Windows 7 How to Manage Growing Backup Files on D Drive: Can I Delete Them?

[justis2]

Hello, i have this problem since i bought my laptop, my C disk is ok, but D is full of backup files, which space is growing and now it takes about 140GB. here is some photos with files in that disc.
http://i.imgur.com/OYlQ9lP.png
http://i.imgur.com/5gVyKBJ.png
http://i.imgur.com/ySel6ke.png
http://i.imgur.com/hbAGAn3.png
http://i.imgur.com/vPldjMD.png
I want to ask what to do with them , are they important or i can just delete them.

 

[Saltgrass]

The WindowsImageBackup folder is created when you do a System Image Backup. Since some of the files are from 2012, are you doing scheduled backups?

 

[justis2]

No, system asked me to make backup when i did first launch of my pc, and until now space is increasing.

 

[patcooke]

It could be that the backup you were asked to make initially was a backup of the recovery partition - creating bootable optical disks to enable a full system recovery in the case of a serious system crash or hard drive failure. Did you do that?

 

[justis2]

As i clearly remember the window looks like this Link Removed

 

[patcooke]

As I suspected it was a backup disk of the recovery system you were being asked to make. A part of your hard drive is reserved to boot into recovery mode to reset your pc back to factory settings in case of a serious hard drive problem. Unfortunately, if the hard drive has failed then the recovery boot will also fail so the backup procedure which you were asked to run was to create the optical bootable copy of your recovery system. (Because it is your only lifeline when the hard drive fails I also make a second copy!). Another benefit of making the bootable recovery disk is that, if you wish (and I always do) you may remove the recovery partition from your hard drive and re-assign the space to be used for some other purpose (extend your system drive or create another partition for data etc).

 

[Ken7]

Take a look at Backup and Restore in the Control Panel.

You can click on something called Manage Space. It will show you how much space is currently in use by the Backup and System Image utilities. There is an option to remove earlier file Backups and earlier Images. You can also review any automatic backups that might be set up.

 

[justis2]

I checked it, and as i see back up takes only 6GB, and everything else i system images, which takes about 40% of that disc space. My back up is very old, should i delete all files in that disc and try to make new back up,if its safe, can it save more space?

 

[Ken7]

I delete Windows 7 File Backups and System Images all the time and then replace them. In my case, no automatic backups are set up.

One thing I don't understand is the 139.34 GB stored as System Images since the screen shots you posted originally show only a single image at 79.535 GB. Note that after you click "Manage Space" you will have separate options to delete File Backups and then System Images.

My Windows 7 system uses about 46 GB and the system image which is compressed is about 30 GB. You need a restore CD or DVD to actually restore your C: drive from the system image. You can make the DVD from Windows 7. It may also be possible to restore using a Windows 7 install DVD.

 

[justis2]

Today i deleted all back ups and system images, and created new back up. But space still very big, is there any way to make it smaller, And how to make dvd to windows, its imposible such a big amount like 120GB to write into disc.

 

[Ken7]

You could make the backup much smaller if you only wanted file backup and not a full system image. Another possibility is to use a different program such as Macrium Reflect which has higher compression. I have used Windows 7, Macrium Reflect, and Acronis Western Digital Edition.

It appears that your Windows partition has a lot of large files to result in 23 GB file backup and 124 GB system image. My system has only 8 GB file backup and 30 GB for the system image. You might review what is on your C: partition and whether it is all needed. I also wonder if your D: drive has a recycle bin containing a lot of data. That could explain why more free space is not available. I often format my backup drive before writing updated backups.

Disks are inexpensive so another option would be to add an external USB 3.0 backup drive with perhaps 1 TB of storage. Is your current D: drive internal or external? A backup should generally be a separate disk.

When I mentioned a CD or DVD I was talking about the recovery disk that you boot if you need to reimage a hard drive. That process then accesses the hard drive that contains the system image. You can backup to DVDs but it requires many DVDs and they all have to be labeled and used as a set. That is probably a less reliable way to go.

 

[Ken7]

If your disk has a recovery partition as already mentioned in this thread, it is important to understand that function and also have a backup strategy in case your hard disk ever fails. I am using a desktop computer that came with a Windows 7 Install DVD so I have no experience with recovery partitions.

You should be able to view all your disk partitions using Windows tools. Go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, and finally Disk Management. A window will come up showing all disks and partitions.

If you do have a recovery partition perhaps that explains why the system image is larger than one might expect. There may be options that specify what partitions are included in the system image. Windows 7 installations generally have a small system reserved boot partition and a larger Windows partition as the minimum configuration.

 

[justis2]

Thanks for help, i check management and didnt see any recovery partition.

And really don't care about most of my files on pc if they would gone. i will redownload them, so is there the way to back up only those files which are important for windows to be recovered.
I didn't get any disc with my computer, but i have made CD "Windows 7 repair disc, 1 year ago.

 

[Ken7]

Normally Windows 7 has a small 100 MB System Reserved Boot Partition with no drive letter assigned as the first partition, so your 25 GB partition with no drive letter assigned could possibly be a combined boot partition and recovery partition. Perhaps others might know and will comment.

The Window 7 repair disk you made can do a number of things such as repairing a failed boot and it can also access a system image to recover Windows. However, that would not work if your image is on the D: partition and your disk fails. That is why it is best to save system images on an external drive. It is often a good idea to boot a recovery CD at least once to make sure it works and to see what features are available. Make sure you don't actually do anything other than explore the options for future reference.

Your original post suggested that you need space on the D: partition but it appears that you have over 184 GB free. That should be fine for most users. If you get an external backup drive for system images then you could delete any system images on the D: partition.

 

[Ken7]

One way to determine if you have a recovery partition is to watch your screen very carefully during boot. You'll know if it displays anything about hitting F9 or some other key for Recovery, Factory Reset, or other similar term.

Also check the manual that came with the laptop for any recovery options.