Can't find back up files on external hard drive

Can anyone help me? I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 and set up Vista's Back Up
and Restore feature so that every Sunday it automatically backs up my
computer to my external drive (F. I have been on the computer when it has
stated it is starting back up and that back up was successfully completed.
I assumed everything was fine until today when I was showing my dad my
external drive and noticed that none of the back up files were there...or at
least I didn't see them. The only files on the drive were the ones I had
manually put on there from my old computer. I then ran a manual back up
using Vista and again it said back up successfully completed. I then looked
at the external drive and again no new files. The odd thing is the back up
and restore program shows all the dates it has backed up and also allows me
to restore files from back up. To check this I deleted a file I didn't
really need off of my hard drive and then went to the restore program and
found the file and restored it. Problem is the program doesn't say where it
is getting the file from. What is going on? Are back up files some type of
hidden file that I can't see unless I'm using the backup and restore program
in vista? I am currently running Vista Home Premium on a 32 Bit OS and the
external drive I have is a Western Digital My Book Essential Edition.

Ok, never mind, seems the files are there...I found a thread that told me
how the files were named and found them that way...I was just looking for
the original file names.
"Mjaeb" <> wrote in message
news:B5407E62-FFBD-4AD4-BA0C-...
> Can anyone help me? I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 and set up Vista's Back
> Up and Restore feature so that every Sunday it automatically backs up my
> computer to my external drive (F. I have been on the computer when it
> has stated it is starting back up and that back up was successfully
> completed. I assumed everything was fine until today when I was showing my
> dad my external drive and noticed that none of the back up files were
> there...or at least I didn't see them. The only files on the drive were
> the ones I had manually put on there from my old computer. I then ran a
> manual back up using Vista and again it said back up successfully
> completed. I then looked at the external drive and again no new files.
> The odd thing is the back up and restore program shows all the dates it
> has backed up and also allows me to restore files from back up. To check
> this I deleted a file I didn't really need off of my hard drive and then
> went to the restore program and found the file and restored it. Problem
> is the program doesn't say where it is getting the file from. What is
> going on? Are back up files some type of hidden file that I can't see
> unless I'm using the backup and restore program in vista? I am currently
> running Vista Home Premium on a 32 Bit OS and the external drive I have
> is a Western Digital My Book Essential Edition.