New backup using too much storage

I backed up my files in windows10 to one of the two internal drives...what I didn't like is how much space it used..my question is can I undo the backup somehow to get the storage space back?
 
Well...since it's a backup...why not just delete it?
That should "undo" it and clear the storage space out. :)
 
Go to your control panel and you should find something like 'Backup and Restore'. Disable backups.
If you really want a good (secure) backup solution, check out the StarTech HDD duplicators, all you need is the duplicator and a spare drive the same size as what is in your PC now and you can make a mirror image of your C drive in case something goes screwy. I have one, only downside is you have to remove the C drive from the computer and put it into the duplicator dock - but doing this once a month is no big sacrifice when you think of how many hours you will be sitting glaring at a screen re-installing everything.

I also backup all my project/music/video project files to two separate external USB drives, so one is just a mirror of the other. There is a program called FreeFileSync which makes this pretty painless.
 
There's no need to restore.
A backup should be a duplicate of something; A copy of something as it was on X date.
If you restore, you'll be rolling back the files in question to X date.

Now, if you haven't done any work or made any changes then I guess it doesn't matter, but restoring is still an unnecessary process.

If it's a manual backup you made, just delete it.
If it's a backup made by some software suite you should be able to view and delete within the suite.

If you're really not sure or any of this seems confusing, I'd leave it there! Better safe than sorry. ;)
 
There's no need to restore.
A backup should be a duplicate of something; A copy of something as it was on X date.
If you restore, you'll be rolling back the files in question to X date.

Now, if you haven't done any work or made any changes then I guess it doesn't matter, but restoring is still an unnecessary process.

If it's a manual backup you made, just delete it.
If it's a backup made by some software suite you should be able to view and delete within the suite.

If you're really not sure or any of this seems confusing, I'd leave it there! Better safe than sorry. ;)

I would like to know where windows keeps the backup file...after I deleted the "backup" file I found there was no change in storage so I would think it's still there, but where?
 
Probably best to go back to the start and tell us exactly how the backup was made.
If it's through windows system restore, or some other automated system, you generally don't go in a manually remove things.
Removal should be an automated process too.

If that's what you did (an automated process) you may find a restart is required before you can see your space as available again.
 
Yes it was automated windows manual backup in backup and security panel....and claimed to be able to see files that are backed up but I don't see them.
 
Once you resolve "get[ting] the storage space back," you may want to evaluate whether storage issues (based on keeping material long-term or the simply the size of future projects) will become a storage problem. If you find this to be the case, here are some storage options that are physically larger than flash drives (not misplacable) and allow storage beginning at 1TB: The Rugged Series has palm size storage devices beginning at $90 range that is 1TB; LaCie's d2Series is physically larger in casing and begins with a 4TB selection at $150; it can be daisy chained. Larger storage capacities exist for each design, with increase in price accordingly.

Having an external back up unit is also a good idea in the event something happens to one's computer or files are accidentally deleted, or you may want to go back and remix as your skills develop.

I had torn these from a mag but not sure which retailer, probably Sweetwater. B&H is a reputable electronics resources as well. Not sure what G-C offers.

Welcome to your home recording forum--JeffF.
 
I had to ditch the Windows backup because of this exact reason. It uses an unreasonable amount of storage, and it's not smart about how it chooses what and when to back up.

I mainly depend on WD SmartWare since I back up to a WD MyCloud NAS. It's certainly not perfect (tends to chew up CPU for unreasonably long periods of time) but I like the on-demand schedule and category backup options. And my computers' CPUs have plenty of overhead to allow this one rogue application to run in the background from time to time. It's pretty good at deciding what to back up and what to not waste time/storage on, and it's real-time instead of being scheduled to run periodically.

There are several paid versions of backup software out there, it'd be worth finding something that's smarter than Windows' storage hog backup unless you've got a data center in your basement.
 
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