What Are These Files On My Backup Drive?

So I took my previous systems HD (Drive C), replaced it with a larger HD, and then cleaned up the old one to use as a backup drive. But, I notice that it fills up periodically so I started looking at what is causing it to fill. I tried to set up backup to only keep the last few backups but for some reason it wants to keep saving all of them. So, I manually delete the older ones and keep the latest. But the drive is still quite full!

Oh, BTW, this computer is a Windows 7 Home Edition!

Anyway, I see several files on this drive that seem to be rather large.

• WINDOWS7 (04/20/2020 - Date Modified)
• HOME-PC (04/09/2012 - Date Modified)
• WindowsImageBackup (04/23/2012 - Date Modified)

I also notice that the two files, WINDOWS7 and HOME-PC have the following icon, https://www.lovemysurface.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Backup_center_icon.png
but without the up arrow.

The WindowsImageBackup icon is just a normal folder icon.

Anyway, I wasn't sure if all these three are connected to each other or maybe they were generated from different processes I might have done over the years. By looking at the dates modified it appears WINDOWS7 is currently used as my backup and the other two were possibly from the change-over back in 2012. So, I was wondering if I could safely remove any of them, maybe all of them and let windows run the processes all over again to replace what it needs?

Anyway, if someone is familiar with all this, I would appreciate the lesson! Thanks a bunch

 

The drive is filling up because Win 7 Backup and Restore runs to a schedule, by default once a month, adding new files and replacing changed files. That's the WINDOWS7 file with the 4/20/2020 date. The WindowsImageBackup file created in 2012 is a system image file capable of restoring your computer to exactly the state it was in when created but as that was 8 years ago you are very unlikely to ever need it and might consider deleting it. Same goes for HOME-PC file.

I seriously recommend you study this article with a view to gaining a much better understanding of what Win 7 Backup and Restore does and how to use it.

 

After I posted my first post, I went back and looked further at these files. At first they would not let me look saying I didn't have permission....I am the administrator! Anyway, I was able to continue and when I opened the folder WindowsImageBackup, it contained two more folders interestingly called, Windows7 and Home-PC. I could open both of these folders and they both contained three folders and a file. The folders were, Backup xxxx-xx-xxdate, Catalog, SPPMetadataCache and a file called MediaID.

I noticed the Windows7 folder Backup date was current but the Home-PC was not. So, I think I'll delete not only the HOME-PC file in the home directory of this drive but also delete the Home-PC Folder located within the WindowsImageBackup Folder. If anything, I believe I could remove them all and just run another instance of backup to put things back in order!

Thanks for your reply Earthling, appreciate the link as well!