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Author Topic: What files go to backup drive?  (Read 2726 times)

Alan Klein

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What files go to backup drive?
« on: June 19, 2018, 03:52:48 pm »

I have a My Passport Ultra 3.5gb backup drive on my Windows 10 desktop.  I check both the "C" and "D" drive for complete backup.  M photos and video go on D drive; everything else in on C drive.  The backup originally came to 800gb.  I back up my data once a day.

What I've noticed is that without adding any new photos or documents, the backup drive seems to be backing up more data at around 1% a week.  I tried unchecking a few folder for backup.  But it didn't help.  Than I though that it must be the web browsing pages that's filling it up.  If that's it, where would I find those folders so I can stop them being backed up?

Are there any other files I don't need to back up that you would recommend?  Are there any other files that keep getting updated automatically that would backup and add to the backup drive that's not really needed?
Thanks. Alan.

Joe Towner

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Re: What files go to backup drive?
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2018, 04:30:05 pm »

Hey Alan,

What software are you running, the Windows backup utility or something else?  8gb a week is kind of small, but what I think may be happening is that your backup is a restorable image for Windows.  That means anything needed to rebuild your computer is part of it, so any Adobe updates, or changes to a Lightroom catalog file, where the differences are minor, but it backups up the whole file again is happening.

-Joe
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MattBurt

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Re: What files go to backup drive?
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2018, 04:40:03 pm »

Joe is probably correct.
Also, depending on software, your backup may be archiving versions of files that have changed since the last backup so you could restore either version if needed.
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Alan Klein

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Re: What files go to backup drive?
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2018, 05:10:43 pm »

Hey Alan,

What software are you running, the Windows backup utility or something else?  8gb a week is kind of small, but what I think may be happening is that your backup is a restorable image for Windows.  That means anything needed to rebuild your computer is part of it, so any Adobe updates, or changes to a Lightroom catalog file, where the differences are minor, but it backups up the whole file again is happening.

-Joe
It's not 1% of 800gb but rather 1% of 3.5tb, the storage capability of the backup drive.  That's 35gb. 

My Passport Ultra backup drive from Western Digital (WD) came with its own backup software called WD Backup. 

So who needs to backup updates to software?  I'll just stop backing up programs and apps.  What else can I stop?  How about internet "clicks" of data?  I don;t need that to backup either.  Where would I find the folder for those files?

Joe Towner

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Re: What files go to backup drive?
« Reply #4 on: June 19, 2018, 06:49:25 pm »

It may be easier to select what folders you want to backup, rather than select folders to ignore.  You'll want to setup a new backup plan - it's under 'backing up files' on what looks to be the manual for the software: https://www.wdc.com/content/dam/wdc/website/downloadable_assets/eng/user_manual/4779-705155.pdf

Backing up the whole computer helps if you get a patch or update from a software company that breaks other things - the 10.13.5 MacOS broke a lot of folks who use USB video adapters and Time Machine (ala whole computer backup) was how they went backward to the previous state, where the technology worked.

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Alan Klein

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Re: What files go to backup drive?
« Reply #5 on: June 19, 2018, 10:26:51 pm »

Joe,  I removed program data, program files and a few others.  I didn't setup a new backup plan though.  Whatever's there on the backup disk should be OK.   We'll see what happens now.  Thanks  all.

BobShaw

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Re: What files go to backup drive?
« Reply #6 on: June 20, 2018, 09:31:56 pm »

Are there any other files I don't need to back up that you would recommend? 
No

My backup disks (x4) on TimeMachine are now 4TB each.
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PeterAit

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Re: What files go to backup drive?
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2018, 10:02:25 am »

It's not 1% of 800gb but rather 1% of 3.5tb, the storage capability of the backup drive.  That's 35gb. 

My Passport Ultra backup drive from Western Digital (WD) came with its own backup software called WD Backup. 

So who needs to backup updates to software?  I'll just stop backing up programs and apps.  What else can I stop?  How about internet "clicks" of data?  I don;t need that to backup either.  Where would I find the folder for those files?

Windows has a utility called Disk Cleanup that may help you.
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Alan Klein

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Re: What files go to backup drive?
« Reply #8 on: June 21, 2018, 10:11:35 am »

Windows has a utility called Disk Cleanup that may help you.
Thnakls for the suggestion.  I notice when I looked at it, there were 475 temporary internet files that would be cleaned up if I did Disk Cleanup.  Rather than erase that regularly, where could I find its folder?  I could then take the folder for these files off the backup program.

fdisilvestro

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Re: What files go to backup drive?
« Reply #9 on: June 27, 2018, 03:48:07 pm »

Those files are likely located in the appdata folder, which is hidden by default. The default path is:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData

You need to first change the viewing options to allow the file explorer to show hidden files as shown in the attached image.

In my experience, a program such as Ccleaner works better than the Disk Cleanup tool at removing temporary and unnecessary data. I don't recommend you to delete manually anything from the AppData folder
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