How do I limit the size of my backup file. After running for the third day, I am out of drive space to store the file?

Needed to get my head around this Andy , to present you with the required info . Best if you print . You appear to be doing a full backup of everything each day , whilst all you need is the changed files . Where or what , are you backing up to ? I personally prefer to backup to a 2nd HD . It is an exact copy of the 1st . Both drives are partitioned like this . 1st Part > Operating System . 2nd Part > Everything else . XP has System Restore , Repair , Reinstall ( without losing your settings ) & Recovery Console all as Options . Probably backing up changes to your programs ( not operating system ) is all you need to do . Some links provided , do not refer to XP or are for XP home , but they explain about Incremental & Differential backups . Also alternatives are provided from Langa . ================================ Why not differential backups? http://www.aplawrence.com/Unixart/diffback.html I get this question frequently. It's usually triggered either because the tape device can't hold an entire backup set or because the time required for backup interferes with productive work. Most of the time this can be easily remedied by a larger or faster storage device, but someone is bound to bring up the idea of differential backups. How do I backup files and folder in Windows XP http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBK/tip5200/rh5279.htm Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q320820 contains: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q320820 This article describes how to use the Backup utility that is included with Windows XP to back up files and folders on your computer. http://www.langa.com/backups/backups(1).htm http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/69backup.htm Fast, Easy Backups For Win98 / ME / NT / 2K / XP