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Back up drive

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petlew
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Back up drive

I was fortunate enough to be given a 2TB Seagate back up drive as a prezzie.

So I set about backing up my Win 10 laptop using Macrium Reflect.

So far so good except, when I checked on finishing the back up of approximately 10Gb I had no free space left on the back up drive, or more precisely, none is showing, nor can I seem to be able to add further files to the back up drive, being told there is insufficient disc space available.

So where has the remaining 1.8Tb gone?

Should I be able to partition the back up drive, if so I can find no way to do so. Further, shouldn't I be able to return the Seagate drive to factory settings?, again I can't see a way of doing so.

There is an option in Macrium Reflect to compress backed up files, but I haven't used it.

I did format the back up drive to start again, but it has made no difference to the available space.

I've obviously done something wrong somewhere. There doesn't seem to be an online manual for the drive that may help me.

 

Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most.

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25 REPLIES 25
Pete11
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Re: Back up drive

Give this site a try, it might help.

http://blog.atola.com/restoring-factory-hard-drive-capacity/

It could also be a BIOS problem not reading the correct capacity.

Here's another site (Seagate) that gives some good info/advice.

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/182971en

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jab1
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Re: Back up drive

I can't answer a lot of those questions, sorry Embarrassed, but can I ask you a few to try and see what has happened?

(1) Can you access the drive to see what it says it has on it?

(2) You shouldn't have needed to format the drive, but as you have done, what did you format it as?

(3) You say the backup is only 10GB - that is not a full backup - the O/S itself is bigger than that, I think - can't confirm as I'm still using W7.

You should be able to partition it - again, I can't confirm as my 1TB Hitachi has been left as one partition with folders.

I use MR as my 'back-up back-up' - prefer Acronis to be truthful, but thats personal choice, and find that the MR backup is well compressed anyway - 46GB is somewhere around 20GB, so can't see a need to compress it any further.

 

John
Strat
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Re: Back up drive

I have a 2TB Seagate external drive and I downloaded an app from here to manage the drive.

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petlew
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Re: Back up drive

Thanks gents. jab1 I'll come back to you if I need to fill in those details (see next paragraph)

@Strat, thanks for this. While trawling the web for some useful information, I came across the US Seagate Q&A's and noted that the version sold in the states seems to have a disc included (which I guess has the app you linked to on it). That that I got had virtually nothing apart from a multi language quick start, which showed how to plug it in, but nothing else, I would at least have expected a note about their own software.

I also have an elderly 500Mb Samsung (which I think is a Maxtor in disguise, but was the epitome of storage capacity when I bought it ) which had more info than you could shake a stick at, of course it is now much too small for this purpose

Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most.

When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you. But because in that brief moment while the coin is in the air. You suddenly know what you are hoping for.
VileReynard
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Re: Back up drive

Maybe you've gone and formatted yourself a GUID Partition Table.

But your Windows has a "legacy" MBR Partition Table and gets confused?

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petlew
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Re: Back up drive

Well that answers another point VileReynard. I suppose I might well have. How do I find out and how do I change it.

What I seem to have at the moment is a "D" drive (Seagate) of around 10Gb (in My Computer), which I very obviously don't need at this stage as its empty, formatting the D drive only cleans the contents of it, but doesn't remove the drive altogether, which is what I would like to do, so I can start over from a clean 2Tb disk (actually 1.8Tb), but can't see a way of achieving this.

Or is this done in the partitioning option?

Sorry to be a dunce, but I've got out of my depth here. No doubt the answer is simplicity itself... as long as you know what it is.

 

Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most.

When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you. But because in that brief moment while the coin is in the air. You suddenly know what you are hoping for.
VileReynard
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Re: Back up drive

Since it's Windows I hesitate to advise you Cheesy

But see https://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-when-partitioning-a-drive/

Note that this says:-

MBR does have its limitations. For starters, MBR only works with disks up to 2 TB in size. MBR also only supports up to four primary partitions—if you want more, you have to make one of your primary partitions an “extended partition” and create logical partitions inside it. This is a silly little hack and shouldn’t be necessary.

So you could try viewing partitioning and see if you have a big space hiding somewhere.

It's best if you can use GPT partitioning as there are no sensible limits on maximum sizes.

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petlew
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Re: Back up drive

I'm not sure what's happened now but, I followed the Seagate software to add a partition and, the D drive icon has disappeared out of "my computer", If I try to backup (anything) I get an error message that the drive is not plugged in to the laptop... it is, the activity light is on, but the computer is not seeing the drive.

Any ideas?

Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most.

When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you. But because in that brief moment while the coin is in the air. You suddenly know what you are hoping for.
TheRoadCrew
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Re: Back up drive

Does the drive show under Disk Management?

(Right-click the Windows icon (bottom left corner of the screen by default) and click on Disk Management)

petlew
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Re: Back up drive

Further:

Trying to see if I can backup using Macrium Reflect, results in an error message that Drive D does not exist.

As far as I know, I didn't give the attempted partition a different drive letter, certainly there are none (except C) listed.

The Seagate drive is still attached with the activity light on.

Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most.

When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you. But because in that brief moment while the coin is in the air. You suddenly know what you are hoping for.
petlew
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Registered: ‎30-08-2007

Re: Back up drive

@TheRoadCrew The rescue partition has become "D" as a DVD-Rom, (this is a USB plug in as the laptop doesn't have a built in DVD player) but its not connected anyway.

Could this be my problem, that Windows is seeing the DVD-Rom, when its not actually attached? Should I be able to change its drive letter, its a while since I used it., but vaguely recall it used to come up as drive "E".

Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most.

When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you. But because in that brief moment while the coin is in the air. You suddenly know what you are hoping for.
TheRoadCrew
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Re: Back up drive

I'm not too familiar with Windows but it does sound odd that a USB device shows up in Disk Management when it's not connected to your laptop.

I think you should be able to change the drive letter assignment by right-clicking it in Disk Management.

Can you post a screenshot of what you see in Disk Management (might provide some clues)?

 

petlew
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Re: Back up drive

I'm trying, but the forum won't let me post a screenshot, just get an error message "no file selected"

I'm using Libre Office, but I don't think that should matter.

Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most.

When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you. But because in that brief moment while the coin is in the air. You suddenly know what you are hoping for.
petlew
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Posts: 7,416
Thanks: 110
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎30-08-2007

Re: Back up drive

As requested screenshot

Only judging by the size the Seagate has become Disk 1, however, there is no right click option to "change drive letter" which I would do if there was one. There is a "Drive Paths" in the "View" tab, but it is blank, with no apparent way of changing anything.

Seagate software or Macrium Reflect do not "see"  1.

So, the drive I need to use is now Disk 1, but has no apparent way of a) using it, b) changing its status to a "live" drive c) making it show in the software, or d) returning the Seagate drive to factory settings.

I'll wager there is a blindingly easy solution.

2nd Edit, it can be seen in the rear window that is the drive under Disk 1 it is showing as a DVD in DVD-Rom. Which is not connected and hasn't been for several months.

Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most.

When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you. But because in that brief moment while the coin is in the air. You suddenly know what you are hoping for.