Windows 7 Backup Folders?

In my computer, I installed two 500gb hard drives. I use one, drive C:, for the operating system and additional programs. I use the other, drive E:, for storage and backups.

I started noticing that my storage drive, E: was almost full so, I started going through the folders trying to free up some space. While doing this, I came across several folders that act as backup folders but I'm not sure what they are.

One folder is named, "HOME-PC". When I double-click on this folder, a small window pops up (Windows Backup), asking me, "Do you want to restore files from this backup?". There is a hyperlink located at the bottom that says, "How do I manage the disk space used by this backup?". The only button options in this window are "Cancel" and "Restore files". If I click on the hyperlink, I get a windows help message pop-up explaining, "What backup settings should I use to maximize my disk space?"

Another folder is named, "WINDOWS7". When I double-click on this folder, I get another pop-up (Windows Backup), but this time it gives me 3 options, "Restore my files", "Restore all users files" and "Manage space used by this backup". When I click on "Manage Space", I see this file is taking up 465gb of space!

Then, I have a 3rd folder named "WindowsImageBackup". When I double-click on this folder, it opens and I see 2 folders inside..."Home-PC" and "Windows7"! When I open these folders, I see that "Home-PC" has 3 folders and a "MediaId" file....all dated April 2012! When I open the "Windows7" folder, I see the same folders and the "MediaId" file but their dated current...July 2013...except the "MediaId" file which is April 2012!

So is all this part of the windows backup process? And, how do I go about cleaning some of this stuff up. I don't think I should have to use 400+gb of space for a backup!

I've been to "Backup & Restore" from "Control Panel". I've clicked on the hyeperlink, "Manage Space". I've seen how to select how windows retains older system images by clicking on the radio buttons and when I first did this, at that time, I let windows manage the space (maximum 139.93gb)

But, if I check the other radio button, it says I'll only get back 130.72gb! In either case, it looks like backup is going to take 300gb?

Can someone explain this process?

Thanks in advance...

 

OK...I went back through the Control Panel to Backup & Restore and I "Viewed" my backups. I went ahead and deleted all but the latest one. Then, I went back and changed my settings to have windows only keep the latest backup image. Now I've got almost 300gb free on the hd! :-D

I also noticed when I was at Backup & Restore, my backup results say that my backups were completed but some files were skipped. Digging into this deeper, I found that the files skipped were from a hard drive that I had connected a while back via USB port. It was a burned up laptop that I retrieved the hard drive out of to get data from. Windows must have did a backup while that hd was connected. So, is there any way to delete that information? Can I just delete that error log or erase the info on it?

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Before I submitted this post, I changed the settings in Backup & Resore to allow me to pick. Now I've got everything cleaned up but for one thing...it still wants to backup my library on drive E:! Gotta work on that one!

Any Ideas? Drive E: is the target backup drive!!!

 

:-D Looks like all I've done here is talk out my situation in this forum! I suppose that's OK as long as someone is able to follow my processes and correct my thinking when necessary!!!

Anyway, I believe I have this all worked out now. My library (for music) is located on drive E: I have no reason to have windows backup my c:%profile%/Libraries/MyMusic since I don't use that location. Therefore, I unchecked that location in my Backup settings and now Backup provides no more Errors!

If you come along and read these posts, let me know if you think I've done something incorrectly. Otherwise...thanks MG, for letting me work this out!:major