I have several users that have been moved over to Windows 7 (pro or enterprise versions). We create backups to a SNAP network share folder that the user has access to. The SNAP share is backed-up to tape and stored offsite every week. We have noticed that the users that are using Windows7, their backup file is getting very large (10+ GB) when they are only backing up small documents. Is there any way to set windows Backup to delete the old backup and create a new one, once a week instead of adding to the original backup file every time it backs-up? When a user's domain password expires (every 42 days), the password that is set to access the share in the backup and restore is not updated and back-ups fail as the backup cannot access the share with the old password. Is there anyways to fix/change these issues? Thanks all!

Do not expire the password, the backup will fail. You should have 1.5x the user machine's hard disk capacity on the server for the user backups. Incremental backups are faster and a lot less stressful on the LAN As for tape, how last year; hard disk docks and cheap 2 TB disks spank tape bad My MVP is for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 IT, and I am getting increasingly good with Visual Studio. Developer | Windows IT | Chess | Economics | Hardcore Games | Vegan Advocate | PC Reviews

We have to expire passwords its part of our security policy. So you are saying that our backup location needs to be over 100 TB if each of our users were to use windows7, I think not. Tape backups are easier to use with our backup solution and are already in place. I take it then that windows 7 is a step backwards from windows XP when trying to have a fully featured built-in backup system. Looks like we will have to get a third-party solution :-(

If you are using a tape robot silo or something like that, they are OK. The backup with Windows 7 is not very good in my experience. So I simply used the free 7-zip and backup my stuff to a USB disk. I sometimes use my server for backups as well when I have a machine in for service. The old NTBACKUP with XP was better but it was a tad hard to use. I agree, a 3rd party solution is probably a good idea. One solution I like is using racks of storage servers with RAID 6 arrays. Then with a branch location, a copy can be maintained back and forth with more safety against hardware failure. My MVP is for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 IT, and I am getting increasingly good with Visual Studio. Developer | Windows IT | Chess | Economics | Hardcore Games | Vegan Advocate | PC Reviews