Manage Backups

Hopefully, you’re making good use of File History or Windows Backup to ensure your critical files are kept safe and sound. Both methods store multiple versions of your backups, giving you the option of rolling back the changes with individual files should you wish to restore an earlier version.

This protection comes with a price, however — increased consumption of drive space. If you’re feeling the squeeze, reclaim some breathing room by removing the oldest backups. Right-click the Start button and choose Control Panel. File History users should click ‘Save backup copies of your files with File History’, then click ‘Advanced settings’. You can change the frequency of backups (to reduce drive consumption going forward), plus set a time limit for how long backups are kept (‘Until space is needed’ is safest, but you can specify your own time). Click ‘Clean up versions’ to clear out space by choosing what backups to delete (anything from all but the most recent to those backups older than two years).

If you use the Windows Backup tool, select ‘Back up and Restore (Windows 7)’ and click ‘Manage space’, then ‘View backups’ to manually select which backups to remove. Remember that older backups may contain files you have subsequently deleted, so be sure you haven’t mislaid any critical old files before cleaning up.