hi, insufficient storage available to create shadow copy file or data message pops up when I attempt to back up filbes on my laptop. I do have 60 % of free space on c:.But on d:, which is my recovery drive, it's full. do I format it & backup my data again?

Vista's backup utility will not backup the C drive to the C drive(which is not a good idea anyway). The best thing would be to backup to an external HDD or DVDs.

thanks for your reply kx5m2g, So, if I do use an external HDD , will I have to replace after it gets full from all the databackup or should I format the drive & re use it.

If you format, you'll lose your old backups. I would instead delete the older backups but keep at least one or two of the most recent backups. I also think that you might find that some other backup programs, such as Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image, don't use up as much space as Vista's backup program-and they may have other advantages as well.

Seagate disk utility is a cut down version of Acronis, that can create disk images. & its free. http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/su... Before posting try google. Backup. Use anti virus software.