Windows 7 Backup Disk Full

Solution 1:

In my own experience (the drive holds other data too, virtual machine hard drives, ISOs, etc.) Windows 7 did not delete the old backups automatically. On the next scheduled backup it errored out with "Not enough space available on the backup volume."

My backup drive only has about 120GB available and 60GB is the system backup, so it may just be my current setup that caused it to fail. I've been backing up since the first week of September and it happened for the first time two weeks ago, so thankfully it isn't a constantly occurring issue.

Solution 2:

How much storage space do I need to back up fie?

That depends on the size of the files you back up. We recommend that you save your backup on an external hard drive that can hold at least 200 GB. Windows Backup keeps track of the files that have been added or modified since your last backup and then updates the existing backup, which saves disk space. You can manage the disk space that is used for your backups by doing the following:

1. -> Click to open Backup and Restore

2. Click Manage space. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

   Note • If you haven't set up backup, you won't see Manage space.

3. To delete older file backups, under Data file backup, click View backups.

   You can then select the file backups that you want to delete, which will free up disk space. Deleting an entry in the list will not have an impact on other backups. If you think that you don't need a version of your files from a certain backup period, you can delete that backup. We recommend that you always keep the most recent backup.

4. To change the amount of space that is used by system image backups, under System image, click Change settings.

   You can then choose to have Windows save older system image backups or just the most recent system image backup.