Backup drive shows too much used space

I do weekly full backups to an 300 GB external USB hard
drive with the built-in Windows Vista backup program.
On my entre C: drive I've only used about 100 GB, and
this of course includes both the OS, apps, and user data
files.

I just looked at the J: backup drive in Windows Explorer
and the pie chart of Properties is showing the Used
Space as 200 GB which really surprises me. I don't get
this. On this backup drive there's only a single parent
folder called RICK. The Properties of this folder shows
only 21 GB of files. Yet Properties of the drive itself
shows a pie chart of 200 GB Used Space.

Something is taking up a lot of extra space on the
backup drive and I'm not sure what it is.

I did a Disk Cleanup which found a Recycle Bin that
hadn't been emptied out, but that only released about 15
GB.

If this is any clue: before doing each full backup I
manually delete the previous week's backup from the hard
drive.

Any thoughts? Thanks for any help.

"Rick" <> wrote in message
news: om...
>I do weekly full backups to an 300 GB external USB hard
> drive with the built-in Windows Vista backup program.
> On my entre C: drive I've only used about 100 GB, and
> this of course includes both the OS, apps, and user data
> files.
>
> I just looked at the J: backup drive in Windows Explorer
> and the pie chart of Properties is showing the Used
> Space as 200 GB which really surprises me. I don't get
> this. On this backup drive there's only a single parent
> folder called RICK. The Properties of this folder shows
> only 21 GB of files. Yet Properties of the drive itself
> shows a pie chart of 200 GB Used Space.
>
> Something is taking up a lot of extra space on the
> backup drive and I'm not sure what it is.
>
> I did a Disk Cleanup which found a Recycle Bin that
> hadn't been emptied out, but that only released about 15
> GB.
>
> If this is any clue: before doing each full backup I
> manually delete the previous week's backup from the hard
> drive.
>
> Any thoughts? Thanks for any help.



What Norton product are you using?

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

Hi -- I'm not using any Norton product. Never have.
Why?

In article <#>,
says...
> "Rick" <> wrote in message
> news: om...
> >I do weekly full backups to an 300 GB external USB hard
> > drive with the built-in Windows Vista backup program.
> > On my entre C: drive I've only used about 100 GB, and
> > this of course includes both the OS, apps, and user data
> > files.
> >
> > I just looked at the J: backup drive in Windows Explorer
> > and the pie chart of Properties is showing the Used
> > Space as 200 GB which really surprises me. I don't get
> > this. On this backup drive there's only a single parent
> > folder called RICK. The Properties of this folder shows
> > only 21 GB of files. Yet Properties of the drive itself
> > shows a pie chart of 200 GB Used Space.
> >
> > Something is taking up a lot of extra space on the
> > backup drive and I'm not sure what it is.
> >
> > I did a Disk Cleanup which found a Recycle Bin that
> > hadn't been emptied out, but that only released about 15
> > GB.
> >
> > If this is any clue: before doing each full backup I
> > manually delete the previous week's backup from the hard
> > drive.
> >
> > Any thoughts? Thanks for any help.
>
>
>
> What Norton product are you using?
>
>

Some Norton products do, or used to have this "Protected Recycle Bin" thing,
which is hidden, and could be the cause of the reduced disk space you're
seeing.

I no longer use Norton products but I know that some years ago their
"SystemWorks" type suites used this protected recycle bin thing, perhaps
their latest security products still do.

"Rick" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> Hi -- I'm not using any Norton product. Never have.
> Why?
>
> In article <#>,
> says...
>> "Rick" <> wrote in message
>> news: om...
>> >I do weekly full backups to an 300 GB external USB hard
>> > drive with the built-in Windows Vista backup program.
>> > On my entre C: drive I've only used about 100 GB, and
>> > this of course includes both the OS, apps, and user data
>> > files.
>> >
>> > I just looked at the J: backup drive in Windows Explorer
>> > and the pie chart of Properties is showing the Used
>> > Space as 200 GB which really surprises me. I don't get
>> > this. On this backup drive there's only a single parent
>> > folder called RICK. The Properties of this folder shows
>> > only 21 GB of files. Yet Properties of the drive itself
>> > shows a pie chart of 200 GB Used Space.
>> >
>> > Something is taking up a lot of extra space on the
>> > backup drive and I'm not sure what it is.
>> >
>> > I did a Disk Cleanup which found a Recycle Bin that
>> > hadn't been emptied out, but that only released about 15
>> > GB.
>> >
>> > If this is any clue: before doing each full backup I
>> > manually delete the previous week's backup from the hard
>> > drive.
>> >
>> > Any thoughts? Thanks for any help.
>>
>>
>>
>> What Norton product are you using?
>>
>>

Thanks -- no, I've never used Norton products.

Any other thoughts about what could be hogging disk
space invisibly?

In article <OC$>,
says...
> Some Norton products do, or used to have this "Protected Recycle Bin" thing,
> which is hidden, and could be the cause of the reduced disk space you're
> seeing.
>
> I no longer use Norton products but I know that some years ago their
> "SystemWorks" type suites used this protected recycle bin thing, perhaps
> their latest security products still do.
>
> "Rick" <> wrote in message
> news: om...
> > Hi -- I'm not using any Norton product. Never have.
> > Why?
> >
> > In article <#>,
> > says...
> >> "Rick" <> wrote in message
> >> news: om...
> >> >I do weekly full backups to an 300 GB external USB hard
> >> > drive with the built-in Windows Vista backup program.
> >> > On my entre C: drive I've only used about 100 GB, and
> >> > this of course includes both the OS, apps, and user data
> >> > files.
> >> >
> >> > I just looked at the J: backup drive in Windows Explorer
> >> > and the pie chart of Properties is showing the Used
> >> > Space as 200 GB which really surprises me. I don't get
> >> > this. On this backup drive there's only a single parent
> >> > folder called RICK. The Properties of this folder shows
> >> > only 21 GB of files. Yet Properties of the drive itself
> >> > shows a pie chart of 200 GB Used Space.
> >> >
> >> > Something is taking up a lot of extra space on the
> >> > backup drive and I'm not sure what it is.
> >> >
> >> > I did a Disk Cleanup which found a Recycle Bin that
> >> > hadn't been emptied out, but that only released about 15
> >> > GB.
> >> >
> >> > If this is any clue: before doing each full backup I
> >> > manually delete the previous week's backup from the hard
> >> > drive.
> >> >
> >> > Any thoughts? Thanks for any help.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> What Norton product are you using?
> >>
> >>
>