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    My external hard drive is full and I just learned today for first time OneCare hasn't backed me up for a month. Help?

     

    I can't follow the FAQs at http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1698096&SiteID=2

     

    They reference steps that aren't offered to me, like there's no Windows Live OneCare folder under my hard drive. Is there a better or updated link to help me or should I just reformat the ext. hard drive?

     

    Monday, June 2, 2008 8:23 PM

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    That FAQ post is the latest that we have.
    However, if the external drive is full and only has the OneCare backups on it, a format is the quickest solution. You may then need to reset your backup plan. If so, the following steps may help:
     
    Open OneCare
    Click Change Settings
    backup tab
    Click Configure Backup
    Click change settings in the lower left
    Make sure that the first screen for Centralized Backup has "No Centralized backup" selected
    Click your PC on the left.
    Uncheck the selection for "Turn on backup for this PC."
    Click Next and save the revised plan.

    Go back to the backup tab, configure backup and click Change Settings in the lower left once again.
    Select your PC and click.
    Click Turn on backup
    Select the change location link and select the drive you want to use for backup
    Modify the schedule as desired for "When"
    Select the file types as desired for "What"
    Click next and save the revised plan with the new selection.

    -steve
    Tuesday, June 3, 2008 12:44 AM
    Moderator

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  • Question
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    That FAQ post is the latest that we have.
    However, if the external drive is full and only has the OneCare backups on it, a format is the quickest solution. You may then need to reset your backup plan. If so, the following steps may help:
     
    Open OneCare
    Click Change Settings
    backup tab
    Click Configure Backup
    Click change settings in the lower left
    Make sure that the first screen for Centralized Backup has "No Centralized backup" selected
    Click your PC on the left.
    Uncheck the selection for "Turn on backup for this PC."
    Click Next and save the revised plan.

    Go back to the backup tab, configure backup and click Change Settings in the lower left once again.
    Select your PC and click.
    Click Turn on backup
    Select the change location link and select the drive you want to use for backup
    Modify the schedule as desired for "When"
    Select the file types as desired for "What"
    Click next and save the revised plan with the new selection.

    -steve
    Tuesday, June 3, 2008 12:44 AM
    Moderator
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    thanks, hmmm, I'm not sure if that applies to me or not. Here's what happens when I try the FAQs way, I've appended the FAQ instructions:

    Delete a backup set folder from an external hard disk in Microsoft Windows XP

    1. On the Start menu, click Run.
    2. Type explorer.exe, and then press ENTER.
    3. In My Computer, double-click the drive letter that corresponds to your external hard disk.
    4. Right-click the Windows Live OneCare folder, and then click Properties.
    5. On the Security tab, under Groups or user names, click either Administrators or your user name.
    All is well up to here. But there is no Security tab. I only see General, Sharing, and Customize tabs. That's as far as I can follow the instructions in the FAQs. I'd reformat, but there are some other folders on my external Maxxor drive like "drivers" and "MaxSynch" and "MaxSynchConfig" that sound like they shouldn't be deleted. Any ideas? Thank you.



    Tuesday, June 3, 2008 1:21 AM
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    I'll call your attention to the FAQ post below the section you copied and pasted:

    http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1698096&SiteID=2

    Notes

    You can also try the steps above the section you've copied and pasted:

     

    The easiest way to perform this action in any version of Windows XP is to navigate to the backup location, and right click on the folder set you wish to remove, taking care to select the older backup set and not the one just made.

    In the right click menu, select Sharing and Security.

    When the Sharing and Security tab of the Properties dialog comes up, place a check mark in the middle section - "Share this folder on the network."
    Give the Share a name in the box for "Share Name".
    And place a check mark in "allow network users to change files."

    Click OK.

     

    Now, you should be able to delete the folder and the files within.

     

    However, as noted before, if you have nothing on the drive besides the backups, go ahead and format the drive - it will be much easier. :-)

     

    -steve

    Tuesday, June 3, 2008 12:10 PM
    Moderator
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     Stephen Boots wrote:

    I'll call your attention to the FAQ post below the section you copied and pasted:

    http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1698096&SiteID=2

    Notes

    You can also try the steps above the section you've copied and pasted:

     

     

    Uh oh, now I'm more confused. I don't know what partition is, except it was done in India in 1948. What's below sounds more hopeful.

     

     

    The easiest way to perform this action in any version of Windows XP is to navigate to the backup location, and right click on the folder set you wish to remove, taking care to select the older backup set and not the one just made.

    In the right click menu, select Sharing and Security.

    When the Sharing and Security tab of the Properties dialog comes up, place a check mark in the middle section - "Share this folder on the network."

     

    OK. I found the Sharing and Security tab. But there is no box to check labeled "Share this folder on the network." Maybe because I don't have a network. I just have one computer, and I just want to back up the files, as my hard drive crashed last year and I lost everything, I don't want it to happen again. It was fairly easy to set up OneCare and I liked the fact that it was automatic--or was presented as such--so I decided to pay and keep it. I didn't expect I'd have to spend hours figuring out how to keep it working. Why is this so hard to just back up my files? Do I need to go back to trying to remember to do it manually every few days? Are you sure if I just reformat the Maxxor drive to make space again, would deletion of any of the above-mentioned files like the MaxSynch and Drivers and the "Bin" which has 152MB and 33 files of Adobe and setup files--that seem to be resident and possibly important for Maxxor--cause problems? I'd hate to wipe out something important, rendering my ext. drive useless. Isn't there an easy way to do this? I'm not a technician, this is hard for me. Thank you. 

     


    Give the Share a name in the box for "Share Name".
    And place a check mark in "allow network users to change files."

    Click OK.

     

    Now, you should be able to delete the folder and the files within.

     

    However, as noted before, if you have nothing on the drive besides the backups, go ahead and format the drive - it will be much easier. :-)

     

    -steve

    Tuesday, June 3, 2008 1:50 PM
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    Thomas, I don't have an XP Home version machine handy to confirm what you should be seeing, however, I can tell you that the Maxtor files and Adobe files are only important if you choose to use the Maxtor software to do your backup. Since you have decided to dedicate the drive to OneCare backups, formatting and removing these files is perfectly okay. These files are not needed to use the drive as a plain external drive as you have used it.
    And, I'll suggest that if you wish to keep the Maxtor files, you have two choices:
    1. Copy the Maxtor and Adobe folders to your PC. You can copy them back to the Maxtor drive after formatting.
    2. Contact support and have them help you with deleting the OneCare backup folder.
     
    How to reach support (FAQ) - http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2421771&SiteID=2



    -steve

    Tuesday, June 3, 2008 2:17 PM
    Moderator
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    Frankly, as I've been trying to work through a different backup issue, I don't know that you can trust what OneCare actually backs up or if it will do a meaningful restore.

     

    I've taken the step of shutting off OneCare Backup and basically creating a large Briefcase that I Sync regularly.

     

    Yes, I have to do this manually.

     

    But at least I can trust what I have.

     

    Until I find a third party backup program that will actually do a backup.

     

    Timothy

     

    Wednesday, June 11, 2008 2:11 PM