync also has a feature, Versioning, you can choose that will send folders and files deleted from the destination to a Versioning folder or drive. This will allow you to recover files that have become corrupted or accidentally deleted. I strongly recommend using Versioning.
As mentioned before, backups should be kept on an external drive that gets connected to a computer only when updating the backup. Also, since even a backup drive can fail or get damaged, you should have two backup drives: one kept onsite and one kept offsite. Since your notebook has only one drive, you need to eventually move all the date currently on the external drive to the drive in your notebook. If your notebook doesn't have enough room for all the data, then you will need to replace it with a larger one (you can clone the contents of your old drive to the new one using Macrium Reflect) or you may need to keep some of it on an external drive, then backup the external drive to backup drives. If you can't easily get to the drive in the computer for replacing (some brands make it almost impossible for the owner), you may want to let a shop do it for you. The external drives for your backup should also be around 25-50% larger than your computer's drive.
To create a data partition on your computer's drive, you will need to temporarily copy the data already on it to the external drive (if it's large enough; if not, you will need new ones). Once the data is off your C: drive, the drive should be defragmented, then shrink the partition. For that, I recommend a free program called
MiniTool Partition Wizard. Once C: has been shrunk, you can then create a new data partition in the now unallocated space. You can then copy all your data back from the external drive to the new partition (you can use FreeFileSync for this if desired). If you are having a shop replace your existing drive with a larger one, you can have them set up the new data partition for you and relocate the data formerly on C: into the new partition.
All this sounds complicated (heck, it is complicated) but one or more of us can help you with each step. Once you are set up, backups will be easy to update.
and an external drive (E
