Manage Backups

There will be a incremental Backup Files YYYY-MM-DD HHMMSS folder in the Backup Set… folder location above that contains ZIP folders each under 200MB in size. These ZIP folders contain the selected backed up files. If a file that you included to be backed up is larger 200MB then it will be automatically broken up into several pieces each under 200 MB to fit into multiple ZIP files. The pieces are combined back automatically when restored from the backup though.

Backups are created in sets known as backup periods. To help maximize your disk space, Windows Backup backs up all selected folders the first time it’s run and then it only backs up files that are new or have been changed since the last scheduled backup was made. Periodically, Windows creates a new, full backup. Each full backup is known as a backup period. When you view your file backups, you see all of the backup periods labeled with date ranges. If you decide to delete file backups, you should always keep the most recent file backup.

By default, Windows automatically saves as many system images as it has space for without taking up more than 30 percent of space on the backup disk. If a system image was created through Windows Backup instead with the Include a System Image of Drives box checked, you can set Windows to retain as many system images as it has space for on the backup disk or to only keep the most recent system image. You should always keep the most recent system image. If you are saving your system image on a network location, you can only keep the most recent system image.

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