Backup in XP

[mike12]

I installed a small 3.0 gig. hard drive in my computer to use as a backup area.
About two weeks ago, I did that Backup thing that comes with XP Pro. All I wanted to do was to backup or copy "MY DOCUMENTS" to this small HD that is labeled "F". All went fine. It took up about 1.7 gig on that 3.0 HD. Today I thought I would do another Backup. When going through the steps in the Wizard, I was expecting to get a message something like "There already is a file / backup on drive "F". Do you want to replace it" etc. I did not get any message like that, so I just continued with the backup. As expected I got a message that said the HD was full. So, I conclude that before I do another backup, that I must first format the "F" drive to clean it off and make room. Is this the procedure I must use, or did I do something wrong ?

[mike12]

Another problem- I thought I would just format that "F" HD. but the blue status bar gets all the way across like the format is just about complete, and then I get a message that says "Windows did not finish formatting this drive"
or "Windows can not format this drive" I was able to format the drive about three weeks ago. I chose the "NTFS" type. I tried two times and no luck. Any suggestions ?

[glc]

You may have to zero fill the drive - sounds like it corrupted when it filled up. You can download a utility from the hard drive manufacturer to do this.

[mike12]

glc--I downloaded a diagnostics test for the Seagate HD. The result is posted below, but now what ??? Thanks, Mike


Run: 12/2/2004 10:35:32 PM

Primary IDE Channel : ST33210A
Model: ST33210A
Serial Number: 5AB0ZJPA
Capacity: 3.25 GB
Test result: SMART self-test is not supported for this drive.

This may be due to a limitation in the Windows driver for the controller that the drive is attached to or the drive may not support the SMART self-test. In either case, this is not a failure of the drive.

[mike12]

Additional info--I went back and tried to Format that HD. This time I chose FAT32 instead of NTFS. Windows was able to format the HD this time. Then I tried to format using NTFS again, after the drive was formatted using FAT32--no luck. So I went back and formatted again using FAT32.
Question--can I do that backup thing in XP to copy MY DOCUMENTS to this drive, since this drive is FAT32 and the rest of my computer is NTFS ? Also, if I need to transfer or copy the info on this HD back to my main HD will it work ? Many thanks, Mike

[glc]

You can use a FAT32 drive in XP no problem. Instead of using the backup utility, just copy/paste the contents of My Documents to the drive as long as the drive is big enough.

[mike12]

glc-Thanks for the reply, one more question. If I copy "My Documents" from my main HD to the smaller HD, will I also get the "My Favorites" from IE and all my mail items from OE ? I believe, but not sure that when I used that utility in XP Pro that those items were also brought over to the smaller drive.

[Panama Red]

Originally Posted by mike12 glc-Thanks for the reply, one more question. If I copy "My Documents" from my main HD to the smaller HD, will I also get the "My Favorites" from IE and all my mail items from OE ? I believe, but not sure that when I used that utility in XP Pro that those items were also brought over to the smaller drive.

My Favorites isn't in My Documents. Look in C:\Documents and Settings\(your user name) to find it. You can just drag and drop it or copy/paste from one drive to the other.

[bozo]

When you set up a backup job, you will be prompted to "Finish"...but at that point there is also an "Advance" tab. Click on "Advance" and in a couple of windows you have two options:
1. Append this backup to existing backup (checked by default)
2. Replace existing backup

If you select option 2 then your backup will replace the existing backup,,,thus your backup will remain at around the 1.7 gig that you have originally. If you leave it at option 1 then you will be out of space the second time you run it. I have all mine set to Replace existing backup...that keeps the size constant (just a little bigger each run).

[mike12]

Panama Red and bozo---Thanks for the additional info. Mike

[jamesrpm]

Does the Windows back up save address book and e-mails?

[glc]

It saves whatever you tell it to. You have to find where they are stored and add that location to the backup job.